Partial page rendering

making the top of the page render fast and first

[mayor]

Hate to ask stupid questions, but I'm heavy on marketing and light on technology these days, so here goes ...

I use a quick DSL line these days and have found myself guilty of making pages that are probably too slow to load via dial-up connections.

Is there a way to design a web page so that the top portion (or perhaps any selected portion) of it loads and renders in the visitor's browser and becomes active while the rest of the page loads?

[Edouard_H]

If you're using a table layout try using separate tables - they'll load from the top down. Avoid nested tables to the extent possible.

You're in way better shape if your're using CSS. divs placed higher in the code are rendered first.

[tedster]

I've used the CSS approach that Edouard_H mentions to put the page content on the screen first, and let the logo/header/nav render later. I use absolute positioning for the content div and place that section at the very top of the HTML body.

The site user's love it. Even though other page elements eventually fill in above it, they get a nearly instantaneous fill of readable and usable content. It sure stops the Back Button blues, and it stands out in contrast to the common web experience.

[mayor]

Thanks for the excellent suggestions Edouard_H and tedster.

So I've got a table near the top of the page using inline CSS.

My next problem is testing it on my system. I've got a page that is supposed to take 50 seconds to load on a 28.8K connection but on my DSL connection it loads in the blink of an eye, to fast to see what is rendering first, so I can't test it. Having given up dial-up modems two years ago I don't even have the hardware to test the rendering on a slow load. Any suggestions how I can simulate browser page rendering on a 28.8K connection?

[Edouard_H]

Hi mayor, why not abuse friends and acquaintances, which is what I do when I want to check aol? There is a sim called sloppy available under gnu public license. Can't vouch for it. Do an appropriate search and you'll find it.