Alternative to a really big GIF? JS animated JPEG?

14 frames, 600x400, JS preload friendly/flash? Suggestions please!

[JAB Creations]

I have 14 frames that are about 600x400px in dimensions and I need it to be friendly to JS preloader or be a flash video of some sort...it has to load as soon as the page loads.

Perhaps some sort of JS that loads the images one after the other?

Or a flash video of some sort? I'm not a flash expert though.

Suggestions?

[limbo]

Certainly Not a job for a GIF (probably excess of 100's of kbs)- the JS route might look a bit clunky unles you can employ a really good script - Like you say, something that probably best done in Flash. What are the images? Photos? Illustrations?

If they can be translated into vectors the file size will become much more manageable in flash.

Simple actions script could smooth the transition between frames - then a choice frame rate, image quality and preloader to keep the file size low and the movie useable.

If you cant do it it doesn't take too long to learn (with a basic knowledge of flash)- or you could outsource - something like this would take a skilled designer a few hours.

[Leosghost]

It can be done with js ..( what are they going to look at while your images are loading? thumbnails?)..
But if you are linking to your images via the thumbs then you have to have a means to indicate which thumbnails have loaded their corresponding images ..and a means to allow for if your visitor decides that they would like to see the image from a thumb that hasn't actually loaded yet ..that means a script with more variables ..

I made one for a site that called the pages and images via page ID's that related to the image directories ..

The major problem is if they have javascript turned off they will see nothing ..
If you tell them to enable it they will get suspicious?
One can wreak havoc with .js forcing destructivex into doing things even on SP whatever and even if the user has said they will not accept destructiveX scripts ..MS is very weak at protection there ..and elsewhere ;)

I would be inclined to go the flash route as suggested by Limbo..almost everyone has the flash player installed even if they don't always use it ..

( if I remember your site correctly ..? you do tutorials and info for web newbies? ..so most of them will have flash player enabled )..

Should take even less time to build a sequence than Limbo's estimate if you dont want intermediate captioning etc or too many transition effects ..

Plus a major advantage of flash is few people know how to copy a flash file and to diss it to use as their own ..so if you include your copyright or site name on your images you are better protected than most other wasys as the images are "stamped" ..likewise if you include your URl inside it is hard ( not impossible ) to remove or substitute them for another ..

My son ( only 12 but ..does magical stuff with flash ) says ..reading over my shoulder .."tell him swishmax is easier for what he wants to do" .."Dad" can vouch for it's also cheaper!..although I bought him both ..:))

BTW ..anyone tell us if flash 8 is really that much better than MX? ..

Christmas coming and all that..;)