Many sites appear to only download images or generate parts of the document (eg for reviews) when the user scrolls far enough down the page to actually see them.
This obviously will give you faster loading pages and save on bandwidth for anyone that does not bother scrolling down.
How is this done, ideally with jquery? Or to ask it another way, how do I detect that a missing image has just scrolled into view and needs to be fetched?
There are plugins for that. Here's one...
Here is my own. Have Fun. (doesn't require jQuery!)
Tested: IE 5.5+, FF 2+, Chrome, Opera 9.6+
Usage:
your lazyloaded images should have their real src in a thumb attribute
Just include the javascript file inline or externally.
If you don't want to use it on your entire page, you can do:
LazyImg().destroy(); // stop global fetching
LazyImg("watch-only-this-div");
Note: when you include the file a global instance is already created watchin the whole document. You need to stop that first and start you own instance.
set a custom offset for prefetching (how far below the fold the image should be fetched)
// watch the whole document
// prefetch offset: 300px
LazyImg(document, 300);
Code:
//
// LAZY Loading Images
//
// Handles lazy loading of images in one or more targeted divs,
// or in the entire page. It also keeps track of scrolling and
// resizing events, and removes itself if the work is done.
//
// Licensed under the terms of the MIT license.
//
// (c) 2010 Balázs Galambosi
//
(function(){
// glocal variables
var window = this,
instances = {},
winH;
// cross browser event handling
function addEvent( el, type, fn ) {
if ( window.addEventListener ) {
el.addEventListener( type, fn, false );
} else if ( window.attachEvent ) {
el.attachEvent( "on" + type, fn );
} else {
var old = el["on" + type];
el["on" + type] = function() { old(); fn(); };
}
}
// cross browser event handling
function removeEvent( el, type, fn ) {
if ( window.removeEventListener ) {
el.removeEventListener( type, fn, false );
} else if ( window.attachEvent ) {
el.detachEvent( "on" + type, fn );
}
}
// cross browser window height
function getWindowHeight() {
if ( window.innerHeight ) {
winH = window.innerHeight;
} else if ( document.documentElement.clientHeight ) {
winH = document.documentElement.clientHeight;
} else if ( document.body && document.body.clientHeight ) {
winH = document.body.clientHeight;
} else { // fallback:
winH = 10000; // just load all the images
}
return winH;
}
// getBoundingClientRect alternative
function findPos(obj) {
var top = 0;
if (obj && obj.offsetParent) {
do {
top += obj.offsetTop || 0;
top -= obj.scrollTop || 0;
} while (obj = obj.offsetParent); //
return { "top" : top };
}
}
// top position of an element
var getTopPos = (function() {
var dummy = document.createElement("div");
if ( dummy.getBoundingClientRect ) {
return function( el ) {
return el.$$top || el.getBoundingClientRect().top;
};
} else {
return function( el ) {
return el.$$top || findPos( el ).top;
};
}
})();
// sorts images by their vertical positions
function img_sort( a, b ) {
return getTopPos( a ) - getTopPos( b );
}
// let's just provide some interface
// for the outside world
var LazyImg = function( target, offset ) {
var imgs, // images array (ordered)
last, // last visible image (index)
id, // id of the target element
self; // this instance
offset = offset || 200; // for prefetching
if ( !target ) {
target = document;
id = "$document";
} else if ( typeof target === "string" ) {
id = target;
target = document.getElementById( target );
} else {
id = target.id || "$undefined";
}
// return if this instance already exists
if ( instances[id] ) {
return instances[id];
}
// or make a new instance
self = instances[id] = {
// init & reset
init: function() {
imgs = null;
last = 0;
addEvent( window, "scroll", self.fetchImages );
self.fetchImages();
return this;
},
destroy: function() {
removeEvent( window, "scroll", self.fetchImages );
delete instances[id];
},
// fetches images, starting at last (index)
fetchImages: function() {
var img, temp, len, i;
// still trying to get the target
target = target || document.getElementById( id );
// if it's the first time
// initialize images array
if ( !imgs && target ) {
temp = target.getElementsByTagName( "img" );
if ( temp.length ) {
imgs = [];
len = temp.length;
} else return;
// fill the array for sorting
for ( i = 0; i < len; i++ ) {
img = temp[i];
if ( img.nodeType === 1 && img.getAttribute("thumb") ) {
// store them and cache current
// positions for faster sorting
img.$$top = getTopPos( img );
imgs.push( img );
}
}
imgs.sort( img_sort );
}
// loop through the images
while ( imgs[last] ) {
img = imgs[last];
// delete cached position
if ( img.$$top ) img.$$top = null;
// check if the img is above the fold
if ( getTopPos( img ) < winH + offset ) {
// then change the src
img.src = img.getAttribute("thumb");
last++;
}
else return;
}
// we've fetched the last image -> finished
if ( last && last === imgs.length ) {
self.destroy();
}
}
};
return self.init();
};
// initialize
getWindowHeight();
addEvent( window, "load", LazyImg().fetchImages );
addEvent( window, "resize", getWindowHeight );
LazyImg();
window.LazyImg = LazyImg;
}());