IFRAME... [tech question]

[dcortez]

Hi,

I'm working on a page which bounces to a slow service (using meta refresh) to give the surfer an immediate sense of response to their clicking on a link.

This works great - they get a message ('one moment please...') and they don't keep clicking the link which may take a while to connect.

Of course, I'd rather have a faster provider to connect to, but this is the next best thing.

I would like to add an animated graphic (like a progress bar) to the bounce page, but the nature of meta refresh (on IE at least) is such that as soon as the bounce starts, the page stops loading or running anything else. So the graphic either does not load or freezes.

I have a hunch that putting an IFRAME and having the progress graphic displayed in it might keep running even though the parent page is already on it's way to the next URL.

Does anyone have experience and feedback for this issue?

Thanks!
-Dino

[groark]

I don't get it

[dcortez]

Originally posted by groark
I don't get it

The problem:

I have a page wth a link to another site.

The site I link too is really slow (but important).

When my surfer clicks on my link to the other site, nothing seems to happen for a very long time and the surfer is not sure if their click worked or not. So, if I'm lucking they click again and wait -otherwise, they just just give up.

The current solution:

Rather than linking to the slow site directly, I created another page on my site which waits for one second (so the surfer can back button before the page) and then using the META REFRESH tag automatically jumps to the slow site.

The big difference/improvement is that when a surfer clicks on the link which used to go to the slow site directly (and do nothing for too long), now that link click gets an immediate response (my bounce page with a warm and fuzzy message) and they sit back for a moment not wondering if they need to click again.

What I would like to do and the new problem:

On the 'bounce page' I want to have a little graphic which adds to the 'hey surfer, hang in there, we are working" perception.

If I put an animated graphic on the 'bounce page' the graphic either does not load or stops animation as soon as the page 'bounces' (from the meta refresh).

It's the same as hitting the stop button on a page.

I'm thinking that the termination of the bounce page animation might insulated if graphic was on a 'page' inside an iframe.

This might be the way to have my animated progress/working graphic on the bounce page but not interrupted as the bounce page heads for the slow site (which is the cause of this whole pain in the butt).

I can just go ahead and try it, but I was hoping there might be someone who could speak to this problem more abstractly and possibly offer some less clunky alternatives.

Thanks,
-Dino

[pornguy]

yep, I think that an iFrame would work.
As long as you are not passing info on the link, which would be lost on the iFrame.

[dcortez]

Originally posted by pornguy
yep, I think that an iFrame would work.
As long as you are not passing info on the link, which would be lost on the iFrame.

Just tried it without success.

eg.
<iframe src="working.gif" width=100 height=100>
</iframe>

The "working.gif" stops animation as soon as the bounce begins.

I could try putting the 'working.gif' on an html page and have:

src="page-with-the-gif.html"

but I'm starting to lose faith...

Other approaches involve spawning a 'progress window', but popup blockers will stop that.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,
-Dino

[incredible1]

Try one of these free online tools
here
- Iframe builder and other ways to open pages etc

http://www.superchargedsoftware.com/index.php?sc=5





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[dcortez]

Originally posted by incredible1
Try one of these free online tools
here
- Iframe builder and other ways to open pages etc

http://www.superchargedsoftware.com/index.php?sc=5

Not much there. Just a formed-based html generator.

Thanks anyhow,
-Dino

[groark]

<iframe src="working.gif" width=100 height=100>
</iframe> <-- Try linking to a .htm or .html

EDIT: Example:
<iframe src="../iframe.htm" width="39%" height="100" name="more sites"></iframe>

[dcortez]

Originally posted by groark
<iframe src="working.gif" width=100 height=100>
</iframe> <-- Try linking to a .htm or .html

EDIT: Example:
<iframe src="../iframe.htm" width="39%" height="100" name="more sites"></iframe>

Ok. I'll give it a go.

Thanks,
-Dino

[clubgames]

I can think of a lot of ways to do this.

However, it depends on what type of content is on the page you are linking to.

What is there? Why is it important? Why not host the content on your site, if it is that important?

[dcortez]

Originally posted by clubgames
I can think of a lot of ways to do this.

However, it depends on what type of content is on the page you are linking to.

What is there? Why is it important? Why not host the content on your site, if it is that important?

Unfortunately, I don't have much control of the final destination. It's a secured server with a processing form that takes long enough to come up that I want to assure my surfer that things are happening.

-Dino

[clubgames]

I would use regular frames:

<frameset rows="100,*">
<frame name="WaitInfo" src="WaitInfo.html" />
<frame name="SlowSite" src="http://slowasssite.com" />
</frameset>

Where your WaitInfo.html contains something like:

The following page is loading in the bottom of this browser. Please be patient, as it is slowasssite.com. We apologize for the wait.

[dcortez]

Originally posted by clubgames
I would use regular frames:

<frameset rows="100,*">
<frame name="WaitInfo" src="WaitInfo.html" />
<frame name="SlowSite" src="http://slowasssite.com" />
</frameset>

Where your WaitInfo.html contains something like:

The following page is loading in the bottom of this browser. Please be patient, as it is slowasssite.com. We apologize for the wait.

That makes sense.

I'm not sure if I can get away with opening the target site in a frame - if I'm lucky, maybe they have a frame buster and they can take over the parent window once they load.

I'll try it and see what happens.

Thanks!
-Dino

[clubgames]

That's why I asked what was in the target. You could preload the page, then set it to the parent using JavaScript

[dcortez]

Originally posted by clubgames
That's why I asked what was in the target. You could preload the page, then set it to the parent using JavaScript

Now that is clever... you're a smart cookie!

Now I have some options to play with.

Thanks very much.
-Dino