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I'm working on a high-end flash site (AS3) with lots of video, hi-res graphics, and sound effects; needless to say, the initial preloader's got a lot of work to do (just to get the site to a point where additional assets can be loaded on the fly as needed). Because it'll be displayed for a while on most connection speeds, it's pretty intricately designed, with lots of animation, sound effects, etc, and weighs in at a hefty 300k. I'm sure I'll be able to knock it down with further asset optimization, but I'm not sure what my target should be. What's the biggest file size for a preloader swf that you might reasonably expect a user to download?

On the other hand, I'm not blind to the multiple ironies of having a preloader for my preloader, but I'm not entirely opposed to it, either, especially if it's something lightweight like a logo or small image. Is this a ludicrous proposition, or do people actually do this sort of thing? If so, what guidelines might you recommend?

Thanks!

Justin

justinbach
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-1 for even considering having a preloader for the preloader :P... then again, I know some web art directors often don't think of the user, so it's probably not your fault ^^.

Try thinking of the preloader more as an indicator of a process than an entity by itself. Maybe the preloader streams, and animates itself while it loads (consider the timeline ;) ), or think of something creative to make it smaller, or to load it progressively... I would say that a good preloader is never over 20kbs, no matter how pretty it is.

Cay
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    -1? That's not nice! Irrespective of my particular circumstance, it's still a valid question, and general guidelines for preloader size aren't anywhere to be found yet on the Stack. And yes, I am the victim of overzealous art direction. :p What can you do? – justinbach Oct 30 '09 at 12:43
  • +1 to offset the -1 above. This is a VALID question that people run into every day. In my opinion, you should not vote down a question just because the asking person is doing something wrong. If the asking person knew better, he wouldn't have bothered to ask the question in the first place. – Lior Cohen Nov 11 '09 at 16:10
  • Well, I do think it "could" be a valid question (I tried to answer it ;)), its just that I'm not sure that you can have a preloader size guideline from a programming perspective... it probably has more to do with the target audience, marketing requirements, etc... the -1 was not for the question, but for the possible answer he proposed... and it was mostly a joke, so thanks for leveling it :) – Cay Nov 11 '09 at 17:06
  • +1 nice question... I wonder what to do with my 99k preloader... : ) – OXMO456 May 18 '10 at 15:57