Need alt= text in Menu bar

[javabird]

Please put alt tags in the Menu bar graphics (alt=xxxxx). This will improve useability. The Menu bar takes a long time to load, and until then it's invisible.

[cbulock]

Which graphics exactly? I don't think any of the menu's have any images in them.

[javabird]

I meant the Nav bar at the top of the page.

[exiii]

I meant the Nav bar at the top of the page.
Other than the logo (which already has alt text), the Nav bar at the top of every page is all text anyway. I don't think the alt attribute is valid for anything other than images.

Unless of course, I'm misunderstanding what nav bar you are talking about.

[javabird]

I guess I didn't look at it that closely-- I thought the Nav bar was a graphic (Home|Forums|Arcade, etc). It takes longer to load than the rest of the page. It's invisible until everything else loads. It would be better if it loaded first.

[cbulock]

I doubt there is really much control over when it display's. It probably has more to do with how the browser renders the page.

[exiii]

I think I see why it does this in the source. I believe it takes so long because it actually has to render the table just below it first. I think Mozilla/Netscape hang somewhat on tables (rather they need to download ALL the data before it renders anything in the table, and then anything after the table).

I'm guessing, first of all that you're not on a broadband connection. What browser are you using?

Now I didn't go into all the stylesheet data or do much more than browse over the scripts, but if the admins can change the source so the "nav buttons bar" loaded before the "breadcrumb, login, pm info", it might speed up that portion of the page for people with slower connections.

[lesliefranke]

I think I see why it does this in the source. I believe it takes so long because it actually has to render the table just below it first. I think Mozilla/Netscape hang somewhat on tables (rather they need to download ALL the data before it renders anything in the table, and then anything after the table).

I believe you have it backwards. Gecko based browsers will load tables a row at a time. IE requires that the entire table to be loaded before it outputs it to the screen. You are correct though about when the menu is loaded. Since the browser reads the page from top to bottom if the menu is last in the code it will be rendered on the screen last.

Please put alt tags in the Menu bar graphics (alt=xxxxx).

Not really the same issue but access Keys on the menu links would be nice. It would allow for quicker navigating through the menu system.

[javabird]

I have a DSL connection.

[exiii]

I believe you have it backwards. Gecko based browsers will load tables a row at a time. IE requires that the entire table to be loaded before it outputs it to the screen. You are correct though about when the menu is loaded. Since the browser reads the page from top to bottom if the menu is last in the code it will be rendered on the screen last.



Not really the same issue but access Keys on the menu links would be nice. It would allow for quicker navigating through the menu system.You know Leslie, I think you're right. And actually that explains the effect better.

I just logged in to the front page using Moz 1.6, and it's slower than it's ever been (might be on my end - cable). It loaded the main content area first, then the "featured news", and finally after about 30-40 sec, the nav buttons bar. So it basically loaded table by table, or row by row.

I tried the same in IE6, and it still took about 10 sec, but then loaded the whole page almost instantly after it was loaded.

In any case, it was quite frustrating waiting that long for the menu because I couldn't do anything until it loaded.

[exiii]

Interestingly, after several alt-refreshes, my Moz is consistenly taking a lot longer to load that menu than IE is:

Moz 1.6: 18 sec
IE 6.0: 3 sec

I've been a big fan of Mozilla lately, but I wonder if it has a problem with the scripts on this site. Then again, this is the first time I've noticed it taking that long.

[cbulock]

I use Opera and I see that the menu is also the very last thing to be rendered on there too. Never noticed until now since I ususally read a couple post before going to the menus.

[javabird]

I see the part of the source code that refers to the NavBar. But it looks like php, so I can't see the source. Is it text in a table that's being loaded? Or is it text as a graphic?