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A (probably stupid) question for you Web Wizards:

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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 07:09 PM
Original message
A (probably stupid) question for you Web Wizards:
OK, I've been forced (against my will, because I don't like them) to do a website for a new customer with an animated "introductory screen." (It's actually pretty slick, in that it really shows what they do; you can see a working draft at http://www.rileycomms.com/santafe.html if you want to.)

Here's my question: It's an animated GIF, and I can't figure out how to make the animation trigger an action (going to the company's home page) when it finishes running. (I'll concede having to do the animation, but I'm NOT about to make the site's visitors "click to enter the site." That's just insulting.

I know I could throw in a timeline in Dreamweaver to trigger going to the home page, but that strikes me as inelegant...if someone has a bit slower-than usual connection, a timeline could take them to the home page before the animation was finished running.

So, I bet there's some Javascript behavior like "OnAnimationCompletion" I could attach to the animated GIF, but as I said, I've resisted doing "splash screens" so successfully that I don't know much about using them.

My gratitude for suggestions will be expressed in beer as the opportunity to do so arises.

Redstone
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KitchenWitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 07:13 PM
Response to Original message
1. Now I may be talking out of my *woohoo* but...
Could you convert the gif to a flash animation and have the flash, at its completion load the home page?
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 07:21 PM
Response to Reply #1
4. Thanks, but I can't. The target market for this website is the kind of people (engineers)
who get REALLY ANGRY if a website doesn't work on their browser, so that means I can't use anything that requires a plug-in, like Flash.

Redstone
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KitchenWitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 07:23 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. Got it!
It was a stab in the dark, anyway!

:hi:
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 08:01 PM
Response to Reply #5
9. But hey, you tried to help. I appreciate it.
Redstone
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KitchenWitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 08:20 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. ...
I know how engineering types are...I lived with one for 18 years (my dad).
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Ava Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 07:13 PM
Response to Original message
2. i've worked with flash layouts and intros
Edited on Wed Mar-26-08 07:15 PM by Ava
but it has been with actual flash files and not gifs. however, this may work. put this in the <head> part of your page's script.

<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="5; url=/html/tags.cfm">

5 is the amount of seconds until the page will redirect.. the above code of course is 5 secs but you can change it to what you wish.
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 07:23 PM
Response to Reply #2
6. That's the same function as a "timeline" in Dreamweaver. What I really need is for the
last frame of the animated GIF to fire the page-change event, not do it based on time elapsed from opening the page.

Thanks anyway.

Redstone
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Ava Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 07:25 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. the only way i know how to do that is via flash (.swf file)
i don't think i've ever seen or heard of a .gif file doing that, then again i rarely use .gifs other than for making .jpg files take less time to load. :shrug:

sorry i can't be more helpful :hi:
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lost-in-nj Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 07:18 PM
Response to Original message
3. maybe expand the
green wire a little and just have it

POP
on the home page...


my idea is hard to explain....


just have it grow a little more then
maybe put the best selling product at the end, and then go to the home page....

lost


:hi:
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 07:40 PM
Response to Reply #3
8. The thing is, it's not actually a "product." As you might infer from the animation, they
receive wiring harnesses (mostly ones used in aircraft) from customers, then put protective fiber or metal braiding over the wires.

I'ts a pretty specialized business, but anyone who is a potential customer will know exactly what the animation is showing.

Redstone
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mainegreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 08:30 PM
Response to Original message
11. Have you tried the window.onload event? 
Theoretically it fires after images are loaded.

Use it in javascript like so:

window. on load=function() {
    alert('do dreamweaver timeline stuff!');
}



But remove the spaces between window and .on and load (DU
formatting issues) :P
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 08:57 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. Thanks, but OnLoad fires the event before the animation is finished running. I think
I'm going to be stuck with using a timeline. Thanks for your response anyway.

Redstone
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mainegreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 09:27 PM
Response to Reply #13
17. But if you know how long the animation takes,
won't window onload coincide with the start of the animation? You're timeline if fired by window onload would be the length of time of the animation, plus a second or so.
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DarkTirade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 08:39 PM
Response to Original message
12. Only thing I can think of recommending
is having the animation end with the last frame saying 'click here to continue', and have the .gif be a hyperlink.

It won't do it automatically, but if you can't find javascript to do what you want that might be the next best option.
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 08:59 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid, the "click here to continue." Looks like I'm
going to be stuck with using a timeline, with a "click here if you don't get sent ot the home page" thing.

Dammit. I didn't want to have to do that.

But it's nice to see how helpful you and the other DUers have been, as they always are.

Redstone
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DarkTirade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 09:19 PM
Response to Reply #14
16. I can't claim to give the best advice,
but I'll give what I can. :)
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Ptah Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 09:10 PM
Response to Original message
15. How about make the gif a quarter of the home page.
If that gif is a large banner on the home page the
there will be no jarring jump from image to text.

Mix it up.

Just a guess.
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hippywife Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 09:45 PM
Response to Original message
18. No answer for you but
just a user opinion. I like having a "Click to enter site" option on the screen from the get go. I don't always want to watch the intro animation and I hate websites with intros and hate even more the ones that don't let you opt out of watching it. I feel the same as you do about them and don't like being held captive to the webmaster's ego. Ya know?

Just my .02, for what it's worth.
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datasuspect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-27-08 05:03 AM
Response to Reply #18
21. yes, an option to bypass cheesy flash, cheesy graphics, and fuckhole intro music
fuckhole intro music is the worst, especially when doing company/market research in an OFFICE where other PEOPLE work and might not necessarily want to be disturbed by fuckhole intro music.
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-27-08 07:52 AM
Response to Reply #21
25. "Intro music" on a company webiste is just about the worst idea EVER. I had to
give in to my customer on the animation deal on this one, but I'd turn down any job if someone insisted on having sound on their website.

Redstone
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Zoigal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-26-08 11:45 PM
Response to Original message
19. If son wasn't off to China tomorrow, would send it up to him
to see if he could help. If you don't have it solved by 4/6 pm me and will see what he comes
up with. Good luck. z
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-27-08 07:53 AM
Response to Reply #19
26. Hey, thanks. I think I'm going to just put it on a timer.
Redstone
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China_cat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-27-08 04:01 AM
Response to Original message
20. What about a timed redirect in the head?
With a hot link to 'skip opening'. Time the animation, add 3 seconds for the redirect (to give time for it to start and end) and then tweak the timing accordingly after testing.
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matcom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-27-08 05:49 AM
Response to Original message
22. That is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Say goodbye to Google
you will never get ranked organically with that garbage.

Tell them to dump that crap. It doesn't do a damned thing for their site.
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-27-08 07:49 AM
Response to Reply #22
24. Hey, it's what they want, and they're the ones who sign the checks.
Redstone
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Orsino Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-27-08 06:12 AM
Response to Original message
23. I'd just like to thank you for acknowledging...
...that "click to enter site" is insulting, after someone already has clicked on something to enter your site.
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