javascript - Pre-loaded images not displaying in Chrome

Question

I am pre-loading some images and then using them in a lightbox. The problem I have is that although the images are loading, they aren't being displayed by the browser.

This issue is specific to Chrome. It has persisted through Chrome 8 - 10, and I've been trying on and off to fix it all this time and have got nowhere.

I have read these similar questions,
Chrome not displaying images though assets are being delivered to browser
2 Minor Crossbrowser CSS Issues. Background images not displaying in Google Chrome?
JavaScript preloaded images are getting reloaded

Which all detail similar behaviour but in Chrome for Mac. Whereas this is happening in Windows.

• All other browsers seem to be fine.
• If you have Firefox and Chrome open, load the page in Firefox, and then in Chrome, the images appear.
• Once you have manually loaded the images, using the Webkit webdev toolbar thingy, they always show up
• All the links the images and such are fine and working
• Clearing everything from Chrome doesn't seem to make any difference (cache, history, etc)

If anyone has any ideas it would be fantastically helpfull, as I'm literally all out of options here.

PS, Apologies if there are late replies, I'm off on holiday for a week tomorrow! :D

Update Here is the javascript function which is preloading the images.

var preloaded = new Array();
function preload_images() {
    for (var i = 0; i < arguments.length; i++){
        document.write('<');
        document.write('img src="'+arguments[i]+'" style="display:none;">');
    };
};

Update
I'm still having issues with this, and I've removed the whole preloading images function. Perhaps delivering a style sheet via document.write() isn't the best way?

Answer 1

Chrome might not be preloading them as it's writing to the DOM with no display, so it might be intelligent enough to realise it doesn't need to be rendered. Try this instead:

var preloaded = new Array();

function preload_images(){
    for (var x = 0; x < preload_images.arguments.length; x++)
    {
        preloaded[x]     = new Image();
        preloaded[x].src = preload_images.arguments[x];
    }
}

The Javascript Image object has a lot of useful functions as well you might find useful:

http://www.javascriptkit.com/jsref/image.shtml

onabort()

Code is executed when user aborts the downloading of the image.

onerror()

Code is executed when an error occurs with the loading of the image (ie: not found). Example(s)

onload()

Code is executed when the image successfully and completely downloads.

And then you also have the complete property which true/false tells you if the image has fully (pre)loaded.