Jquery show preloader for every image?

Question

I've a website with a lot of images:

<img class='thumb' src=thumbs/image1.jpg/>
<img class='thumb' src=thumbs/image2.jpg/>
<img class='thumb' src=thumbs/image3.jpg/>
<img class='thumb' src=thumbs/image4.jpg/>

I wonder if I can display a loading-div for every single image and when it's loaded the div hides? I'm using jquery for most of my animations. Can i solve that with jquery.

It would be cool if every image shows this loading-div centered in the middle of the image. When the image is loaded the div should hide!

Is that possible? Thank you for your help!

Answer 1

Something like this should do it:

$("img.thumb").after('<img class="spinner" scr="spinner.gif"/>');
$("img.thumb").load(function() {
    $(this).next(".spinner").remove();
}).each(function() {

    // if the images is loaded from cache, trigger the load event
    if(this.complete) $(this).trigger('load');
});

But as others have commented, spinners all over the page will probably look horrible.

http://api.jquery.com/load-event/

Answer 2

Would it not be easier to do it in CSS?

.thumb {
    background: url(spinner.gif) center center;
}

When the image has loaded it'll hide the background image.
Note : You may need to give it a width and height, which shouldn't be a problem if they're all thumbnails.