Where to Find a Website Preloader Image in WordPress
A website preloader is an image or video that appears while a web page is loading in order to give the illusion of page instantiation. The preloader should not be confused with the splash screen (or loading screen) which is the image or video that is displayed while the web page is loading. In this tutorial, we’ll explore how to easily add a website preloader image to your next WordPress installation.
Hiring A Designer
If you’re looking to populate your WordPress website with a preloader image, there are several options available. You can either find an image online that suits your needs or you can hire a designer to create one for you. When choosing an image to use as a preloader, you need to keep in mind a few things.
First, make sure that the image is royalty free. It is usually best to choose an image that is available to use for free. This ensures that you will not be held liable for its use. However, if you know that you will use the image in a commercially viable website, you should choose an image that is not royalty free. In this case, you should choose a premium image.
Using An Icon
Another way to easily add a preloader image to your WordPress website is to simply use an icon. Icons are popular because they can be used in several ways. You can use them to represent different states, industries, activities, etc. When using an icon for a preloader, simply remember to keep it small in size. If you keep the icon too large, it will take up too much space and possibly obscure other content on the page. Ideally, you should only need one or two small icons to represent different states, industries, activities, etc. An example of this can be seen at peterpan.com. When the page loads, you’ll see the icon in the upper left corner change from a stop to an arrow pointing down. This is a subtle indication that the content below has now loaded.
Animated Icons
Animated icons are usually quite easy to implement in your WordPress site. All you need to do is create an icon image the same size as the other two mentioned above and then you can add a small animation to it. In this way, you can give the illusion of the content below loading progressively. This is a nice effect to have and it can be done using simply CSS and jQuery. In fact, you can even create an animation using the icons mentioned above and then use HTML to overlay text on top of it. Here’s an example.
Splash Screens (or Loading Screens)
A splash screen (or loading screen) is the image or video that is displayed while the web page is loading. A splash screen can be a very useful tool when getting content to load quickly since it gives the user a brief moment of eye-catching interactivity. A splash screen is usually a good choice for online stores or eCommerce websites as it can be used to provide a dynamic background while items are loaded into the shopping cart.
As you might imagine, the term splash screen can be used to reference several types of images/videos. Here are a few examples of what a splash screen might look like:
Facebook splash screen
This example comes from Facebook and it shows the splash screen while the page is loading. Notice how it changes from a dark blue to a lighter blue as the content loads. This is done using JavaScript to detect the network state and then change the background color accordingly. While this might seem like an advanced technique, it is actually quite an easy one to do and would only require a little bit of JavaScript knowledge.
Slideshows
A slideshow is, in essence, just a series of still images that are displayed in a continuous loop. As the user views the slideshow, each image in turn will be displayed for a short period of time before the next is revealed. The images in a slideshow should be around 800 pixels wide in order to allow for seamless scrolling. In addition to the above criteria, you also need to decide how long each image should be onscreen for. Ideally, you will want the user to be able to see a relatively small quantity of text in each image’s description before scrolling to the next.
You can use several techniques to create a slideshow in your WordPress website. One easy yet effective technique is to use a WooCommerce store with a built-in slideshow product type. When a user clicks on the Add to Cart button, a hidden form is submitted that includes the product ID. Then, using AJAX, the product is loaded into a container that serves as a placeholder for the slideshow. When the container is hidden, the slideshow begins to run. This technique makes adding products to the cart very easy while also ensuring that the user can only see as much content as necessary before navigating away to complete their purchase.
Parallax Scrolling
Sometimes it’s not enough to just have content scroll from one place to another. Sometimes you want the page itself to move in the manner that is characteristic of a parallax scrolling page. This is when it becomes necessary to add a bit of movement to the equation. You do this by adding a keyframe animation to an SVG image. In this case, we will use a vertical parallax scrolling effect in order to give the page an air of depth. This is a common technique and it’s actually fairly easy to do. All you need is an SVG icon with a suitable keyframe animation and then you can add it to your website.
Font Awesome
We’ve all seen them, those little colorful symbols that are used in lieu of actual text. The folks at font awesome.com have created a WordPress plugin that allows you to easily integrate these symbols into your website. Simply go to the plugin’s Settings page and then you can choose from a number of pre-designed options to use. As you can see, the plugin makes it very easy to add a splash of color and personality to your website’s content.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article has provided you with enough information to allow you to add a preloader image to your next WordPress installation. The image should be fairly simple to find as it is quite common to have a site populated with several of these images. If you followed the above instructions, you should be able to add a preloader to your site quite easily. In doing so, you’ll give your readers and viewers the impression that your content is eagerly waiting to be experienced.