title: jQuery Cycle Plugin: How to preload first images with a loading background gif then fade in Cycle Slideshow?
body: <p>I'm struggling with this, maybe some of you can help...</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><p>I have a home page slideshow with large images at www.theoribeiro.com using jQuery Cycle plugin</p></li>
  <li><p>Images are large and sometimes with slow connections (but even in fast ones) the behavior of the slideshow start is pretty ugly, showing the image all of a sudden or half-loaded.</p></li>
  <li><p>I want to make sure that at least the 2 or 3 first images are loaded before the slideshow starts and meanwhile I want to run a loading animated gif, then I want to fade in the first image. </p></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>I searched a lot on the internet and on the forums and tried loads of stuff with my limited knowledge of javascript and jQuery but could't come up with a solution.</p>
  
  <p>Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!</p>