Do images that are {display:none;} get downloaded by the browser?

As people experiment with multiple banners in their customization and turning one on and the other off for various different gallery configurations, I started wondering how smart the browser is about downloading images? If there are three banners in my page, but only one is going to actually display (the other two are {display:none;}), will the browser download all three images or is it smart enough not to download the ones that aren't going to display?

Are there any standards around this or is it one of those things that's browser dependent? Anyone know how any of the main browsers behave in this regard?

Originally Posted by jfriend Do images that are {display:none;} get downloaded by the browser?

That depends on the browser.

Originally Posted by jfriend As people experiment with multiple banners in their customization and turning one on and the other off for various different gallery configurations, I started wondering how smart the browser is about downloading images? If there are three banners in my page, but only one is going to actually display (the other two are {display:none;}), will the browser download all three images or is it smart enough not to download the ones that aren't going to display?

Most of today's browsers skip right over the html and do not load anything with the display:none style.

Originally Posted by jfriend Are there any standards around this or is it one of those things that's browser dependent? Anyone know how any of the main browsers behave in this regard?

It's browser dependent. If a person is using a browser that loads the display:none styles, then there isn't a way around it and vice versa (which is why you sometimes have to use visibility:hidden because all browsers actually load that part).