I gotta disagree with a few things ....
Instead of going through every folder everytime it should simply load the layout from a cachefile stored on the server.
This is unrelated to the internet speed/connection to server. No matter cached file or non-cached file, Imagevue would still need to load an identical XML file from the server. The only difference would be as you a proposing, is that an XML would be precreated/cached on server containing the folderlist data. As it is now, this task is done realtime/dynamically from server, and unless the server is some old trash, it will not take long to execute this code(usually less than a second, and then the loading time, which is compulsory no matter). Also, at worst, it will only load once per visit -
This would speed up some galleries where there are a lot of images and gallery folders
Loading folder structure and loading image lists is two separate actions. When viewing the slideshow, the current imagelist is cached after first visit...
In my gallery I have to wait 10-20s before the menu shows up (comes up with a "Loading menu..." until it finishes loading)
Thats preposterous ... May I see a link?
As for the caching of images, yes this setting only applies for the slideshow, but since the slideshow is the default method for displaying images in the latest release, we would consider that default. Unlike other web galleries which simply intrude on the users system and start loading all images in a folder, Imagevue is set to cache only a certain amount of images ahead. When I visit a gallery and view a picture, I dont want the gallery to be loading 500 images without my consent - Thats 50MB! What if I dont like it and want to exit gallery? Increasing the the cache value may slow down the audiotrack, description, and any other internet task you have running. If you want, you can set
cacheimages = 500, but I would not personally recommend it.
You do have a few valid points however - In a future version, we will most likely be utilizing more cookies. Eg. caching lists and directory structures through cookies (flash sharedObject) if configuration is set allow it ...