[TelaFirma]

Mike,

I seems like you have a few different things going on here. First with the load time. The first time that any page is loaded, it will take longer. This is when the images are generated the first time. So, if you have a product with 2 detailed images and a thumbnail then you will actually be generating up to 10 or more images that first time. 1 for the main product image, 4 small thumbnails (product, thumb, detail, detail) and then 5 larger images for the popups. The popup images are generated when the product pages loads so they will be able to be used in the JafaScript for the popup.

After the page is visited (by anyone) the first time, the image generation will not happen again (unless you change one of the parameters) and all the images will then be drawn from the cache directory. If this is not happening, then there is something out of the ordinary with your particular install or server configuration that we need to look at.

The variant images function just like the default X-Cart functionality with the addition of having them available for popup detailed images. If you have two variants, (one red and one blue) and have an image loaded for each variant then yes, it will generate small thumbnails for the main product image and then small thumbnails for each product variant image. When you change the options drop down to a different variant, the main product image will change to that variant image - just like default X-Cart functionality. The addition is that these small thumbnails are also shown below the main product image and are available for popups.

It sounds like you have something different that you need to happen with the variant images than what X-Cart does out of the box. When I look at your store it does not look like you are having X-Cart change the actual product image when you change the options but are only showing color "blocks" below your main image. In your particular case I would recommend still using variants (for the SKUs) but not using different images for all the variants. Instead use the color blocks as detail images. Variant images are only useful when you have full images of the variants. Otherwise they are just details of the overall products.

Contact me so that we can get this straightened out for you. I have many other people using this mod with variants and are not having these issues.