function showWaitMessage() {  // implement blinking wait message via Javascript because IE doesn't support "text-decoration: blink"
 document.getElementById('caption').style.visibility = "visible";
 if (a == 0) setTimeout("hideWaitMessage()", 650);
}

function hideWaitMessage() {
 if (a == 0) document.getElementById('caption').style.visibility = "hidden";
 setTimeout("showWaitMessage()", 600);
}

function displayPicWaitMessage() {
 if (a == 0) {
  document.getElementById('caption').innerHTML = '<span class="highlight">::: Please wait while the picture is loading :::</\span>';
  showWaitMessage();
 }
}

function displayPageWaitMessage() {
  document.getElementById('caption').innerHTML = '<span class="highlight">::: Please wait while the page is loading :::</\span>';
  showWaitMessage();
}
 
function showPic(picNumber, firstLoad) {
 c = picNumber;  // Do not set "var c", else IE might fail to update the paremeter on fast machines if picture is cached.
 a = 0;  // On fast machines, if picture is cached, IE might execute 'showPicture()' before 'displayPicWaitMessage'. Hence 'a' must be set before the former function is called.

 document.getElementById('placeholder').src = pictures[c][2];
 document.getElementById('placeholder').onload = showPicture;
 
 if (firstLoad) {
  if (navigator.userAgent.match('MSIE') || navigator.userAgent.match('Opera')) showPicture();  // IE, Opera 8.x, 9.02 and higher fail to load 'showPicture()' on fast machines, if page is cached. Hence wait message disabled.
  else displayPageWaitMessage();
 }	
 else setTimeout("displayPicWaitMessage()", 100);

 function showPicture() {
  if (c == 0) document.getElementById('prev').innerHTML = '<img src="images/arrow_blank.gif">';
   else document.getElementById('prev').innerHTML = '<a href="' + pictures[c-1][2] + '" onclick="return showPic(' + (c - 1) + ')"><img src="images/arrow_left.gif" alt="PREVIOUS" title="Previous image"><\/a>';
  if (c == pictures.length - 1) document.getElementById('next').innerHTML = '<img src="images/arrow_blank.gif">';
   else document.getElementById('next').innerHTML = '<a href="' + pictures[c+1][2] + '" onclick="return showPic(' + (c + 1) + ')"><img src="images/arrow_right.gif" alt="NEXT" title="Next image"><\/a>'; 
  document.getElementById('caption').style.visibility = "visible";
  a = 1;  //stop blinking
  if (pictures[c][3]) document.getElementById('caption').innerHTML = pictures[c][3];
   else document.getElementById('caption').innerHTML = '&nbsp;';
  if (pictures[c][2] !== pictures[c][0]) document.getElementById('fullsize').innerHTML = '<a href="' + pictures[c][0] + '">FULL-SIZE<\/a>';
   else document.getElementById('fullsize').innerHTML = '';
 }

 return false;
}