Is there a way to make it pick a random starter image when you load a page and then transition to another random image after the time is up, instead of the next one in the folder alphabetically?

Once I get that figured out I figure I'll re-implement the smooth image transition shown in this forum already although I think that's a great feature to be included in the theme itself down the road, perhaps.

edit: ack and with the slideshow disabled it doesn't work around the caching!

someone will have to code a random function into the java script. Are you willing to finance the time it takes?

I've been tinkering with the existing code & combining the random image with the image fade. I've gotten that to work but I'm not using it right now because I can't figure out how to get the initial header image that appears to go away. When a page is loaded it would flash an image for less than a second then fade in to the slideshow and continue as normal from there.

Unfortunately I haven't cracked where that first image is coming from (it's not the same image each time and it doesn't seem to be a caching issue either browser or server side). Once I do I'd be happy to share my [hacked] code with anyone interested in setting up something similar. If you have any suggestions on where to look please let me know. I'll spend more time working on it later today if I am feeling better.

Even with just the stock 3.4.9 theme it seemed to be flickering that first image. One thing I may try is reinstalling the theme and then testing it again before reintroducing any modifications. I was doing a lot of wrenching under the hood last night and possibly messed up something that I don't recall doing.