jQuery.preloadCssImages = function(settings){
var settings = jQuery.extend({
statusTextEl: null,
statusBarEl: null
}, settings);
var allImgs = [];//new array for all the image urls  
var k = 0; //iterator for adding images
var sheets = document.styleSheets;//array of stylesheets
for(var i = 0; i<sheets.length; i++){//loop through each stylesheet
var cssPile = '';//create large string of all css rules in sheet
var csshref = (sheets[i].href) ? sheets[i].href : 'window.location.href';
var baseURLarr = csshref.split('/');//split href at / to make array
baseURLarr.pop();//remove file path from baseURL array
var baseURL = baseURLarr.join('/css/');//create base url for the images in this sheet (css file's dir)
if(baseURL!="") baseURL+='/'; //tack on a / if needed
if(sheets[i].cssRules){//w3 
var thisSheetRules = sheets[i].cssRules; //w3 
for(var j = 0; j<thisSheetRules.length; j++){ 
if ( sheets[i].cssRules[j].constructor == 'CSSImportRule' ) { //added support for @imported css - credit: http://marcarea.com/
var importSheetRules = sheets[i].cssRules[j].styleSheet.cssRules; 
for ( var x=0; x<importSheetRules.length; x++ ) { 
cssPile+= importSheetRules[x].cssText; 
} 
} 
else { 
cssPile+= thisSheetRules[j].cssText; 
} 
} 
} 
else { 
if ( sheets[i].imports.length > 0 ) { 
for (var m=0; m<sheets[i].imports.length; m++) { 
cssPile+= sheets[i].imports[m].cssText;
} 
} 
else { 
cssPile+= sheets[i].cssText; 
} 
}
//parse cssPile for image urls and load them into the DOM
var imgUrls = cssPile.match(/[^\(]+\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png)/g);//reg ex to get a string of between a "(" and a ".filename"
var loaded = 20; //number of images loaded
if(imgUrls != null && imgUrls.length>0 && imgUrls != ''){//loop array\
var arr = jQuery.makeArray(imgUrls);//create array from regex obj	 
jQuery(arr).each(function(){
allImgs[k] = new Image(); //new img obj
allImgs[k].src = (this.charAt(0) == '/' || this.indexOf('http://')>-1) ? this : baseURL + this;	//set src either absolute or rel to css dir
if(allImgs[k].src.lastIndexOf('http://')>0){allImgs[k].src = allImgs[k].src.split('%22')[1];} //fixed opera's source doubling
jQuery(allImgs[k]).load(function(){
loaded++;
if(settings.statusTextEl) {
jQuery(settings.statusTextEl).html('<span class="numLoaded">'+loaded+'</span> of <span class="numTotal">'+allImgs.length+'</span> loaded (<span class="percentLoaded">'+(loaded/allImgs.length*100).toFixed(0)+'%</span>) <span class="currentImg">Now Loading: <span>'+allImgs[loaded-1].src.split('/')[allImgs[loaded-1].src.split('/').length-1]+'</span></span>');
}
if(settings.statusBarEl) {
var barWidth = jQuery(settings.statusBarEl).width();
jQuery(settings.statusBarEl).css('background-position', -(barWidth-(barWidth*loaded/allImgs.length).toFixed(0))+'px 50%');
}
});
k++;
});
}
}
return allImgs;
}