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('/');//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 = 0; //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
				
				$(allImgs[k]).load(function(){
					loaded++;
					//send updates to status elements if applicable
					if(settings.statusTextEl) {
						$(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 = $(settings.statusBarEl).width();
						$(settings.statusBarEl).css('background-position', -(barWidth-(barWidth*loaded/allImgs.length).toFixed(0))+'px 50%');
					}
				});
				k++;
			});
		}
	}//loop
	return allImgs;
}