Re: FLASH: Flash detection problem solved

[John Croteau]

Hi Rob,


> > Today I have found out that the server was the fault freenetname.co.uk do

> > not support flash content, presumably they don't have the mime type set.

This is true.


> The mime type is not essential to view flash content. It will only affect

> Netscape vesions 3 or lower, and possibly Linux versions.

This is totally incorrect. The ONLY browsers that are immune to server

MIME problems are Windows versions of IE 3 and later. All other browsers

use the MIME type sent by the server. They may or may not have symptoms.

Netscape 4 has less problems than Netscape 3 but some visitors will

still have symptoms ranging from annoying popups, no pix to crashing

browsers.


> Moremodern browsers are considerably less dependant on MIME,

> as they should be able to figure out the filetype by the file extension

> (.swf, in this case). It's

> possible to add a TYPE parameter to your flash embedding tags, which will

> help older browsers to recognise the swf. format.

If you ad the TYPE parameter then most visitors will see content without

problems but some visitors no matter what version of Netscape, Mac IE,

or other browser they have, will have problems if the MIME is not set on

the server. The problem is you can not predict who will have a problem

and who will not have a problem.


For Instance I have versions of Netscape 3 and 4 installed and when I

visit a site with the MIME not set correctly often I will se no pix

and/or other symptoms on Netscape 3 but have a viewable site on Netscape

4. But other sites I will have the reverse and see the site with

Netscape 3 but not with Netscape 4. Other sites may display in both or

neither browsers.


The same identical browsers at two different locations can often get

completely different symptoms (one of which is a good pix).


There is no easy answer as to why some visitors will not get a good pix

and others will. But there is only one easy solution and that is to get

the MIME set.......


-- 

Coming Soon    Flash 4 Web Animation F/X and Design

  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576105555/flashcentral

-----------                               -----------------------

John Croteau

croteauerols [dot] com (mailto:croteauerols [dot] com)

-------------                             -------------------------

FlashTek  (Advanced Websites with Flash) http://www.FlashTek.com/

Flash Bible (Fast track to good Flash)  http://www.FlashBible.com/

Flash Central(The Universe Starts Here) http://www.FlashCentral.com/

The Flash Tech Resource (Tech Notes)   http://www.FlashCentral.com/tech/

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