Re: An emergency - my life depends on it!

[Warren Payne]

Jonathan


This might not be what you want to hear, but I sometimes think that the

detection stuff can be a bit buggy, and that the only really safe way is to

either to assume that the user knows whether they have Flash or not and if

not get them to click the download button, or display a small Flash movie on

the home page - if they can see it, they have Flash and can proceed, if not

they need to download it.


Maybe I'm just lazy, but its what I do at our site (http://www.action.com )

and I haven't had any complaints about it. I'm currently considering using

the Smart Shockwave stuff, but at the moment it doesn't work perfectly - the

only thing the usually does is a plain ole' hyperlink to Macromedia!


Warren


PS I'm not American, but even us guys in the UK can sometimes help people

too!!


-----Original Message-----

From: Jonathan Baldwin <

jonathan [dot] baldwinukonline [dot] co [dot] uk

>

To: Flash <

flashermail [dot] chinwag [dot] com

>

Date: 20 April 1998 22:05

Subject: An emergency - my life depends on it!



>Hello all - I've got 66 digests to catch up on. Argh.

>

>Here's the problem. I was called in to a meeting today and virtually

>ordered to remove Flash from our company's web site because the IT boys

>think it doesn't work, and will put people off looking at the site. I

>used all the arguments about the download time being an investment etc

>etc. Deaf ears, I'm afraid. Using Flash, I've managed to keep the site to

>just 89k - as traditional GIFs and JPEGs I reckon it would've been over 1

>megabyte.

>

>It turns out the problem lies in the fact that the first-version site

>went up today for testing (very basic, hardly an award winner!) but

>everyone leapt at the chance of seeing it and was greeted with a message

>saying they didn't have the required plug-in.

>

>At the moment, the home page checks for the presence of the Flash

>plug-in, using Dreamweaver's built-in behaviour. If it's not present, you

>get a (currently very plain) 'you need Flash' message.

>

>Even after the plug-in has been downloaded, the message still comes up.

>

>I suggested the reason was that the script checks for Flash 2, whereas

>the plug-in downloaded is now version 3. However, even with the version 2

>plug-in installed, I still seem to get the message. What's going on?

>

>Please take a look at http://www.hrpc.co.uk and see what happens.

>

>What I need is to know what code I should include on the home page to

>check for any version of Flash (at least version 2). If the plug-in is

>present, the page should download as normal, if not it should go to a

>page called 'getflash.html'

>

>Please email me privately (as well as responding to the list if this

>problem sounds like it might be useful to others) at:

>

jonathan [dot] baldwinukonline [dot] co [dot] uk

>

>Unfortunately I can't access the code I used on the homepage without

>going back to the office, but I really need a solution before then - I'm

>hoping the time difference will mean some of you Americans will be able

>to save my career! (it really is that serious...)

>

>I'm annoyed of course that the problem was broadcast all over the place

>instead of first being discussed with me so it could be sorted out.

>Surely that's the point of testing a web site before going public?

>

>Anyway, hope someone can help.

>

>Cheers

>

>Jonathan

>

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