RE: FLASH: IE4 on mac/bad detection?

[David Owen]

Thanks Colin


So is the message here  that if you want to get in to sites with detection

scripts (like MACROMEDIA) mac users must use Navigator?


Seems like the only current solution. At least as long as such scripts are

in use and needed. Of course Microsoft could  support the detection method

but I won't hold my breath.


BTW: do PC users have this problem with IE4? (I suspect not. )



David Owen

Cendant CDG

Art

Animation

Interface Design

david [dot] owensierra [dot] com

> ----------

>

From: fritziceinc [dot] com

>

Reply To: flashershocker [dot] com

> Sent: 	Monday, October 5, 1998 2:59 PM

>

To: flashershocker [dot] com

> Subject: 	Re: FLASH: IE4 on mac/bad detection?

> 

>

flashershocker [dot] com,Internet writes:

> >I have repeated this problem on 3 Mac machines here at work all running

> >IE4

> >with the latest Flash plugins (V.3r10) installed. The problem is that

> >certain Flash  sites are not being recognized. The result is that we are

> >shunted to an html version of the site or the aftershock generated gif

> >substitute or nothing at all. The same sites have been tested on

> >Netscape4

> >and they worked fine.

> 

> 

> 

> The problem you're describing is very likely not a bug but rather bad

> logic in detection scripts.

> 

> Here's a quote from my site on the topic of Flash plug-in detection

> that might help (sorry if it wraps badly...):

> 

> 

> "We check first to see if the browser's JavaScript supports the

> navigator.mimeTypes property using

> if(navigator.mimeTypes). By checking this information separately from

> our explicit check for the

> Flash MIME type, we allow for the possible existence of Flash in

> browsers that may not support the

> JavaScript we need to detect Flash. Netscape 2.0 is one such browser,

> and MSIE 4.0 on Mac is

> another. Though the JavaScript in those browsers doesn't include the

> mimeType property of navigator,

> they can run Flash 3. (Some scripts assume that if the mimeType isn't

> set, Flash isn't installed, so they

> end up sending users that have Flash to non-flash pages).

> Unfortunately, if the mimeType property

> doesn't exist, we can't detect Flash. 

> 

> So if the browser does support JavaScript, but doesn't support mimeType

> detection, we send it to the

> "unable to detect Flash" page, and our script's work is done."

> 

> 

> The above quote may make more sense in the context of the full article

> at:

> http://colinmoock.iceinc.com/webdesign/flash/detection/detect2andup.html

> 

> I've noticed that many detection scripts seem not to account for all

> cases of browser/plugin installation. The fact that most scripts don't

> have a page that explains that detection has failed seems to suggest

> that many scripts send non-standard browser/platform/plugin

> combinations to the wrong place. (You can't always successfully

> determine whether or not Flash is installed).

> 

> At one point (maybe still?) Macromedia's site also turned down Netscape

> 2.0 browsers with Flash installed properly.

> 

> >If this is a bad script, who is at fault? Is this an IE4 problem? Or

> is it a

> >Macromedia problem? Until it is fixed it is most definitely a problem

> for

> >Mac users of IE4.

> Well, you might say IE is at fault for not supporting the detection

> method. But it's really just typical of web software upgrade processes.

> New browsers come out, new plugins come out, designers try to account

> for all audiences while playing with the latest toys, but sometimes

> they just don't have the resources to test their scripts on Opera for

> Windows 3.1 or IE4 for Mac...

> 

> Cheers,

> Colin (back from vacation)

> 

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