[thelist] Reliable Flash detection

[Mike Migurski]

We've found the Flash Deployment Kit
(http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/download/deployment_kit/) to be
reliable and nearly indestructible. Combined with a little bit of backend
tweaking and a few cookies, it's part of a really tight package.

-mike.

>So what's the best way to detect if a browser uses Flash? What I've been
>doing is creating a small (3 second) Flash file on the index page that says
>"Detecting Flash..." then shoots visitors off to the flash intro/section
>right away. The index page also contains a 6 second meta refresh to shoot
>visitors the non flash part of the site (since the three second flash movie
>didn't load, they must not have flash installed.) The meta tag doesn't seem
>to start counting until the flash file is fully loaded.
>
>I've seen a way to do it with JavaScript, but this method doesn't seem to be
>as reliable (or simple) as the one I've described above. Am I wrong?
>
>Thoughts?
>
>Beau
>
>
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                   michal migurski     mike at cloudfactory.org
                  tel:415.385.1993     AIM:migurski
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"...the answer, as it comes at midnight, after all the other, patient
parental answers, the final, exhausted midnight-in-the-lamplight answer,
wheeling the poussette down the quai Voltaire, is the only answer there
is, the Bible's answer to Job: because that's the way the pupper master
chose to do it, because that's the way the guy who works the puppets likes
to see it done."
	- Adam Gopnik
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