[thelist] ASP + Flash detection?
aardvark
roselli at earthlink.net
Thu Sep 13 19:19:47 CDT 2001
> From: "Flavia Silveira-Tarzwell (FayeC)" <fayec at canada.com>
[...]
> My associate and I have been discussing the pros and cons about using
> Flash on the company's site. He argues that we would be excluding a
> lot of would-be clients from seeing our site. I argue that the numbers
> are not that big and that we look kind of outdated by not using at
> least a little bit of Flash on the site (i.e. navigation or funky
well, you would exclude me... i've set my security settings at work
to not play Flash... at home, i've done the same, but the 33.6
connection makes it necessary (that and the fact that this machine
is a P133 that's over 5 years old and is always running at least 8
other applications -- it probably couldn't run the Flash without
chunking horribly)...
also, configuration issues pop up... just because you may have
users on all NN4+ and IE4+, who are supposed to have Flash by
default, doesn't mean they have the right version, or won't get
prompted to install it... hell, when i do have it enabled, a lot of sites
ask me to install it again, and i have the 5.0 plug-in...
i also disagree that you'd look out-of-date... if anything, not having
an accessible site, considering all the laws and press of the last
few months, would make you look out-of-date...
> animation). I told him that we had the option of creating two sites
> and then including a flash player detection on the flash site and in
> case one didn't have the player then one would be seemlessly taken to
well, if you like doing twice the work, sure... build two sites... but
that seems kind of silly, now, doesn't it? why would you want to
do that?
> the html site instead... He said it would be too much trouble and that
> we should do it using Flash (IF no player THEN load javascript/img
using Flash to detect Flash is my preferred way to do it... default to
non-Flash, but let a Flash movie move the user along for those who
have it...
> navigation...) Now I have 2 questions... #1 - What is the percentage
> of ppeople out there still using 3.0/or non-flash enabled browsers and
> how bad it would be to have a Flash site (only). Bear in mind that
the client is irrelevent... print/web design doesn't automatically
mean that qualifies them for anything... the *user* base is,
however, relevent...
as for percentages, i can't tell you that, you need to look at your
own logs and make some assumptions based on inadequate
date... Macromedia will tell you most users have it... my own
experience will suggest that maybe 3/4 of users of many of my
sites have it... now you need to see how many users of your site
will have it... not having that information in advance is a pretty poor
way to embark on a project like this...
> it's a web/print design company. #2 - How can I include a flash player
> detection in ASP?
well, ASP doesn't do that on its own... you need some sort of
client-side work to get the info, and then pass it on... and given
how IE for the Mac doesn't offer plug-in info, it seems kind of
pointless...
that being said, go to
http://browserhawk.com/products/bhawk/new.asp and see if their
BrowserHawk utility can help... it requires some negotiation
between the browser and server, and it allows you to use ASP to
manipulate the info you get (like plug-in detection)...
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