Detection of the Flash Player


To set up detection of the Flash Player, go to File, Publish Settings in the Flash authoring environment and choose the HTML tab. Check the Detect Flash Version option to turn on Flash detection. The version to check for is automatically set to 8, but you can specify from which dot release you want to update. For example, if Macromedia makes a minor change to the player, it might be released as version 8.0.1.

Although it is true that over 94% of the web browsers include the Flash 7 Player plug-in, it still a good idea to provide non-Flash versions of any critical content for audiences that have older machines or browsers. For example, if you're using Flash for navigation of an HTML website, you might also want to include an HTML version of that navigation at the bottom of the page. Another option is to create two side-by-side sites, one HTML and one Flash-based, and send users to the correct version after detecting whether or not they have the Flash Player. In addition, offer a link on your page to the Flash Player download page to give users a non-automatic option to acquire the most recent player version.

The Macromedia website has a great resource for learning about Flash Player detection, including the new Express Install options, at http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer/download/detection_kit/.

As you can see, Flash has a lot of options for bringing in external data and resources. Although this chapter has focused mainly on data and images, the next chapter focuses on sound and video.



Special Edition Using Macromedia Studio 8
Special Edition Using Macromedia Studio 8
ISBN: 0789733854
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 337

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