[SWFObject] Still......

[Becky Kinney]

It sounds to me like your client is using some browsers that do not support framesets properly. Fixing that is going to be much harder than upgrading Flash. Most likely the easiest way to deal with it would be to upgrade the browser. It doesn't sound as if your client is going to be happy with that answer.

I think you are going to have to stop using framesets, and push the version of Flash you are requiring as low as possible. For the page in question, I don't see anything you could not handle with Flash4, or even Flash3. All I see is some rotating images, and links with rollovers, which, frankly, you could create without using Flash at all. 

Regardless of the version you choose, you should always give users a link to the Flash upgrade, if you determine that they do not have what they need OR if it is not possible to determine what they have. SWFObject gives you some relatively easy ways to do this. If you test for the version of the browser you need, and put a link to the plugin in either the flashcontent div or in a <noscript> anywhere else on the page, then in theory users will see the link when they need it. If you are finding that your flashcontent link is disappearing even when users have too low a version of the plugin, I can only assume that the browser is not interpreting your javascript correctly. I don't know how likely that is, but if the browser is so old it doesn't understand frames, perhaps it also doesn't understand how to check for plugin versions. 

I would ask what version of IE is failing, and then I would do a bit of research. You might be able to convince your client that they need to upgrade their browsers, not because of your page design, but because of unpatched security vulnerabilities in the older browser versions. If they are using a version of IE which Microsoft no longer supports, then any vulnerabilities which were discovered after the last support data would be unpatched. Of course, a computer that is still running IE 3 probably has not had it's critical updates attended to either, wihch leaves me wondering how it is still on it's feet at all.

Becky

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Stephen M. Rapp 
  To: swfobject at lists.deconcept.com 
  Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2006 11:39 PM
  Subject: [SWFObject] Still......


  I got this following message from a client. This came after a great deal of work by a gracious Aran. I'm a little under qualified to answer. What should I say? Or How can this be dealt with? Is the only option upgrade or redesign?


  The issue is a swf menu on the left of www.pisgahforestinstitute.org


  "We still have the Flash compatability problem as a common problem with early versions of Explorer. We want to keep the option visible that directs users to the proper website to download the necessary flash updates (as you had posted earlier). The biggest problem with Flash is not the lack of the graphics across the top, but the fact that the left toolbar doesn’t work; is there a way of getting around the toolbar problem by using a lesser version of Flash? The site map is also difficult to use because it opens up a new frame for each click, with no way of navigating the site except for using the back button; we want this site map to operate essentially as a web-site without the Flash version.


  We noticed all these problems when we showed the site off to our funding agency over the weekend. As I mentioned, they loved the website, but we had to move locations to find a computer that had all the upgrades. What showed up on the lower-version computer was: no left toolbar, no way to easily be directed to an upgrade, and no way to navigate using the site map. If some of our college computers have this problem, we know that teachers using home computers or school computers will also experience them.  We’d like those things fixed as part of your webmaster contract. We are pleased with the product, but just want it to function as we need. Thanks for your effort and the work you have put into the site. We all want to be proud of it."


  Stephen


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