[surferboy]

Can you see THIS? It works on two of my computers and not on another (the small flash intro). I wonder if flash 8 is not installed on the other computer. If that's the issue, how do I send the user a message suggesting they upgrad? Alternatively, what's the real benefit of flash 8 versus 7 for something lke this?

[steveedge]

Yes, it works. I think you have a version problem on that one computer. As with all Flash you ultimately have to hope that your intended audience has a compatible version.
Flash detection kit.
http://www.macromedia.com/software/f...detection_kit/

[piot]

I am not going to upgrade to Flash 8 just to see a small animation. And a lot of other people won't bother either.

Is it not possible to just output the .swf file to a previous version reader ?

[surferboy]

Yes, but it tends not to look as good, and the file size is bigger. I've enlisted some help to try to reduce the file size and keep quality.

Good input. Thanks.

[skalie]

Originally Posted by piot

I am not going to upgrade to Flash 8 just to see a small animation. And a lot of other people won't bother either.

Is it not possible to just output the .swf file to a previous version reader ?

Er, why not?

As it goes, it's possible that you're missing content not having the Flash 8 player installed, and you won't even know it.

Flash movies published as Flash 8 don't show stuff like, er, text, when viewed in older players.

I had to do a player detection routine to determine if the visitors to my site could see the navigation.

Which sucks, btw.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

i think piot is right —

people may want to upgrade to visit "U2.com" or "spidermanmovie.com" but not your sports medicine site. you need to use an older flash or find another way. this solution doesn't make sense for the site of which you are building.

[skalie]

Agreed, only publish in Flash 8 when necessary.

[tooki]

Correction: only publish anything in Flash when it actually adds value. 99% of the Flash used doesn't.

tooki

[surferboy]

Lot of good points. The new flash detection kit is unintrussive- if a player choose "no" to upgrade- they just get directed to a different page with a static picture (alternative html). I agree about flash in general- I'm not a "flashy" guy. But I think a little motion with tastefull fades and a subtle message is OK. The only reason I chose flash 8 is because I am not smart enough to compress thing small enough with flash 7 to be an acceptable size with good quality. On the other hand, Flash 8 does both well.

I also know next to nothing about Flash authoring, so I actually had to make the little intro in keynote, export it to quicktime and import that into flash. I'm sure if I just took the original material (a few gif's, some words, and fades between them) and did it all in flash- it would be a lot leaner and crisp. But, I don't know how to do much in flash. If there is anyone out there who is willing to take a crack at it, I'll zip the files and send 'em over. I'd love to see if this can be done all within flash 7.

Any takers?

[piot]

OK Surferboy .... I give up! I installed Flashplayer 8 just to see what all the fuss is about.

1. Your file is 1.6MB ! If you had built this WITH Flash it could be anything between 10 to 20 times SMALLER.

2. You DON'T need a previous version of Flash to output the swf file for older versions of the reader. Look under "publish settings/Flash".

3. Yeah I like a bit o Flash meself ..... but not 1.6 MB for a mini slide show. See no 1 again.

4. No. Your site does not look like the site formerly known as macromedia.com

[Love Calm Quiet]

Even on dsl, I tend to have two reactions to a Flash intro:
1) Click on the "skip intro" button.
2) If no "skip intro" button, browse elsewhere.

I'm with Tooki: don't make the essence of your site flash (unless you own MM stock).

[See rant thread elsewhere about aggravation of not being able to print that part of window w/Flash... and my inability to guess whether I didn't have most recent Flash. What about the Geekless audiences? Think they're even going to have a clue whether they should WONDER whether version # is an issue? ] </rant2>

[Love Calm Quiet]

Originally Posted by tooki

Correction: only publish anything in Flash when it actually adds value. 99% of the Flash used doesn't.

tooki

<rantcontinuation>
Upping ante on Tooki:
"Only publish anything exclusively in Flash when you don't care about losing sales to a big chunk of your audience."

Corollary: "To discourage further any interest in your product/information: using the VERY latest flash technology, lest too many viewers have new enough systems that the Flash version you're using be up to date."
</rant>

[skalie]

Google and Yahoo are using Flash for their video presentations as of late.






btw

[surferboy]

I'm glad this post has generated a lot of discussion. The page I have posted above is old. I've redone it several times, the latest version is authored in flash 8 and is smaller. I did take steveedge's advice and made a version with the flash detection kit. A user has the option to upgrade and see the flash. If they choose "No", then they get redirected to an alternate page. If javascript is not enabled, then they see alternate html (whatever you want).

This seems to be the best option if you were going to go with flash 8. That said, I have made a decision to have someone who knows what they are doing just re-author the little intro in flash 7, making it look good with a smaller file size.

I also will build in a little flash detection- if they have no flash, they go to an alternate page with static images.

Like I said, I am not a "flashy" type, but a little crisp and suble motion on a page, in my opinion makes it a little more interesting. I think flash is ubiquitous. Seems that the news sites use it, etc. It also seems that flash 7 is pretty universally installed these days.

I think a lot of the flash backlash is because of the annoying, big, in-your-face flash pages out there that are unneccessary. My situation is a little different. That said, everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I was looking for more technical advice than anything. However, I love to hear all the opinions- it helps me make decisions.

If anyone is interested in seeing a flash 8 version that gives you an unintrusive option to upgrade, check out This. Thanks.