View Full Version : Seurity Warning popup?
Hello,
First of all thanks Powweb for the needed 45gig trans,, BIG PLUS!
I am using a flash player to show a ticker on my site. IT updates a auction list and then plays the items recently posted. But I have had some users scared to push the yes on the security warning to install the flash palyer, from macromedia.
Is there a way to tell it that if the player is not present to forget it and continue, or to make the player load automaticlly.
If I cant find a solution to this I will be forced to remove macromedia and place a javascript ticker instead since it works on cross browsers pretty well.
I am open to any help you may provide me ..
here is the site,
http://www.Gutterbids.com
Thank you Gutterbids Auctions
On any site I build, I put a notice that the site requires or uses Flash.
Thanks for that but I'm looking for a more solid solution, since my site must be very user friendly, telling people they must have flash is not friendly and makes people a little scared if they should push that yes button to install it.
Is there a if statement I can place to tell the browser to pass this up if its not installed?
freddythunder
6-22-03, 05:26 AM
Check this out, maybe it will help:
http://www.kirupa.com/developer/mx/detection.htm
Not sure if this helps but,
Instead of telling them they need flash, write something like this:
What is Macromedia Flash and why do I need it to view this website?
Add a question mark gif or something next to it and make the whole thing link to a page explaining what flash plugin is and why it is safe. If thats not enough point them to a site that needs the flash plugin that they know is safe. For example, Microsoft has some demos that use flash plugins or any major well known company that uses a flash plugin. That way they can go download it from them where they feel it is safe and then they can come back to your site.
Originally posted by twist
What is Macromedia Flash a useless piece of fluff that makes words crawl around your screen while you look at your fingernails, whistle and go make a cup of tea.
and why do I need it to view this website?becasue the designer of this site wants to waste your time, and has the idea that the internet should look like a primitive form of tv commercial.
99.99% of flash on the web is useless, worthless, boring, slow and irritating. and you know it's true! you KNOW it's true! put that on your index page.
but really, there's only one site i've ever seen that makes a decent use of flash: http://billyblob.com/
yours truly, in sickness and in health,
gG
freddythunder
6-28-03, 04:16 PM
I think Flash is great. And if you think that the internet isn't going to turn into tv, I think you're in for an upset. Just saying...
I do websites in Flash and think it's a lot better to add music and sounds, interactivity, games, and added content than just a boring page where nothing happens. (Unless you use applets that are more processor intensive than Flash)
However, if you like that site that you mentioned, you should check these out - they're more Flash cartoon sites. They're funny as hell!!
http://www.joecartoon.com
http://www.jibjab.com
Good stuff. Too bad you feel that way about Flash, the statistics are definately against you.
And twist - check out those links in the other thread that we're talking in, the kirupa one alone should answer both you questions.
I'd have to agree with Galexia, since removing flash from my PC I have not missed anything but comercials making noises and flying accross my screen, and they are not missed much at all.
I'm better off without it.
Brad.
Originally posted by galexia
a useless piece of fluff that makes words crawl around your screen while you look at your fingernails, whistle and go make a cup of tea.
becasue the designer of this site wants to waste your time, and has the idea that the internet should look like a primitive form of tv commercial.
99.99% of flash on the web is useless, worthless, boring, slow and irritating. and you know it's true! you KNOW it's true! put that on your index page.
This is potential fodder for a flame war, but I would rather not take it in that direction.
Instead I will be glad to point out a few facts also.
First off...
1) A bad programmer is a bad programmer, Windows operating system has had some big ups and down, but I wouldn't denounce the C language or any derivitave of the C language for this reason. If I were to install some tax software on my computer and the software made a huge error and I get audited, I wouldn't start saying that gall-darn C language, what a piece of crap, I hate C and everyone who codes in it is a fool. Sounds pretty ignorant blaming a piece of software for bad programming.
2) I have seen enough poorly written javascript sites to make me hurl. Overtely complex menus, little things following my mouse, stuff that doesn't work in half the browsers out there. Personally, I use as absolutely little Javascript as possible, takes to much time dealing with cross-browser problems. This also applies to CSS, which of course I can't live without. It's very usefull but can be very flaky in cross-browser situations.
3) Size does matter. A very popular thing I see on the internet today is rollover buttons. These usually require 2 seperate images and some javascript coding. Now lets say you want to use these buttons to create a menu. You will need 2 images for every item on the menu plus some javascript code to control each item. Not to mention a pre-loader script if you don't want that 1/2 second or so glitch on the first rollover due to the second image not being loaded. If we think of page load time as cost, we have to add 2 images per rollover, a function to initiate the rolloever, and another function to preload the images. Time is money. We have to use a program to create each one of these images seperately ( a menu of 8 items = 16 gifs ). We have to write all the code and possibly do some cross-browser checking. With all the coding and pictures your looking at anywhere between about 9,000k & 20,000k to be conservative and about 2 hours of your time unless you just copy someone else's script.
4) If a person disables Javascript (very rare) in there browser, your page may also become completely useless to them.
Why use flash...
1) Creating a similiar rollover menu in flash compared to javascript. Flash only needs 1 file no matter how many items on the menu. Since flash uses vectors as oppessed to rastar images without animation flash files can become extremely smaller. As long as you stay within the same font, any letter you use in your menu that is reapeated adds nothing to the file size. That is only the beginning, you can make flash use device fonts, which means it can write text without adding anything to file size. A rollover could be nothing more than a few bytes of information change. Adding corners and angles into the flash menu also add almost nothing.
2) When I design something in flash, I concern myself very little with cross-browser issues. If a browser supports flash, which all major browsers do, then my flash will look the same no matter what browser I view it in. I do not have to spend time loading up each browser and checking for errors. Exception of course is actionscripting, but that is another topic altogether.
3) If your a good flash programmer you can create things in minutes that could take you hours with another program. I even make all my gifs using flash instead of using a photo editing program. Flash is also the easiest program I know of to make animated gifs with. Flash supports jpegs, gifs, bmps, mp3s, and a host of other things. Meaning, a person might not have mp3 support on their computer, doesn't matter if the mp3 is built into the flash file, all they need is the flash player.
I should really stop now, I could go on much longer.
I hate to do this because I hate unfinished work, but here is a website I was working on until another project took priority. It isn't finished and I have no plans on finishing it for some time. I just want to show a quick example on how flash can be used.
Before you look at it, know these things. The website is broken so please don't try to login or anything like that, the only button I would like you to click is the 'Style' button in the upper right-hand corner.
flashko.com (http://www.flashko.com/)
--For reference on the green page--
The menu is 2,844 bytes
The top menu is 2,687 bytes
The login menu is 3,246 bytes
The logo 685 bytes
The phpbb part is 2,112 bytes.
The word news is 488 bytes.
Total = 12,062 bytes or 96,496 bits
A 56k modem gets about 48,000 bits per second so...
96,496/48,000 = 2.01 seconds to load
In comparison,
Microsofts homepage = 90,112 bytes = 720,896 bits
720,896/48000 = 15.01 seconds to load
www.PCast.com
175,415 bytes = 1,403,320 bits
1,403,320/48,000 = 29.24 seconds to load
Well, your advice on uninstalling flash Brad may be usefull to some.
My advice to you might be to keep your homepage under a 29 second load time. Broadband isn't everywhere yet. :D
freddythunder
6-28-03, 07:50 PM
Uninstalling Flash is good if you can't stand Flash ads now found as often as popup adds, however, there are tons and tons of websites that are either all-Flash or have some flash objects in them. Without the player, you wouldn't get all the content. Some would say, well, then that site isn't worth my time...okay...that's their prerogative. I think it's too bad.
I forgot about the size thing and the javascript rollOver situation. I have a site that uses flash for a calender and the navigation. The navigation has fully animated buttons, sound and lots of color and it's 2K. Not too shabby.
I also just did a project for my father who also does web design in a different state. I made him a bank of buttons in flash which targets new windows in another frame. With an accompanying text file, you can change the color of the buttons and the text on all the buttons without needing to change the flash file.
...oh yeah, and it loads quicker...:D
Flash is great. I took a project that would've ended up being 5+MB and stuffed it into 300KB. It would've been less if I hadn't run out of time and had to put a chunk of it as html. Anyway, Flash is cool if it's used correctly.
El Diablo
7-6-03, 08:18 PM
Originally posted by satis
Flash is great. I took a project that would've ended up being 5+MB and stuffed it into 300KB. It would've been less if I hadn't run out of time and had to put a chunk of it as html. Anyway, Flash is cool if it's used correctly.
Couldn't agree with ya more. Everything has a balance somewhat. Overdoing it just simply kills it.
You can check for Flash with a bit of JavaScript code. Here's an example from Macromedia's web site that will give you an idea:
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
if (navigator.mimeTypes['application/x-shockwave-flash']){
document.write('This browser can read Shockwave files created with Flash 2.0');
}
else if (navigator.mimeTypes['application/futuresplash']){
document.write('This browser can only read Shockwave Flash files saved in .spl (Flash 1.0) format.');
}
else {
document.write('This browser cannot read Shockwave Flash files.');
}
</SCRIPT>
Rather than just writing a message you could substitute an alternative graphic or switch to a non-Flash page. There's probably also a way to check for a specific Flash version, but I can't find it quickly.
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