[Hidden-tech] Flash - Mozilla/Firefox display problem

[Adam Connor]

Hi Dan,
I actually use SWFObject whenever I use Flash on the web, as it does - 
as you pointed out -  help to circumvent some SEO and accessibility 
issues. I even got to spend some time with its creator at FlashForward 
Austin last year (if you get a chance to go this year - I would highly 
recommend it, its going to be in Boston)

The thing about Flash based sites is though in most cases they don't 
fit, there are times when they are appropriate, for example, in some of 
my work SEO doesn't really ever come into play and interactivity and 
animation is the goal.  In these instances, the teams I've worked on 
have met with awesome results and feedback building entirely Flash based 
sites.

I think everyone who has responded is in agreement that Flash is an 
awesome tool when used appropriately, and if anyone has gotten to see 
whats  new in Flash 9, you'll know that its only getting better.

-adam

Daniel Fried wrote:
>
> Adam,
>
>  
>
> I agree with most of your points, but I would encourage you to explore 
> SWFObject a bit further.  Some of its features include handling the 
> percentage scaling issue on Firefox (although your other comments 
> about scaling are most appropriate) and most importantly it gives you 
> the ability to include HTML which gets replaced by the Flash object 
> when the Javascript is run.  This means that you can include regular 
> text which a search engine can index or a message asking them to turn 
> Javascript on to see the site that will never be shown to users who 
> have Javascript enabled. 
>
>  
>
> Even so I agree with you about entirely Flash based websites, I argue 
> that there is no good time for an entirely Flash based website 
> although Flash can be well used as an accent or for components of a 
> site which require its special features.
>
>  
>
> -Dan
>
>  
>
> -----Original Message-----
> *From:* hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net 
> [mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] *On Behalf Of 
> *Adam Connor
> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 04, 2007 6:47 PM
> *To:* 'Mark & Mary Knox'; 'Hidden-Tech Tech'
> *Subject:* Re: [Hidden-tech] Flash - Mozilla/Firefox display problem
>
>  
>
> Hi Mark,
> Peter is correct, your issue is with Firefox's handling of percentage 
> based heights.
>
> However, I would second Michael Giles' comment that you should use 
> pixel based heights and widths in your HTML for this site.  Flash 
> Player's scaling for raster based images (i.e. your artworks) is not 
> so great (though it is getting better) and unless you have purposely 
> designed and scripted (scripting being the more important of the two 
> in this case) to make use of the various scaling options for the stage 
> in flash, pixels are most definitely the best way to go here.
>
> Regarding what Dan wrote about utilizing JavaScript to embed Flash, 
> while true, it is important to note that this adds the extra 
> requirement that users have JavaScript enabled.  At any given time 
> statistics show that between 5 and 10% of the user population have 
> JavaScript disabled.  So, for these users, when they view your site, 
> they would see nothing unless you provide non-Flash based content on 
> your site.
>
> Another issue with sites based entirely in Flash is that it hinders 
> the ability to optimize the site for both search engines (it doesn't 
> prevent it outright, just complicates things) and accessibility.
>
> I'm not trying to sound anti-Flash, I actually love Flash, work with 
> it all the time creating animations, applications and games, but I 
> find it best to look at it as a tool to be chosen when it best suits 
> the requirements of a given project.
>
> Adam Connor
> Little Green Toaster
> www.littlegreentoaster.com <http://www.littlegreentoaster.com>
>
> Daniel Fried wrote:
>
>    ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee.
>    ** You too can help the group
>    ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>    ** If you did, we all thank you.
>  
>  
> Mark,
>  
> One more thing to consider is that IE has an issue with Flash now (lawsuit
> for patent infringement... it was ugly).  You may notice that you now have
> to click once before IE will start enabling clicks.
>  
> There is a way to solve both issues at once, and that is using JavaScript to
> enable the Flash object.  You can find information on how to do that at
> http://blog.deconcept.com/swfobject/
>  
> There are some more robust JavaScript libraries out there for this purpose
> as well, but swfobject works nicely and has a nice description of how to use
> it.
>  
> -Dan
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net <mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net>
> [mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] On Behalf Of Michael
> Giles
> Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 10:05 AM
> To: Mark & Mary Knox
> Cc: Hidden-Tech Tech
> Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] Flash - Mozilla/Firefox display problem
>  
>    ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee.
>    ** You too can help the group
>    ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>    ** If you did, we all thank you.
>  
>  
> Mark,
>  
> I think your issue for Firefox is the width and height parameters in the 
> embed tag:
>  
> <embed src="menu.swf" quality="high" devicefont="true" bgcolor="#000000"
> width="100%" height="100%" name="menu" align="middle"
> allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
> pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" <http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer>></embed>
>  
> If you change those to pixels instead of  %, things seem to work on 
> Firefox.  I threw in "600px" for height and "900px" for width and your 
> flash appeared full size.  So if you know the actual/desired dimensions 
> of your flash presentation, just put those in instead of the %.  I'd 
> recommend making the same change in the <object> tag as well.  That will 
> actually make it appear consistently across all browsers.  With the 
> current settings, it scales with the browser window.  So if my window is 
> small, your text is illegible.
>  
> -Mike
>  
>  
> Mark & Mary Knox wrote:
>   
>>   ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee.
>>   ** You too can help the group
>>   ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>>   ** If you did, we all thank you.
>>  
>>  
>>  
>> Hi, I am new to hidden-tech and new to Flash. I recently published a 
>> web site using (newly learned) Flash. It displayed fine on Safari and 
>> Explorer, and I believe Netscape, but on Firefo not so good. The 
>> parameters for publishing in Flash MX 7.0 for the HTML shell weren't 
>> being recognized properly and it is displaying mocroscopic. Looking at 
>> Forefox's  attributes for the HTML display it indicates a number of 
>> unknowns.
>>  
>> I read a few comments from forums on the web, but so far haven't 
>> resolved the issue/ I do not know HTML. Any tips would be grateful.
>> the site is www.knoxworx.com <http://www.knoxworx.com>.
>>  
>> Thanks, and it is good knowing such talent and expertise is not so 
>> hidden in the area :)
>>  
>> Mark
>>  
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