An emergency - my life depends on it!

[Jonathan Baldwin]

Hello all - I've got 66 digests to catch up on. Argh.


Here's the problem. I was called in to a meeting today and virtually 

ordered to remove Flash from our company's web site because the IT boys 

think it doesn't work, and will put people off looking at the site. I 

used all the arguments about the download time being an investment etc 

etc. Deaf ears, I'm afraid. Using Flash, I've managed to keep the site to 

just 89k - as traditional GIFs and JPEGs I reckon it would've been over 1 

megabyte.


It turns out the problem lies in the fact that the first-version site 

went up today for testing (very basic, hardly an award winner!) but 

everyone leapt at the chance of seeing it and was greeted with a message 

saying they didn't have the required plug-in.


At the moment, the home page checks for the presence of the Flash 

plug-in, using Dreamweaver's built-in behaviour. If it's not present, you 

get a (currently very plain) 'you need Flash' message.


Even after the plug-in has been downloaded, the message still comes up.


I suggested the reason was that the script checks for Flash 2, whereas 

the plug-in downloaded is now version 3. However, even with the version 2 

plug-in installed, I still seem to get the message. What's going on?


Please take a look at http://www.hrpc.co.uk and see what happens.


What I need is to know what code I should include on the home page to 

check for any version of Flash (at least version 2). If the plug-in is 

present, the page should download as normal, if not it should go to a 

page called 'getflash.html'


Please email me privately (as well as responding to the list if this 

problem sounds like it might be useful to others) at:

jonathan [dot] baldwinukonline [dot] co [dot] uk

Unfortunately I can't access the code I used on the homepage without 

going back to the office, but I really need a solution before then - I'm 

hoping the time difference will mean some of you Americans will be able 

to save my career! (it really is that serious...)


I'm annoyed of course that the problem was broadcast all over the place 

instead of first being discussed with me so it could be sorted out. 

Surely that's the point of testing a web site before going public?


Anyway, hope someone can help.


Cheers


Jonathan


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