Making
Flash Accessible
SMW Staff Writer
November 17, 1999
Macromedia
Flash is quickly becoming one of the world's most utilized multimedia
technologies for the Internet. It is one of the fastest growing
plugin progams available, and its capabilities are continuously
being pushed farther.
So,
what's the catch?
It's
plugin software. That means there are pros and cons to its use.
Flash
Pros and Cons
PRO:
Flash is free plugin software that enhances your internet
browser.
CON:
It doesn't come with every browser by default, so you
(or the visitors to your site) may have to download and install
it; a process that is very annoying to some people, and tends
to scare some away.
PRO:
Macromedia claims that three out of four browsers currently
have the Flash Plugin. (Check for yourself at the Flash
Player download statistics page.)
CON:
The stats may be true, but they count all versions of
the Flash Player. That is, not only the latest, greatest version,
Flash 4, but also Flash 2 and 3. That is not good enough if
you are using Flash 4 on your site.
PRO:
Unlike most other plugin software, Flash does come by
default with some browsers. Currently, the following software
includes Flash:
- Windows
98: Flash v. 2.1
- Internet
Explorer 5: Flash v. 3
- Netscape
4: Flash v. 3
CON:
The facts may have changed by the time you read this but, currently,
almost no software has the latest version of Flash (Flash 4)
installed as the default.
PRO:
Flash is available for most of the platforms available: Windows,
Macintosh and Linux.
PRO:
But most importantly, you can do some really great things with
Flash which makes any of the problems worth overcoming.
Want
proof? For some samples of what Flash 4 is capable of, you may
want to visit the entertainment site, shockwave.com.
Here, you will find free streaming [playing while downloading]
games and music, as well as Dilbert and South Park cartoons.
You
may also wish to visit the Macromedia Sites
with Life gallery, to view technically impressive, beautiful
interactive websites like none you've ever seen before.
Now
that you know the pros and cons, and have seen some good Flash
sites, its time to learn how to overcome
the CONs.
.