Flash 361InteractivityFlashWeb Design in a Nutshell, eMatter EditionPercentLoaded() returns the percent of the.swf file that has streamed into
the browser.
In addition, you can activate JavaScript commands from within the Flash file.
Note that to use JavaScript to call methods in a Flash file, your<embed>and
<object> tags must have aname orid attribute (respectively).
For more information and instruction on using JavaScript with Flash, see
Macromedia’s Flash Technotes online athttp://www.macromedia.com/support/
flash/.Disadvantages
And on the downside...
Plug-in player required
Standard Flash files require the Shockwave Essentials or Flash players to be
installed on the user’s machine. Although this may seem like a small hurdle,
particularly since the Shockwave and Flash players are some of the most
popular and universally available plug-ins, the words “plug-in required” are
enough to make many clients say “no way” without a second thought.
To its credit, Macromedia has anticipated such resistance and has responded
with some alternative strategies. Flash Player Java Edition enables Flash files
to play on any Java-enabled browser. (Note that currently its performance is
dependent on Java and somewhat unreliable, but Macromedia is continually
working on providing optimized players.) The Flash authoring tool also
allows you to export your animation as a GIF, although you may need to
optimize it in a dedicated GIF animation utility.
In addition, they provide assistance in generating plug-in detection by
providing the Aftershock utility that ships with Flash 3. This utility will auto-
matically detect the browser configuration and will serve the appropriate
media whether it is native Flash, Java, or animated GIF. There are additional
JavaScript filters available athttp://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/how/
subjects/javaplugs/javaplugs.html.
Content is lost on nongraphical browsers
Using Flash movies for document headlines and navigation introduces the
same problems as using static graphics in place of text. People who cannot
view your Flash animation (or even an alternative GIF image) will not be able
to read your content.alttext helps, but is limited and not always reliable. In
addition, information in a Flash movie cannot be indexed or searched.
No support for Unix
Unix users currently cannot view nor create Flash movies. Macromedia is
evaluating various Unix playback strategies to support their open file format
initiative.
Expensive authoring software required
You currently need Macromedia’s Flash software to create Flash files. Flash 3
costs US$299 in retail boxes or US$269 from electronic software download
(ESD) as of this writing.