How idiot proof is flash

[Fat Fighter]

If I'm designing a site. And some elements are flash, how safe is it to assume that most browsers/computers will be able to view it. Saving it at Macromedia 4 level?

[shamalive]

If I'm designing a site. And some elements are flash, how safe is it to assume that most browsers/computers will be able to view it. Saving it at Macromedia 4 level?


I hate flash sites, they're annoying,
Less is more.

[Allergic!]

lesson 1:never assume anything about your user

[Fat Fighter]

I have to assume a few things, hence the asking of the question. I want to figure out how much I can.

For instance, I'm assuming they're using a browser to look at the website. With that in mind, if there's a small flash element (not a flash site), are there certain machines/browsers that won't even see/play SWF4 files?

[whats in my pocket]

All browsers will support flash (explorer, mozilla), thats why its used to make websites, online games etc.. But the only problem is, will the user have it installed already and will they have the current version. Another thing is keep the site small, if you have to wait more then a second for a site to open the user will leave(thinking theres something wrong). These everyone will have it but not a lot of people like the idea of a flash website. I like them myself (but thats just me)

[Allergic!]

ya,what he said ^
Talked about this yesterday with another user.
Only use Flash if you need to,dont use it just cause it's Flash if ya get me.
It does piss people off if they have to download something just to see it. As for the waiting,an interesting Preloader can make the wait more bearable.

[whats in my pocket]

FF, what do you mena by some elements been flash, will you have a normal HTML site and flash animations on the screen aswell.


what is the site for?

[Fat Fighter]

When I say elements, recently I've been designing sites, and using Swish to make mouseover menus. Rather than using preloaded mouse-over images, I've found that the flash files can be tiny (7-8kb) if done cleverly. So I can have a HTML site with a swf menu. This also means that there is no download time, and can be quicker than your standard mouseover menu (if that's the effect you want)

As of yet I've not had any problems from any browsers, but I was just thinking how safe it is to assume that most people will be alright. For an example, here's a site I did for a wedding band, there's a flash intro, and flash menu, but everything else is HTML (forget the intro, I'm more concerned about the menu, and I know it's frames, and that's another web-nazi no no, but it is what it is)
www.vertigoband.com

[whats in my pocket]

You seem to know what your doing so all i can really say is that if the user hasn't got it they will be given the option to download the latest version