For better or worse?

JPnyc · 08-14-2006, 07:40 PM

I like the new one better.

mac.FINN · 08-14-2006, 07:54 PM

new one's better. It's not fantastic but it's simple and not over done (like so much flash is). Plus the old one was kinda drab.

AlexNJ210 · 08-14-2006, 08:20 PM

i like the new one too, but the navigation tabs at the top are really hard to read. They need to have a background or change their color. Overall the site looks nice, its now a matter of refining.

JPnyc · 08-14-2006, 08:49 PM

Yeah, that's true, until you mouseover'em, they're VERY hard to read.

Patrick Shannon · 08-14-2006, 09:20 PM

Agreed on all counts, I think the new one has more life to it, not to mention I also agree about the nav being too hard to read until hovered over.

I noticed that Internet Explorer is locking the Flash until you click on it....due to the Eolas/Active X block, look it up. Use SWFObject on the Flash (look it up too), it'll get around that nicely, validate the XHTML and with a little simple manipulation, you can present an alternate graphic/nav to those without Flash.

JPnyc · 08-14-2006, 09:22 PM

Odd, mine doesn't do that, and I have auto-updates on, so I must be current.

Patrick Shannon · 08-14-2006, 09:30 PM

Even though it's supposed to, it doesn't always update on some browsers. We had to manually update one computer for the Flash block, though another computer got the update automatically.

Internet Explorer 7 has it regardless, so good to be ready for that.

Igor · 08-14-2006, 10:04 PM

Guys, thank you so much for the kind advice. I also agree the menu is hard to read, i will correct it.

Regarding the flash locking up i have wondered how to avoid that. Patrick could you please explain more in detail how i should alter the flash file to avoid it?

JPnyc · 08-14-2006, 10:06 PM

I use an IE shell though. I can block or unblock it from the toolbar.

Patrick Shannon · 08-14-2006, 11:50 PM

Originally posted by Igor

Guys, thank you so much for the kind advice. I also agree the menu is hard to read, i will correct it.

Regarding the flash locking up i have wondered how to avoid that. Patrick could you please explain more in detail how i should alter the flash file to avoid it?

You don't alter the Flash, you alter the way you place it on the page.

SWFObject: http://blog.deconcept.com/swfobject/

Igor · 08-15-2006, 12:32 AM

Thanks! That site seems to explain it very well. I will play around with it tomorrow.

Igor · 08-15-2006, 12:05 PM

Trying to do my homework. I have a new version now with a more visible menu (i think).

http://www.ocean-discovery.org/index5.html

I also included the SWFobject script. It seems to solve the issue with tha flash file being blocked. There is one thing i am not sure if i understand correctley. If the visitor don´t have flash installed i want to redirect to a page without flash. There is a parameter called redirectUrl that should take care of this. The following is my script, will this work? Have i done the redirectURL script correct? Can anyone that does not have flash test this please? Can i disable flash temporaraly to test this BTW? If working correctley it should redirect to http://www.ocean-discovery.org

<script type="text/javascript">
var so = new SWFObject("flashOD-final.swf", "movie", "790", "163", "6", "#336699");
so.addParam("loop", "false");
so.setAttribute('redirectUrl', 'http://www.ocean-discovery.org/');
so.write("flashcontent");
</script>

EDIT: I uninstalled the flash player and the redirect seem to works as intended.

Patrick Shannon · 08-15-2006, 02:16 PM

Definitely more readable. If you wanted the nav to stand out a little bit more, I think it'd be smart to at least experiment with matching the light blue in "Ocean" (nav text looks just a little darker than it).

Also, if you wanted to avoid a redirect altogether, you could place an alternative graphic in between your Flash div (like a regular image banner and traditional text links) that will show if the user doesn't have Flash installed. Accessible for everyone

For better or worse?

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