I recently posted our yearbook to our site using Issuu. Today one of my classmates emailed me to let me know it doesn't work on his iPad. Then I remembered that Issuu uses Flash to create the page-turning effect. When I looked at our site on iPad, I found that the Issuu-produced yearbook not only doesn't play, it doesn't even show up! There is a blank space instead of the yearbook.

I also checked my music player—I used Playlist.com—and it doesn't show up either (of course, because it uses Flash).

I plan to add a comment on the pages of my site where a Flash application is used to advise people using iPad, iPhone, and iPod that they will not be able to see or use these features.

I was wondering if CC could add a project to your To-Do list to add code that would display a message when encountering a Flash application, e.g., Flash is needed to see/use this feature, so people won't see a blank space?

I think Issuu offers a wonderful solution for posting a yearbook on the site. The page-turning feature makes it feel like looking through a book, and the large file is stored on the Issuu database, so it doesn't add to my available space on CC. I read some threads about Issuu working to make changes so their products will display on iPad, but it seems to be a rather long-term solution, if ever.

I agree with the sentiment that Apple made a poor choice to wait for HTML5 and not include Flash capability on their products.

Alice

CC could provide a general script (+sample implementation code) that detects the ipad, iphone, etc and then we could use that to generate different pages. Not sure if I want CC (or if they easily can) to alter the code without my input - maybe if I get a choice. Also depends on how many would adopt the scripting approach.

There are other methods that can display a message, but they rely on specific ways of loading certain flash players, such as jwplayer which also does html5.

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My wife went to Sammamish - 1971. They are doing a reunion the old-fashioned way - phone calls and mail. I kid my wife that our "old" class is more advanced

The issue here is that you are adding 3rd party plugins and the code for these messages would need to be included in the embed code that you are providing. We have added such code to our own use of Flash in the past, however, we don't scan every single page that has been created by our users to look for such embed code, only to provide a message that tells the user that they cannot view something. The companies that build these embed codes could choose to include such code directly into their provided embed scripts, but that is up to them. You could possibly search for the detection code and add it to your embed code, but depending on the code you find, that may cause further complications.

Honestly, it is unfortunate that iPad and other iProducts do not have the Flash Player capability. However, most of the users of these devices are aware of the shortcoming and are used to the display issues that are associated with sites that use Flash.

Jack,

Thanks for your suggestion! Perhaps a good thought, but I think for the foreseeable future, it's up to us to keep track of what features on our sites use Flash. Also, when we add a 3rd party application that uses Flash, we should consider adding comments to our pages to let iPad users know they won't be able to see it. And, if feasible, provide an alternative way to post the information, i.e., in addition to the yearbook posted using Issuu, provide a link to a PDF of the yearbook. Takes much more space, so need to assess if practical.

Thanks for mentioning your wife's Sammamish alumni status...too bad they can't find any technical people from the 1971 class to do a website. We are certainly getting a lot of interest from our "old" 1961 classmates, whether they come to the reunion or not. Although, I must say, many are technically challenged...some don't even have computers.

Alice

Alice:

How about adding a line in small type just above the flash players to the effect that:

Quote:

Those who are living with iPads and iPhones already know that they can't view Flash (at least not yet), but seeing that note above the empty space could provide a clue to what they are missing.

Thanks, John, I am planning to add a note to explain the empty space, and you've given me the perfect text!

Alice

Scott Mastenbrook wrote:

That's one way, however, if a user has a script (independent of any particular flash player), they can control the code generated on the page. IOW, this script is in ADDITION to the flash object.

This works for ANYTHING. not just flash. It is not for everyone, but it is for those who want to take the next step up for their sites.

A typical example of this concept (that's probably been used a 1000 times on CC) are the falling snow/leaves scripts that detect IE vs NS to generate different position commands depending on browser.

To solve this particular problem in a simple way, all the script has to do is generate a message (as noted) only if it detects an Istuff..device. Not too complicated - inserting this script is about the same difficulty level as embedding the flash.

Now you have a clean uncluttered page and only a message when it's required.

That's what I meant about CC supplying a sample script.

edit: I'll play with this later and post scripted solution.

And here's a working example that displays

"Flash Player Supported" for regular browsers
or
"Flash Player Not Supported" for iPad, iPod, iPhone

I did that so you can "see" the results. A working version would not show the "supported" message.

(I only tested on iTouch, but should work for others - if not just need to get the correct name(s))

and here's the link - use view source to see how it work. Scroll down to < div id="ipad"> followed by the script at the very end - all the stuff before is CC code that you can ignore.

I kept the script very simple, but in the end the script would be different by passing an "id" so that only 1 copy could handle any number of flash objects on a page. I'd also store the script on the site making it even easier to use.

I'll do that later and also make a more complex output so you can see that it is very flexible as to what you want to show if flash is not supported.

I can explain further and can update this thread with the final version if anyone is interested.

Jack,
Yes, I'm interested in a final version of your script and an explanation. Looks like a way to handle. I tested your code on an iPad. Got the "Flash Player Not Supported" message.
Alice

Whew, you never know for sure it it works for everything. Now need an iPhone test, it's actually readable on that too - since an iTouch is basically the same size.

I'm adding the modifications to make it flexible yet easy to use. Then make a demonstration page, test it and then give another update. Probably tomorrow - or late tonight.

You will be able to put up an image or text (or any html, but that's another topic). Need to make a sample image to demonstrate that too since that's what I'm going to use also.

I originally wasn't worried about the iPad, but this motivated me, so thanks

Next step done - added optional graphic output and support for as many flash objects as you have on a page: same link

Still a test page with now 4 examples of modification - 2 text messages look the same, but are different in what they change. Probably overkill, but I needed to make sure all variations are tested.

There can be a message for Flash Present or Not Present or no message at all. For the "no message", nothing is modified, that's where you see a number on the screen. Either 3 or 4 depending on PC or iDevice browser. Text makes it easy to prototype your code and then move to the next stage.

More details tomorrow when I get a real flash replacement example and then it may make more sense when you see a more realistic application.

(and thanks to John C's iPhone test it's now been verified for iPad, iPhone and iTouch)

Added a typical music player - the one from Alice's page and shows how it's replaced by a message on iPad. On PC page will look "normal".

Stored script is now in our file vault, so I recommend the same for your site since I might change it more. This also makes source a bit cleaner, plus making it easy to modify script globally if something else comes up.

Script is referenced with scr="..." on the first