What version of Flash to publish as... 1

[efteabb]

Good morning,

I am writing up some requirements material for some Flash development work that we are outsourcing in the coming weeks. The consulting company has indicated that:

We publish all our flash content as "flash 7"...

Does this mean users with old flash players will not be able to use this new content? Is this the most recent version (I thought version 8 was out around)? Is there a more "industry standard" setting that you would recommend instead?

Obviously we want to make our content viewable to as wider an audience as possible (without spending silly money to support browser combinations that don't feature very high in our current web logs).

Thanks for looking!

 

[pixl8r]

Look here.

http://www.macromedia.com/software/player_census/flashplayer/version_penetration.html

Hope it helps.

Wow JT that almost looked like you knew what you were doing!

 

[efteabb]

Thanks for that, pixl8r. Our log files indicate that only 0.5% or so of our visitors have Flash v5... and whilst 4-6% have Flash 6, a majority of them are obviously up to date. This is pretty much what those stats you linked to are saying, too.

If we wanted to offer support to users of the v6 flash player, would there be some stuff that just won't work?

The analogy I use is from Javascript - IE 5.0 doesn't support push() (whilst all the new versions do). So whilst we could deliver a solution for IE 5.0, we would avoid using push(). Is this kind of thing true of the differences between Flash 6 and Flash 7 (that most of it will work - and only to watch out when using certain features)?

I haven't found a description yet that goes into the differences between one and the other. I have found something that suggests Flash v6.79 and up is supported from Flash 8 (as an export option when publishing).

I hope this isn't too much off the rails.

Thanks for looking!

 

[oldnewbie]

Obviously you should try to publish to the lowest possible player, to reach the largest audience... Really depends on the unique features of Flash MX2004 or Flash 8 you'll be using or not, and if those are supported by the Flash 6 player.

Regards. Web Hosting - Web Design
03/13/05 -> OLDNEWBIE VS FLASHKIT

 

[pixl8r]

Yes that kind of thing exists. You are likely to run into the most issues between 6 and 7, and especially if you are using components.

Wow JT that almost looked like you knew what you were doing!

 

[efteabb]

Thank you for all your responses.

I've spoken with the supplier and they have agreed to deliver a Flash 6 compatible solution - along with the caveat that there may some reduced functionality. I think we'll manage by doing careful testing and feedback to them.

Thanks again!