Member Avatar for milktray

Hi Im a newbie, so I hope I am posting in the right place....

Some advice if you can, I have a little flip book that works fine in Firefox and some versions of Explorer, Flash 9 with Actionscript 2,

Problem is for some people with older version of ie only get a blank white screen.... is there some coding in html that can make my whole thing more user friendly....

Thanks Milktray

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Building on 's note about the plugin and 's report that the SWF plays in Firefox but shows a blank page in older Internet Explorer, the usual culprits are (1) the HTML embed markup, (2) IE ActiveX/security settings or local-file restrictions, (3) server MIME type, and (4) certain Flash parameters (wmode) or CSS stacking that break rendering. The following checklist and examples isolate and fix those causes.

Open the SWF directly in IE (point the browser to the .swf URL). If it displays, the problem is the HTML wrapper; if it does not, IE is blocking the ActiveX control or the server is not serving the file correctly. On older IE builds check: Tools -> Internet Options -> Security -> Custom Level -> ActiveX settings, and in Advanced check "Allow active content to run in files on My Computer" when testing local files.

A robust cross-browser wrapper helps eliminate markup issues. An object/embed combination like this is frequently reliable for IE6/7/8:

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"
        codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0"
        width="800" height="600" id="flipbook">
  <param name="movie" value="flipbook.swf" />
  <param name="quality" value="high" />
  <param name="wmode" value="opaque" />
  <embed src="flipbook.swf" width="800" height="600" quality="high"
         type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>
</object>

Servers must deliver .swf with the correct MIME type. For Apache, add this to .htaccess:

AddType application/x-shockwave-flash .swf

Other useful checks: temporarily remove any wmode parameter (transparent/opaque can cause rendering issues in older combos), test with the Flash Player debug/ActiveX debugger to surface runtime errors, and watch for CSS z-index/overflow that can hide the plugin. Finally, note that Flash is deprecated (end-of-life in 2020) and converting a flipbook to an HTML5 solution will remove browser/plugin compatibility problems long-term.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

Do they actually have flash installed?

Flash runs fine on IE6.

Member Avatar for milktray

Hi jbennet,
Your quick off the mark....

The answer is yes on one computer which I have access to which is not mine....
I can on FireFox with flash player 9 installed view the swf file and it works perfectly
on the very same computer with their older version of ie... I simply get a blank white page....

What I was wondering is there some tweeking of I dont know html, or some other component I may make the whole thing more user friendly....

Member Avatar for jbennet

You know you need to install the Flash plugin seperately for both IE and Firefox, right?

Flash does work in older versions of IE, what OS is it?

Member Avatar for milktray

So I dont appear rude I am now leaviing work... and will catch up on Monday....
May I ask is it allowed to post a link if necessary to allow members see if the link works for them.... I dont want to break any rules on my first day here.....

See you on monday have a nice weekend all.......Milktray

Member Avatar for milktray

I didnt know that it needed to be installed for both...Maybe thats all that is needed.....

Member Avatar for milktray

Hi guys have put a test flash 9 icon on the site to let the viewers know if they need to download a flash update...but some who have the correct flash player can not view... the
project a blank white page...???

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