Flash Display's how often?

[clasione]

How many users can we assume properly view flash?

I've just started using it. My only worry is how many visitors I may be lossing because of it. Looks great when it works, but for those without media player and alike are sure leavers...

[poab]

Hi,

Good question...I'd imagine you'll get a lot of different opinions on this. There are a lot of people who will tell you that most people click away from a flash site because it's flash whether or not they have the plugin. In my opinion most people don't know flash when they see it, let alone hold any distain for it. There's a great deal of urban myth, and misunderstanding regarding flash.

The best guide is Macromedia's own stats and projections. (In theory, because they didn't do the survey themselves it's as impatial as you'll find.)

Here's a comparison to other plugins: http://www.macromedia.com/software/player_census/flashplayer/
And here's a record of different versions: http://www.macromedia.com/software/player_census/flashplayer/version_penetration.html

The best thing to do is publish in the earliest version you can. The difference between flash 5 and flash 6 is not that great so by all means go with flash 6. I have MX 2004 Professional, but I won't be publishing for Flash 7 for another 6 months or so (except for personal stuff).

Also remember to consider your users, if they're using a computer purchased or a browser updated in the last 5 years they have the plugin.

cheers.

[voodooboy]

Flash Player 6 is at 93% while Flash Player 7 is at 52.5% penetration as of March 2004. From what I learned at the Digital Design World Conference, you will see a surge in Player 7 installs in the next several months due to it's ability to work with video streaming.

But as long as you design for Player 6, you have no problems. Your main concern is not whether or not they have the player but what your viewers connection speed is and how large your file size is.

You can always put an image as a background behind the Flash file, so if the viewer doesn't get the Flash, they can see the background image.