setup problem

by "login for webmaster" <webmaster(at)baptisthospital.com>

 Date:  Thu, 07 Dec 2000 08:54:13 -0600
 To:  <hwg-theory(at)hwg.org>
  todo: View Thread, Original
I recently took over responsibilities for my company's Web site. Unfortunat=
ely, I was not involved in the planning or implementation of the initial, =
and largest, part of this site. So here's my problem:

The site was built using Flash. No big deal, except there was no HTML =
alternative given. When I brought this up, the design company who built =
the site came up with a JavaScript "sniffer" which looked to see if they =
had a Netscape browser 2.0 or earlier. If so, it would display a .gif in =
place of the Flash movie. (I can't even test the JavaScript because I =
don't know anyone with Netscape 2.0 - not even the design firm!)

This "sniffer", however, was very selective. It only applied to certain =
Flash movies. The worst part is the navigation was built completely in =
Flash - which contained drop down menus that I can't reproduce in a =
.gif/.jpg form because of space restrictions. So even if the Flash movie =
was replaced, a user without the Flash plug-in could not adequately get =
around the site. I have not had any complaints about Flash from users, but =
that may be because they can't access the site, and therefore my e-mail =
address!

So, after all that, my questions:
1) Should I bother to change anything considering a large majority of =
users are browsing with IE 4.0 or higher? (this contains and Active X =
control to go find the Flash plug-in.)
2) If so, any ideas on a time-efficient way to solve this huge design =
flaw? (I'm one guy running a 1,000+ page Web site.)

I really appreciate any help/ideas anyone has on tackling this problem.

Thanks. If you want to see the site, go to: http://www.baptisthospital.com=
=20

Bill

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