Re: that preload swf files question again ...

Geoff Cox wrote:

Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
Geoff Cox wrote:
Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
Geoff Cox wrote:
Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
You miss the point, though. Before you display the Flash movie you
cannot know for sure if it will be displayed. But you force the
user's

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
client to download the data anyway, possibly twice for nothing.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

what would prevent it from being displayed though?

I am sure you can think of some reasons why a Flash movie would not be
displayed.

if the Flash player is installed and my code is correct I cannot see
why the video should not be displayed!

The point is, for example, that (a) Flash player may not be installed.
Got it?

I realise that, but if not installed, the users will installed it
because they need to see the videos!

Rest assured I am well aware of your (perceived) situation. You appear to
not have noticed that, since <news:1277558.kT8p0MMh6R@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, we
are not discussing your use case anymore, but whether it is reasonable in
general to attempt preloading of Web content, and if yes, which content.

Insofar it does not matter that (you think) your users need to see the
videos because, in order to discuss the general case, we have to accept the
premise that users do not need to see them or would not want to.

Following this premise, we are forced to consider circumstances that require
the resource to be downloaded but do not allow it to be displayed: no
plugin, lack of desire or ability to install a plugin, a content-based
network filter, and content-disabling extensions in the Web browser, to name
a few.

As a good example for the first possibility, consider the iPhone 2G+ and
Flash movies: the phones' Safari does not have Flash support, and is not
going to get it in the foreseeable future (per Adobe policy, AFAIK). Yet
preloading may force the user to download the .swf resource twice for
nothing. If preloading was skipped, it would have to be downloaded only
once. This fact is of considerable significance if a visitor has a contract
with limited download per month (like me), especially if the movie is large.
(However, I do not know for sure if Safari for iPhone 2G+ even attempt to
download .swf resources; this is but an example to point out the possible
repercussions of wrong design decisions.)

Clearer now?

Please trim your quotes and double-check your use of the exclamation mark
(maybe a relaxation technique would help).


PointedEars
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