Web Development Question

We have been asked to developed a Web-based (and CD based version) of a
course that involves Flash and Mpeg videos.

We are accustomed to developing Web content that is designed for use in the
Windows environment (and IE specifically). We are now being asked to develop
this course such that it runs well (error free) in multi platfom
environments (Solaris, HPUX, LINUX, Mac, Win) and in multiple browsers and
browser versions.

Is this a reasonable request and what kinds of errors can we expect



Thanks!...



-Fred.

Fred Bulger wrote:

We have been asked to developed a Web-based (and CD based version) of a
course that involves Flash and Mpeg videos.

We are accustomed to developing Web content that is designed for use in
the Windows environment (and IE specifically). We are now being asked to
develop this course such that it runs well (error free) in multi platfom
environments (Solaris, HPUX, LINUX, Mac, Win) and in multiple browsers
and browser versions.

Is this a reasonable request and what kinds of errors can we expect

Macromedia produces Flash plugins for Mac and Linux and MPEG videos are
certainly playable on all the platforms you mentioned so, assuming your
skill level is up to it, it is a perfectly reasonable request.

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
Contact Me - http://www.goddamn.co.uk/tobyink/?page=132

In article <5GfQb.109734$nl2.13834
@news01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com>, fred (AT) chebucto (DOT) ns.ca says...

We have been asked to developed a Web-based (and CD based version) of a
course that involves Flash and Mpeg videos.
We are accustomed to developing Web content that is designed for use in the
Windows environment (and IE specifically). We are now being asked to develop
this course such that it runs well (error free) in multi platfom
environments (Solaris, HPUX, LINUX, Mac, Win) and in multiple browsers and
browser versions.
Is this a reasonable request and what kinds of errors can we expect

Do the entire thing in flash, and all of those environments will see it.
Since you have flash in the requirements, you might as well do the
entire thing in flash. It would be simple and with MX or MX2004 you can
build quite an impressive interface.

--
Whitecrest Entertainment
www.whitecrestent.com

in my experience, the issues occur when you try to link to file paths to get
external info or open PDF's etc...

had a ba*rd of a time making a cdrom work in windows NT and Mac - i ended up
having to push everything through a html page using javascript querystring
interpretor to access the esternal content

mark

"Fred Bulger" <fred (AT) chebucto (DOT) ns.ca> wrote

We have been asked to developed a Web-based (and CD based version) of a
course that involves Flash and Mpeg videos.

We are accustomed to developing Web content that is designed for use in
the
Windows environment (and IE specifically). We are now being asked to
develop
this course such that it runs well (error free) in multi platfom
environments (Solaris, HPUX, LINUX, Mac, Win) and in multiple browsers and
browser versions.

Is this a reasonable request and what kinds of errors can we expect



Thanks!...



-Fred.

Whitecrest wrote:

In article <5GfQb.109734$nl2.13834
@news01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com>, fred (AT) chebucto (DOT) ns.ca says...

We have been asked to developed a Web-based (and CD based version) of a
course that involves Flash and Mpeg videos.
We are accustomed to developing Web content that is designed for use in the
Windows environment (and IE specifically). We are now being asked to develop
this course such that it runs well (error free) in multi platfom
environments (Solaris, HPUX, LINUX, Mac, Win) and in multiple browsers and
browser versions.
Is this a reasonable request and what kinds of errors can we expect


Do the entire thing in flash, and all of those environments will see it.
Since you have flash in the requirements, you might as well do the
entire thing in flash. It would be simple and with MX or MX2004 you can
build quite an impressive interface.

I think this is the right direction, for sure, but I wonder if Director
wouldn't be the better tool... or a a combination of Flash & Director.

I went to a Macromedia Seminar in San Jose last week... and I'm quite
impressed with Flash MX Pro. Too bad I can't afford it.

- Dan
http://blog.dantripp.com/

In article <gPlVb.10479$za3.5642 (AT) newssvr29 (DOT) news.prodigy.com>,
thisIsNot (AT) MyEMailAddress (DOT) com says...

I went to a Macromedia Seminar in San Jose last week... and I'm quite
impressed with Flash MX Pro. Too bad I can't afford it.

Yea, I do agree, it is out of the hands of many. there is an
alternative that will do about 80% of what you can do with flash called
swish (I think the site is www.swishit.com)

Probably won't works for this specific problem, but it is a very
inexpensive way to make flash. I think it is about $40.00 and it
produces Flash 6.0 SWF files. I also believe the newest version has
limited support for actionscript too.

Something to think about.
--
Whitecrest Entertainment
www.whitecrestent.com

"Fred Bulger" <fred (AT) chebucto (DOT) ns.ca> wrote

We have been asked to developed a Web-based (and CD based version) of a
course that involves Flash and Mpeg videos.

We are accustomed to developing Web content that is designed for use in
the
Windows environment (and IE specifically). We are now being asked to
develop
this course such that it runs well (error free) in multi platfom
environments (Solaris, HPUX, LINUX, Mac, Win) and in multiple browsers and
browser versions.

Is this a reasonable request and what kinds of errors can we expect



Thanks!...



-Fred.

Yeah its possible, but please don't do the entire thing in flash. Its so
stale in the way everything looks exactly the same. It also becomes a pain
in the ass when you try to bookmark things, and use the back/forward buttons
on the web browser. Yeah, you could "build your own back/forward buttons"
but that's a) reinventing the wheel, b) making the user get used to another
interface, c) breaking neat little tricks that do the back/forward for you
without having to use the mouse (such as special keyboards or keyboard
shortcuts).

If you develop for Netscape 7 / Mozilla, using getElementById instead of
document.all, you should have little problems. One gotcha I've noticed when
embedding video in a web page is that some (probably just one) linux
browsers don't handle the <object ..>...<embed ..>...</embed></object> thing
very well (it ignores it). Its best if you do the <embed ..>...</embed> on
its own and only do the <object ..>...</object> for IE on Windows. I think
WinIE is the only browser that uses it anyways.

Miguel De Anda wrote:

Its best if you do the <embed ..>...</embed> on
its own and only do the <object ..>...</object> for IE on Windows. I think
WinIE is the only browser that uses it anyways.

Huh? <object> is the standard way of embedding objects into a web page and
is far more widely supported than <embed> (which is only required for
Netscape 4).

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
Contact Me - http://www.goddamn.co.uk/tobyink/?page=132

In article <a310ef8ac3d999bcfdb755702b329a61 (AT) news (DOT) teranews.com>,

We are now being asked to
develop
this course such that it runs well (error free) in multi platfom
environments (Solaris, HPUX, LINUX, Mac, Win) and in multiple browsers and
browser versions.
Is this a reasonable request and what kinds of errors can we expect
Yeah its possible, but please don't do the entire thing in flash.

This was MADE for flash. All the os you mention support Flash. you can
easily create a customer application that works exactly the same way onm
everybodys machine.

Flash IS the choice for a project like this.

--
Whitecrest Entertainment
www.whitecrestent.com

Hello

If your on a tight budget then Open Office might be worth while looking at.
It can save to both pdf and flash format. I've tried saving to the pdf
format and it works great. I haven't tried the flash format yet so I don't
know what that's like. It's a free download at:

http://www.openoffice.org

Peter Mount
info (AT) petermount (DOT) au.com

"Whitecrest" <whitecrest (AT) zipzap (DOT) com> wrote

In article <a310ef8ac3d999bcfdb755702b329a61 (AT) news (DOT) teranews.com>,
We are now being asked to
develop
this course such that it runs well (error free) in multi platfom
environments (Solaris, HPUX, LINUX, Mac, Win) and in multiple browsers
and
browser versions.
Is this a reasonable request and what kinds of errors can we expect
Yeah its possible, but please don't do the entire thing in flash.


This was MADE for flash. All the os you mention support Flash. you can
easily create a customer application that works exactly the same way onm
everybodys machine.

Flash IS the choice for a project like this.

--
Whitecrest Entertainment
www.whitecrestent.com