First modelling assignment

According to Eugene :
If you did, and maybe also a switch to let one easily toggle the browser
between using the real Flash and your 'placebo effect' Flash, I bet you
would find it very popular as shareware...

[ ... ]

Hmm ... the only problem would be that I would be writing it for
a unix platform, not for Windows. (While I *have* a Windows box (for
Income Tax software), I don't trust it within reach of the net. :-) This
way, I don't have to constantly be downloading and applying patches
which may break various existing programs.

There's a plugin for Mozilla call "Flashblock" that might suit you.
That's what I use. It allows me to choose whether or not I want to view
a flash animation. It doesn't do anything annoying like prompt. It just
shows an empty area with a flash logo, and to view the animation I can
simply click in this area. I don't know if anything similar exists for
IE, but generally if flash on a site is really starting to bother me I
just switch browsers.

Well ... since I don't browse using a Windows box, whether it is
available for IE doesn't matter -- to me. :-)

The remaining thing to determine is whether it is available for
FireFox, as I find normal Mozilla too feature-heavy. (I don't use a web
browser for e-mail or newsreading, so I see no reason to have those
capabilities in the brower.)

I was running FireFox on (Sun's) Solaris 2.6 but have not taken
the time to compile one for Solaris 10. And Opera (already downloaded
and installed) works well on Solaris 10 for most things, including the
lack of bother from Flash sites. (I don't even *want* to be able to
view a site in Flash. If the site *requires* Flash, I go elsewhere. :-)
That includes the site which has been discussed for some time here
offering a slideshow of N.O. Katrina pictures. I get nothing but a
blank screen, so I don't bother.

Thanks,
DoN.
--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

I assume that flashblock would be available for Firefox as well as
Mozilla, but I haven't checked this.

It's mostly flash banner adds that bother me, because they can slow down
the browser so much, for something that has nothing at all to do with
the content and is of no interest to me. In particular it can makes it
difficult to scroll smoothly or resize the window. And if I have a few
tabs open all with banner adds the browser will sometimes even become
unresponsive. At least it does on my PC, and it's not a particularly old
or slow machine.

Anyway when clients request flash now, I will generally try to convince
them it's not a good idea. I think there are sometimes legitimate uses
for it, but mostly there's better options. It's just far too over-used
in my opinion.



Well ... since I don't browse using a Windows box, whether it is
available for IE doesn't matter -- to me. :-)

The remaining thing to determine is whether it is available for
FireFox, as I find normal Mozilla too feature-heavy. (I don't use a web
browser for e-mail or newsreading, so I see no reason to have those
capabilities in the brower.)

I was running FireFox on (Sun's) Solaris 2.6 but have not taken
the time to compile one for Solaris 10. And Opera (already downloaded
and installed) works well on Solaris 10 for most things, including the
lack of bother from Flash sites. (I don't even *want* to be able to
view a site in Flash. If the site *requires* Flash, I go elsewhere. :-)
That includes the site which has been discussed for some time here
offering a slideshow of N.O. Katrina pictures. I get nothing but a
blank screen, so I don't bother.

Thanks,
DoN.