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Alternate HTML Content

Note: For information about specifying alternate touchscreen-optimized content, see here.

When a slideshow is embedded in your HTML page (this is done using SWFObject), it actually overwrites a block of regular HTML after confirming that the appropriate Flash Player version is available.  If the appropriate Flash Player version is unavailable but the user does have the Flash Player 6.0.65 or higher installed, they will automatically be prompted to use Express Install to upgrade their Flash Player directly from your site.    Once this completes, the page will reload and the slideshow will display properly.    If, however, the user has disabled Javascript or he/she does not have the Flash Player 6.0.65 or higher, the embedding process will not be able to take place.    In this case, the alternate content in the slideshow holder <div> tag (in your Slideshow HTML) will be displayed instead.  The HTML in this block determines what the user sees when the slideshow is unable to be embedded.    Here is the default holder <div>:

<div class="dwuser_xfs_v4_holder" style="width: 600px; height: 400px;">
     <strong><a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer/">You need to upgrade your Flash Player and enable Javascript to view this content &raquo;</a></strong>
</div>

You can include an image here if such is an acceptable substitution.    If you definitely want your users to be able to view the slideshow, you should display a message with two components:

  • Have the user make sure they have Javascript enabled
  • Have the user upgrade their Flash Player - link to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ or http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer/ .

You can display a message tailored to each case by using the following code, for example:

<div class="dwuser_xfs_v4_holder" style="width: 600px; height: 400px;">
   <noscript>You need to enable Javascript to view this slideshow.</noscript>
   <script language="javascript">
       document.write('<strong><a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer/">You need to upgrade your Flash Player to view this slideshow &raquo;</a></strong> ');
   </script>
</div>

The listed code will display an 'Enable Javascript' message if javascript is disabled, and an 'Upgrade your Flash Player' message if the issue is that they have a very old Flash Player (or none at all).    Here is an example of using an image as alternate content:

<div class="dwuser_xfs_v4_holder" style="width: 600px; height: 400px;">
     <img src="path/to/slideshow_image.jpg" width="600" height="400" />
</div>

Don't spend too much time on alternate content -- generally, only about 1 percent of your visitors will not have the required settings / plugins in view the slideshow, and they'll receive upgrade messages on almost every site they visit.