5 ms·

I haven't seen such a broken site (for me) in a few years. a) I visit the page b) I get redirected to http://www.beatlab.com/flash_blocked.html http://www.bea

by wink 14y ago

I haven't seen such a broken site (for me) in a few years. a) I visit the page b) I get redirected to http://www.beatlab.com/flash_blocked.html http://www.beatlab.com/flash_blocked.html c) I click on the blocked flash to unblock it, like on every other site. d) I get a "Flash has been unblocked! You may continue to beatlab." e) I click the link and end up at a) :(

jbaudanza 14y ago
wink, you have to unblock flash for the www.beatlab.com domain, not just the flash_blocked.html page. Sorry for the confusion.
ojiikun 14y ago
It is truly annoying that you have to totally whitelist their domain even after step D in order to see the site. Some of us want to selectively enable each flash applet, dangit. #KidsGetOffMyLawn
- btown 14y ago
  It's actually going to be a pretty common problem as we see more and more interfaces being built _visually_ for HTML5, while audio will lag behind due to the non-standard implementations in everything but Chrome. We'll start seeing more and more libraries that do audio heavy lifting in Flash, but expose their functionality over ExternalInterface. So where do you put a small Flash applet that Flash-blocking power users might need to click on, but otherwise shows no graphics whatsoever? How do you make it easy/big-enough for Flash blockers to click, but unobtrusive enough to not intercept any DOM elements? I'd love to see a replacement for SWFObject that just brings up a modal dialog in the case where Flash is blocked, allowing you to click-to-enable the applet.
  - jbaudanza 14y ago
    Indeed. I'm very much looking forward to ditching flash on beatlab.com when I can. The HTML WebAudio API isn't quite there yet, but it's making great progress. It is already deployed in Chrome, with releases in Safari and iOS on the way. I actually have a branch going that uses the WebAudio API to mix sounds and doesn't rely on flash at all.
  - nemetroid 14y ago
    Opera's built-in plugin blocker has a clickable icon in the address bar, which enables all plugins on the page.
opminion 14y ago
I haven't seen such a broken site (for me) in a few years. That's quite hard on a one-man show which is in the edge of not requiring flash, for requiring flash. I would reserve such harsh criticism for sites I have to visit and which are not even intended to work: city council, theatre box office, local public library. Heck, even the London Olympics user experience was broken, I read.
- jbaudanza 14y ago
  Thanks for the support, I appreciate it. The non-flash experience does leave a lot to be desired. As you know, I always have to weigh investing time improving it vs improving something else. But I realize that isn't much consolation to the end user. One of the difficult parts is actually detecting if flash is blocked at all. If the user has Google Chrome's built-in plugin blocker, I don't think it's possible to distinguish between a blocked plugin or a slow loading plugin.
  - nhebb 14y ago
    I don't think you need to bother. People who have flash blockers know that they have flash blockers. We see dull gray squares all over the internet.
    - wink 14y ago
      Exactly this. I'm not implying I'm entitled to special handling, just stating the fact that this page, unlike any other with flash I've used in the last years, doesn't let me use my flash blocker in the usual way - I would have to whitelist the page.
mindstab 14y ago
Sooo you come to a site requiring flash with a add on flash blocker and complain it doesn't support you well... Maybe you're doing it wrong. If you can't get your own custom modules to work either don't use them or figure out how to use them better, don't get mad at someone else for not supporting your custom setup better. I could turn off javascript and spend all day criticizing websites, I don't think any one would give too much care.
- nemetroid 14y ago
  The only thing that's "broken" here is that the site redirects you before you have any chance to enable plugins for the page. Your Javascript comparison is inaccurate, no one is demanding the site should work without Flash. If a site redirected you before you could click on noscript (or whatever Javascript blocker) to load all scripts, I bet you there would be a lot of complaints.
- adamzochowski 14y ago
  All flash blockers let you cherry pick which flash you want to unblock. This means you can unblock content, but keep spam or other cpu wasters blocked. This website does not let me do that. It redirect to a different page, and forces me to white list everything. Something I rarely do.

by wink 14y ago

jbaudanza 14y ago

wink, you have to unblock flash for the www.beatlab.com domain, not just the flash_blocked.html page. Sorry for the confusion.

ojiikun 14y ago

It is truly annoying that you have to totally whitelist their domain even after step D in order to see the site. Some of us want to selectively enable each flash applet, dangit. #KidsGetOffMyLawn

btown 14y ago
It's actually going to be a pretty common problem as we see more and more interfaces being built _visually_ for HTML5, while audio will lag behind due to the non-standard implementations in everything but Chrome. We'll start seeing more and more libraries that do audio heavy lifting in Flash, but expose their functionality over ExternalInterface. So where do you put a small Flash applet that Flash-blocking power users might need to click on, but otherwise shows no graphics whatsoever? How do you make it easy/big-enough for Flash blockers to click, but unobtrusive enough to not intercept any DOM elements? I'd love to see a replacement for SWFObject that just brings up a modal dialog in the case where Flash is blocked, allowing you to click-to-enable the applet.
- jbaudanza 14y ago
  Indeed. I'm very much looking forward to ditching flash on beatlab.com when I can. The HTML WebAudio API isn't quite there yet, but it's making great progress. It is already deployed in Chrome, with releases in Safari and iOS on the way. I actually have a branch going that uses the WebAudio API to mix sounds and doesn't rely on flash at all.
- nemetroid 14y ago
  Opera's built-in plugin blocker has a clickable icon in the address bar, which enables all plugins on the page.

opminion 14y ago

I haven't seen such a broken site (for me) in a few years. That's quite hard on a one-man show which is in the edge of not requiring flash, for requiring flash. I would reserve such harsh criticism for sites I have to visit and which are not even intended to work: city council, theatre box office, local public library. Heck, even the London Olympics user experience was broken, I read.

jbaudanza 14y ago
Thanks for the support, I appreciate it. The non-flash experience does leave a lot to be desired. As you know, I always have to weigh investing time improving it vs improving something else. But I realize that isn't much consolation to the end user. One of the difficult parts is actually detecting if flash is blocked at all. If the user has Google Chrome's built-in plugin blocker, I don't think it's possible to distinguish between a blocked plugin or a slow loading plugin.
- nhebb 14y ago
  I don't think you need to bother. People who have flash blockers know that they have flash blockers. We see dull gray squares all over the internet.
  - wink 14y ago
    Exactly this. I'm not implying I'm entitled to special handling, just stating the fact that this page, unlike any other with flash I've used in the last years, doesn't let me use my flash blocker in the usual way - I would have to whitelist the page.

mindstab 14y ago

Sooo you come to a site requiring flash with a add on flash blocker and complain it doesn't support you well... Maybe you're doing it wrong. If you can't get your own custom modules to work either don't use them or figure out how to use them better, don't get mad at someone else for not supporting your custom setup better. I could turn off javascript and spend all day criticizing websites, I don't think any one would give too much care.

nemetroid 14y ago
The only thing that's "broken" here is that the site redirects you before you have any chance to enable plugins for the page. Your Javascript comparison is inaccurate, no one is demanding the site should work without Flash. If a site redirected you before you could click on noscript (or whatever Javascript blocker) to load all scripts, I bet you there would be a lot of complaints.
adamzochowski 14y ago
All flash blockers let you cherry pick which flash you want to unblock. This means you can unblock content, but keep spam or other cpu wasters blocked. This website does not let me do that. It redirect to a different page, and forces me to white list everything. Something I rarely do.