Using SWF+XML.

[Shawn]

I'm considering switching over to SWF (flash) + PHP/XML integration for some stats on one of my sites. I've tested it and it loads in a couple of seconds and it's very, very lightweight -- those aren't my concerns.

What is my concern is losing account users because they don't have Flash. I thought about this and it's not like Quicktime where everyone has to install it once they get a new computer. Don't IE/Firefox come with Flash installed?

Thanks guys!

[Westech]

Check out the Flash Player Detection Kit: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/download/detection_kit/

I haven't played with it in a while, but I think you can set it up so that users without Flash (and search engine spiders) see an alternate html version of your Flash content. It's similar to the Javascript <script>...<noscript>... method.

[Shawn]

Oh. Sweet.