Getting Browser Features To Work With Flash Sites

Posted by Fizix Richard in Articles: Flash / Flex on the 7th October, 2008

When looking at the suitability of Flash for websites one of the big problems that comes up time and time again is the lack of support for basic browser features. The problem with Flash is that it cannot natively support the basic features of web browsers. This always was and still is one of the big issues to address, before Flash can be a truly viable option for full websites we need to address the problem of Flash interacting with the browser in the same way that HTML sites do.


The Problems Flash Encounters Include:



  • The browsers back and forward buttons don't work

  • The title bar does not update

  • You cannot bookmark individual pages on the site

  • Deep linking into the Flash Site has problems

  • The address bar does not update




Solving The Problem:


There is a solution to the problem if developers care to look for it and to implement it. SWF Address is a developer tool, meaning its used by the developer within their development environment and the end result works with the standard Flash plugin and a standard web browser. What it does in simple terms is use ExternalInterface within Flash and a JavaScript Class to interact with the web browser.

SWF Address provides ActionScript classes written in AS1, AS2 and AS3 to interact with the JavaScript Class; meaning the developer does not have to understand the technicalities of what's going on under the hood of the JavaScript Class itself to utilize the features, which leads to this being a simple solution to a big problem, which means its a quick and cheap solution to implement which benefits both the developer and the client.

Developers who take the time to understand how it all works under the hood can then take the time to adapt it to their own internal specifications and individual client requirements.


The bottom line is that SWF Address solves the above problems and with a little modification can be taken further and even integrated into your specific in house frameworks.

If implemented correctly the browsers address bar and title will update itself as you browse around the Flash site, providing well formed URL's which allow users to directly access content within the Flash site (without having to load from the root of the site and navigate in every time). As a side effect this allows us to bookmark specific pages, adding them to your favorites list will work correctly as the URL is updating as it would with a standard HTML website.

It also causes the back and forward buttons in the browser to function correctly and the refresh button works; again as a side effect of dynamically updating the address bar as you browse the site.


In Summary SWF Address allows us to:

  • Activate the Back, Forward and Refresh buttons in web browsers

  • Updates the browsers title bar as you browse the site

  • Allows you to bookmark pages (including deep linked pages) within the Flash site

  • Creates well formed URL's for each page in the site and updates the address bar as you navigate

  • Provides solid deep linking controls



This is great news for developers creating new Flash sites as it addresses one of the biggest accessibility issues we encounter when using Flash. The challenge (at least for us) now is effectively making use of this technology in the live Flash sites we have already produced that don't use SWF Address without ripping the site apart completely, basically allowing us to quickly implement these controls for our clients without a large cost to ourselves or them.



Tags

flash, accessibility, swf address, browser controls, back button, forward button, deep linking, usability, development, actionscript, as3, as2, as1, tools, updating url from flash, browser integratrion, core features

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