As a result of the company’s multimillion dollar patent dispute with Chicago firm Eolas Technologies, Inc, the new IE patch –released Feb. 28th—means that Internet Explorer won’t be able to directly interact with Microsoft ActiveX controls loaded by the APPLET, EMBED, or OBJECT elements without first activating the user interface with an extra mouse click.
The change not only affects Flash, but other embedded content such as movies and Java applets.
It sounds like a lot of people here don’t realize how serious a problem this is. I downloaded the IE 7 beta to check it out. Every freakin Flash file I use has a “Click to activate and use this control” box around it. I now have a ton of files to update.
If I use a JavaScript to fix the code… and I don’t even know how to do that yet… what happens to my visitors with JavaScript turned off?! Using the <embed> tag was simple. Now I’m not sure WTF I’m going to do.
I now have dozens of pages to update.
Even if I said screw IE, 54% of my visitors still use IE.
Heh… and now something seems broken with the <IFRAME> tag (or something) in IE 7, as I can’t play Gwen’s Quest in IE 7.
this was bound to happen … maybe if someone has a sample file with all the new updates/scripts on what exactly one has to do to get things to run right again (in one way or another) … it may be helpfull to some of us… i read the articles and i dont really get it myself yet… this blows! :hair:
OK… after freaking out for a while, I’m starting to figure out what I have to watch out for.
IFRAME is not a problem… calling a flash file directly with an IFRAME seems to be a problem. Using IE 7 Beta, I could not load a flash file directly. That’s a problem… as it kills Flash Paper Full Screen Mode…
There’s a little box on the right, which allows you to view the cartoon in full screen. That just doesn’t work with IE 7. In other words… no matter what I do, I can’t fix this.
Maybe Macromedia/Adobe will release a new plug-in that will resolve this problem. That would be ideal.
Honestly I don’t see it as a huge problem, users that actually know their way around computers will see the alt text and will know they have to click whatever is embeded to be able to “control”.
People that really don’t know much about computers or just the average user will click twice anyways, they’ll click once and when they see that nothing happens they’ll click a second time so it’s really not a big deal.
It is annoying though but whatever, everyone got used to the added ie security in xp sp2 :sigh:
I actually have the update installed, it was actually part of the automatic updates for some reason and at first I didn’t understand why I had to click twice until I read what the update actually does. It’s annoying but it’s something that really doesn’t take time to adapt to.
Can anyone link to a site with a working solution?
All I expect it to do is work as before. Am I thinking wrongly?
Most I got it to do in my site is show the grey border around flash.
One click to activate on each page load, and after it’s normal.
The workarounds make it worse.
With the workarounds I’ve used, I get to use the yellow bar that bars ActiveX content, then I click there to activate, and only after that do I make the site normal.
Funny solution number one didn’t work for me, nor did the funny and uglier mentioned in it. Apple mentions a real explanation for the problem, and so far it’s been the only one to work, even if it only shows the dam yellow bar.
I’ve got no knowledge of javascript so doing this stuff is confusing.
Can anyone show a site already using the fixes so I can adapt that to mine.
Since I’ve yet to see the expected result, I have doughts I’m even spending my time correctly.
[COLOR=“Silver”]Why can’t everyone use Firefox?[/COLOR]
I am using FlashObject to fix my client’s sites. The browser change isn’t a big deal for most, but is a problem for some. One e-commerce site has it’s main nav in flash, and it reloads on everypage. That means the user has activate the plugin everytime they want to navigate - a major annoyance and sure to lose customers.
By the way, the “funny” fix I mentioned above didn’t work too well because it caused problems when a page was refreshed (my preloader got stuck). But I am using an even simpler (and yes, more ugly) one on my own site.
Using flashObject is the best fix. Or you can use what I used, an external js file that writes the flash. And yes, the js file has to be external. Stupid, dumb, retarded I tell ya.
That is the route Microsoft recommended, and seems to work properly.
I understand your frustration, but you don’t seem to understand the problem. The issue is the way in which Internet Explorer handles objects handled by the object, embed, or applet tags, and not the plugins themselves. It wouldn’t matter how Adobe, or even Sun, Apple, Real, and all the other companies whose plugins use those tags rewrite their programs, it’s how Internet Explorer handles them…
Then Microsoft should implement a better fix. Why do I have to redo dozens of web pages, with extra code, when this is Microsoft’s problem? Look at the top of Kirupa’s page. It’s got issues with the “click to activate and use this control” problem too. This is a website to go for Flash information. If this site is not ready for the IE update, how can Microsoft expect novice users to understand the situation?
I do understand the situation perfectly. It doesn’t matter why the problem happens. I’m not interested in that. It’s up to Microsoft, Adobe, Macromedia and all the other software makers to FIX the problem. Do you think your average user is going to understand this JavaScript script? All they’re going to know is that their copy of DreamWeaver, Flash or whatever didn’t create the right code. Do you think they’re going to care who’s fault it is? All they’re going to know is that the software they bought just doesn’t work right anymore.
The JavaScript solution does not solve the problem with Flash Paper. :{
You know, I DO feel like recoding my pages… with a javascript that forces the user to download Firefox to continue. :thumb2:
Um, there isn’t a “better fix” short of lauching the Flash Player/QuickTime Player/Windows Media Player/Acrobat Reader/etc every time you wanted to view rich media…
Eolas’ patent is worded in such a way that Microsoft’s patch is one of the very few ways browsers can display embeded content as we want them to be displayed within the page. And this is one of the few times I’ll be cheering on Microsoft, because if they lose their appeal then Apple, Mozilla, Opera and every other browser maker on the planet are next in the firing line, because all browsers infringe Eolas’ patent…
maybe if someone has a sample file with all the new updates/scripts on what exactly one has to do to get things to run right again (in one way or another) … it may be helpfull to some of us… i read the articles and i dont really get it myself yet… this blows! :hair:
