The repercussions of lawsuits.

Microsoft recently got sued for a patent infridgment causing it to change the way its browsers handle Active Content. Microsoft released an update to Internet Explore 6 and also incorporated the same fixed in its IE7 browser.

This changes have stirred up a lot of talk among the Web design community, in particular, those of us who use Flash as part of our Web environment. The reason being that Flash is the most common Active Content piece widely use.

As a result, Adobe has put out a patch for its Web editing software, Dreamweaver, which automatically detects and fixes any errors that might be cause as a result of the browser patch. This will fix the "click to activate and use this control" message that appears when the mouse is roll over a Flash animation.

To fix the problem manually, download the javascript file from Macromedia's site and wrap your flash objects as follows:

< script type="text/javascript" >
AC_FL_RunContent( 'codebase','http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/

flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0','width','width#','height','height#','src','http:/
/pathtoyourflashfile/flashfilenamenoswf','quality','high','wmode','transparent',
'pluginspage','http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer','movie',
'http://pathtoyourflashfile/flashfilenamenoswf' ); //end AC code

< /script > < noscript > < /noscript >

The bottom line is that if you decide to break patents and laws, you must remember that it doesn't just affect you but many others, especially if yo are a large Corporation with a large number of users and consumers. This problem has cause many of us a lot of headaches. If you are reading this, I hope to have help you fix your Flash animation problems. For more information visit Adobe's Web site.