I discovered a weird issue with Flash banner ads. The newer OOP method of handling “onPress” events is not as Pop-Up Blocker friendly as the old way of coding an “on(release)” handler directly on the button. Having tested this, and discussing with ValueClick’s Jeremy Borakove, we determined that it is best practice to avoid the onPress handler.

Why do the pop-up blocker programs dislike onPress? This is purely speculation, but I think that they look (or listen) for a click from the user as an indication that a new browser instance is user-initiated, and not just a nuisance. Perhaps the old on(release) function is handled differently by Flash, and therefore sends the appropriate event to the browser (and ultimately the pop-up blocking software). In any event, IE and Firefox have both shown a propensity to block a new broswer instance when getURL was called inside an onPress handler. I know this sounds insane, and I nearly dismissed the idea as ridiculous until I noticed the behavior first hand.

First of all, let me take a moment to remember Cathy Garrison for her hard work and dedication in forming the Midwest Macromedia Studio User Group. Cathy and I did not always agree on the direction of the group, but I deeply admired her contribution and concern for it’s success. Knowing that she would want the group to continue, let’s get back to business.

I have been scouring the web looking for Flash 8 penetration statictics. It seems like the adoption rate for the latest player would be quite high, given the agressive nature of the automatic update and express install capability. Discouraged that nobody seems to be publishing any numbers so far, I set out to develop my own at http://www.rpmworld.com/flashVerStats.php