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So a client of mine wants his homepage to start off something like this: http://www.roche-bobois.com/#/en-CA/home (It's basically a Flash intro that starts with a vector drawing of a furniture showroom that eventually transitions into the image of the actual showroom).

Given that some of his users will be using an iPad to view his site, what are some of the alternatives that other developers here use?

I'm thinking:

Option 1: With PHP, detect if the user is using an iPad/iPhone by checking their user agent string. If they are using a mobile device, then forward to m.abccompany.com (mobile version of the site).

Option 2: Convert the Flash video to MP4 or AVI and then embed that, which would allow all users to view his site.

Any suggestions if either of these approaches are a good idea?

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May I propose an alternative solution that you might find better? Why use flash to begin with? If you have the swf file, why not convert it to solid Javascript/HTML5 using a program like Adobe Wallaby so that all users can see it with or without flash and with or without javascript?

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  • The browsers don't unilaterally support one video codec. So you would have to have about 3/4 different copies of the video.
    – mickburkejnr
    Commented May 16, 2012 at 14:02
  • I think you meant to comment this on the answer below mine.
    – Chris
    Commented May 16, 2012 at 15:50
  • It's applicable to both really. The only way you could deliver video to a browser without flash is to use a video in a codec suitable to the browser. But the browsers support different codec's so you would have to have multiple copies of the one video but in different formats for it to work without flash.
    – mickburkejnr
    Commented May 16, 2012 at 15:57
  • He wants to deliver a flash animation. One of his options was converting it to a movie. A flash animation (swf) format can be delivered without flash or a video codec if it is in HTML5/JS format.
    – Chris
    Commented May 16, 2012 at 17:35
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Most definitely option 1. If you have the capability to provide a quality exprience to some but not all, don't cut down the computer-users just to keep your iPad audience in the loop. On the m.abccompany.com, then have your MP4/AVI.

I would also suggest building a quick test flash page and actually see how it runs on the iPad. If it works well, you won't need to create a sub-domain with a mirror site. No sense in bending over backwards when you really don't have to.

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