Using Dreamweaver to Check for Plug-ins/Browser Versions

It is difficult to design a website with your entire web audience in mind. Use options such as Flash media, style sheets or frames and you are excluding a small percentage of your audience with browsers too old to view your content. Including even the oldest browsers in your design puts strict limits on the content of your page. Fortunately, Dreamweaver allows you to check the end-user’s browser for the browser version and/or plug-ins, and re-direct the end-user to a simpler version of your page if their browser is not enabled to view your content. That way, you can design for everyone who might be viewing your web-site.

Checking for Plug-ins

Let’s say you have included hyperlink buttons using Flash media on your website, but you want to accommodate those browsers out there that aren’t equipped with the Flash Plug-in. The first thing you need to do is design a non-Flash version of your page, using text or simple image hyperlinks. Then, with the Flash version of your page up in Dreamweaver, go to the Windows menu and choose Behaviors. The Behavior window will appear. Click the “+” button and all your options will appear. Choose Check Plug-In (if that option is grayed out move down to the Set Browser Version command and set it for IE 5.0). This dialogue box will appear:

Set the Plugin to Flash (it can also be used to search for Shockwave, Quicktime, etc.). Type the address of your Flash site into the first URL box. Type the address of your non-Flash alternative into the second URL box. I would suggest leaving the Always Go to First URL… option unchecked, as you want your second URL to be the default option.

Checking for Browser Version

In this example let’s say you are using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Since CSS is unsupported by Netscape Navigator 3.0 or lower and Internet Explorer 2.0 or lower, you want to redirect older browsers to non-CSS versions of your page. Again, go to the Window menu, bring up Behaviors, and click the “+” button. Choose Check Browser Version. This dialogue box will appear:

In this example, I’ve set Netscape Navigator 4.0 and later and Internet Explorer 3.0 and later to go to the primary URL, and earlier versions to go to an alternate URL. All other browsers would also go to the alternate URL. To complete the dialogue box, just fill in the addresses for your primary URL (in the box labeled URL) and the Alternate URL (in the box labeled Alt URL). Click OK and you’re done!

If you are unsure of which browsers support which features, most books on web design will tell you. I use the O’Reilly Web Design In a Nutshell book as a reference. If you would like more information on this or any other computer applications topic, feel free to call me at 719-549-2045 or email me at jeffrey.wood@colostate.edu.