This is something I have constantly wrestled with to find a clear cut answer. Its funny because back in the day I can remember that I had to literally go into my C:\program files and change the name of some .dll, or .exe in order to cancel flash from loading. Adobe/Macromedia were pretty firm on the issue that they don’t want you “disabling” their plugin lol. Then there was an onslaught of plugins for FF, IE, etc that could also do it but none of them worked well. Finally FF was sensable about it and included an easy “disable flash” option which makes things so simple. The problem is that noone seems to know about it lol. So with that said, here’s how to do it!!
1. Here’s my Site!
This is what my Site looks like with flash enabled. Pretty nice huh?
Now lets get rid rid of flash to see what my site looks like on a user’s mobile phone, older computer, or a computer at a business/school/etc that blocks flash all together!
2. Lets get rid of flash for a sec!
To start head to the top of Firefox and find the “tools” menu. From there find “Add-ons” (as shown above) and click it!
3. The “Add-ons” menu!
After you clicked “Add-ons” from the “tools” toolbar you will get this dialog box that pops up. It should pop-up, and be on “extensions.” however we want to go elsewhere, so proceed to the next step!
3. Find the “plugins” section!
As you can see above “highlighted in red” simply click the “plugins” tab and then proceed to the next step! (we are almost done!)
3. Find “ShockWave Flash”!
After you clicked the “plugins” button you will be presented with a lot of different items (more or less depending on what you personally installed). Regardless, the list is in alphabetical order so scroll down to “S” and find “Shockwave Flash” which is “circled in red” above!
3. Disable/Enable Flash!
Finally just click “Disable” to temporarily turn off flash. When you are ready to turn it back on, just press “Enable” and you’ll be able to view any flash content like youtube videos, flash sites, and most importantly facebook’s farmville again lol.
3. Begin testing!
Here is my site with flash turned off. I personally use swfObject 2.0 (I’ll blog about swfObject soon, and why its so good) which presents the alternate content to my users. If they don’t have flash, then they have two options. Either update flash to the current version, or enter my low bandwidth site which doesn’t really require flash for any crucial information!
Have fun and Happy testing!
