what is the best way to detect falsh plugin

[avelives]

I am about to post my new site and need a HTML page which detects the flash player and redirects the viewer to a download page or my flash site accordingly.

What is the best way to do this??
I am using flash mx by the way.

[fgf]

I know this is common but i haven't had my 2 cents worth on this.

A lot of people write (or nick) insanely complicated javascripts. I think these things are a total travesty when there is a simple logical browser version proof way.

Put a flash movie (published at the lowest version you want to support)in with a geturl for your flash movie page. if you've got flash it will work. if you haven't the redirect meta tag you put in the header will kick in and send you to an html only one.

The only real reason i can see for script based ones (which can return browser version) is when your flash movie is affected buy plugin specific player issues. (for examples netscape and ie have slightly different opions about when flash player gets a keyboard event)

If you have a normal (visibile) link on the page as well (which may flash up for a fraction of a second but what the hell) search engines should crawl through to your html content.

fgf

[simontheak]

Also, if you have Dreamweaver you can use the Behaviours panel to walk you through setting up detection for Flash, or Shockwave or whatever you need