Old browsers, Search Engines and Back.

[leaverk]

Hi all,

I have an application expecting a version 7.x player.

I use "poor mans cloaking" and Frames to help register my clients with Google and the like.

I use the "meta" flash_detection trick to download and upgrade client machines to the correct Flash player.

All very well but:

1.
The "meta" trick installs the side effect of not being able to use the Back button on the browser.

2.
The "meta" trick doesn't seem to work with old IE5.x type browsers.

3.
It installs an initial page hit on website entrance that is important to Search Engines. In other words it can screw up the cloaking and therefore search engine rankings.

Any ideas on how to get a Flash client machine up to speed with the correct player without getting all these side effects would be great. Or are we really stuck with HTML/CSS for commercial applications.

Could I use a dynamic server technology something like ASP.NET to check for the existence and version of the client Flash player and build a web page accordingly.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
K.