PHP/SWF Slideshow: Designed for 13% of Web Users

This is a story about two crappy pieces of software: Microsoft Internet Explorer and PHP/SWF Slideshow.

In the spring of 2006, MS IE changed the way it handles so-called "Active Content" such as embedded QuickTime movies and Flash animations. Ostensibly it was "forced" to do so after losing a patent lawsuit. How convenient that it screwed up the movies/animations of its competitors, but not its own stuff.

Now, the interactive aspects (links, navigation buttons, etc.) of such content do not initially work and the user is presented with the prompt to:

"Click to activate and use this control."

This problem is explained in gory detail by Adobe/Macromedia, one of the companies greatly affected by the change. And Microsoft has published a workaround for it, but it's very awkward.

Okay, so this is pretty annoying, but the situation gets crappier.

I searched the Web recently for a little slideshow application that I could insert into the TCF Website in order to display new stuff entered into the archives. I found what I thought was the perfect solution: PHP/SWF Slideshow. It hooks right into PHP/MySQL and displays images in cool ways--with dissolves and wipes and even one animation that appears to be dropping into the frame. Nice.

But not free. Generally, I prefer open-source software for things like this, but this app seems so perfect that I asked my department chair for the $45 to buy it. Only after purchasing it did I discover it was bitten by this IE bug. I emailed them to ask when they were going to update their software to deal with it.

Their reply, in entirety:

Sorry, we're not implementing the workaround at this time. This is currently left up to individual users.

We're joining companies like google to recommend the switch to other browsers.

Oh. I see. So, this application will only work with Web browsers used by 13% of Web users. The remaining 87% will not be able to use it.

And that is some pretty crappy software.

P.S. Nowhere on their site do they explain that their app only works for 13% of Web users.

Crappy Sound on the Panasonic AG-DVC30 Camcorder: Part II

(It's not always software that's crappy, sometimes hardware ranks high on the craposity scale, too.)

It didn't seem right to me that the audio of a $700 camcorder would be superior to that of one that cost over twice as much. So, I went search for help.

I asked all my video/film-maker friends and they could give me no definitive answer. I finally broke down and shipped the camera to a certified Panasonic repair house, K&M Electronics in Atlanta.

I must say they were very prompt in responding, even thought they were less than helpful. They called me a few days later to say that they could not replicate my problem. They input audio at -10dB and it recorded perfectly at -10dB. They also dismissed my homegrown tests as meaning nothing.

Thus, according to Panasonic's official repair dudes, this camera is operating perfectly.

Talk about aggravating!

I took my issue to the forums at creativecow.net. An individual there responded with the following:

Unfortunately, your particular camera is simply a right royal pain in the neck to operate.

One of this camera's known weakesses is that there are no audio knobs, just a stinkin' menu. You need audio knobs and a meter to set levels properly. I don't know about the meter, but I do know this particular camera has no knobs.

If you plan to do any serious shooting -- and you plan to use the audio -- and you don't want spend all day setting levels, you might want to think about a different camera. This thing's gonna drag you down.

If you have any acquaintances who have oohed and aahed over it, see if you can sell it to them, bite the bullet, and get what you need. Don't sell it to a friend, because they know where you live.

Great. I'm stuck with an expensive camera with crappy sound that I should unload on a complete stranger and then leave town.