Macromedia writes: "In September 2000, NPD Research, the parent company of MediaMetrix, conducted a study to determine what percentage of Web browser have Macromedia Flash preinstalled. The results show that 96.4% of Web user can experience Macromedia Flash content without having to download and install a player."

Macromedia Shockwave Player is shipped with Windows 95, 98, Internet Explorer CD,MacOS, America Online, and Netscape Navigator.

If you do not have the Shockwave Player installed you can download it free from Macromedia's site (200 K).

The <embed> tag is supported in almost all major browsers, and allows scripting.

Note: The Adobe SVG viewer recommends that you use the EMBED tag when embedding SVG in HTML page! However, if you want to create valid XHTML, you cannot use <embed> - The <embed> tag is not listed in any HTML specifications

To create your own Flash movie you need to buy a Flash program.

The latest version from Macromedia is the Flash Basic 8 (or Flash Professional 8).

If you do not have a Flash program, you can download 30 days free trial version of Flash from Macromedia.

After you have installed Flash, you should go through the lessons that are included in this program. Start Macromedia Flash, click Help in the menu and choose Lesson. These lessons will teach you the basic of Flash.