“The Flash Player and a browser with Javascript support are needed..”

If you have installed the NextGen gallery and activated slideshow, at least once you must have came across this error message. Especially with Internet Explorer, you are sure to get this error message.  If you have a slow internet connection, you are likely to get this error message till the flash part get loaded.

I wanted a tweak to replace that error message with an image. I googled and googled, with no positive results.  I figured it out myself.  I am no expert in these. Naturally I don’t know whether there is an easier way.  I thought maybe it will be useful for others.

Here it is:

Find ngfunctions.php in your wordpress folder/wp-content/plugins/nextgengallery

Go to the 37th line :

$swfobject->message = ‘<p>’. __(‘The <a href=”http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer”>Flash Player</a> and <a href=”http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/”>a browser with Javascript support</a> are needed..’, ‘nggallery’).‘</p>’;

You can change the message here. Not just text. I actually put an image. I changed the code from this to :

$swfobject->message = ”. __(‘<img src=”http://keystone.mathew.webfactional.com/wp-content/gallery/home-page/re1.jpg” >’, ‘nggallery’).”;

As you can see, I replaced the message with an image. So if there is no javascript and flash installed, it will not show the error message. Instead it will show an image. It works fine for me. The site is still under development. You can see the present status here.