Flash version for online ads

[utahnix]

I'm new to flash...

What version of flash should I build flash ads? I work for a small community newspaper (county is less than 25,000). Most users are either older (i.e. seniors) or young adults (via the local community college).

I want to go high enough I get the features I need, but don't want to alienate users by lifting the bar too high.

I have 2 flash editors: Flash 8 Basic, and Flash Professional (Adobe CS3), so 9 is too high. Version 7? Version 8?

[Eye for Video]

Adobe seems to have a pretty good method of getting machines to update (whether you know it or not) to the latest player. You’re right that Flash Player 9 may be too much for now, but I wouldn’t think that 8 would be. I just bought an Archos 605 portable video player that only plays up to Flash Player 7. But I am really disappointed in how much I can’t play! So you could keep it at 7, just for me and the .00000001 percent of the population with Archos.
You could keep it at 7 but another alternative is to incorporate a small bit a JavaScript to help determine what player the user has and also to eliminate that darn “Click to activate and use this control” message you get when you display your .swf in some browsers (IE7, etc). You can detect versions, or at least create a dialog box (as part of the alternate content for non-8 players) that directs the user to update to a newer version. I think people understand that the Internet is a fast changing environment, and for the most part, will accept the suggestion.
Regardless, you should incorporate something like this whenever you expect the user to “Click” on your Flash creation.
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/swfobject.html