HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
embedding Plug-in content
The
<embed>
tag was originally developed by Netscape as a proprietary tag — meaning not in the
HTML specification — to work with the plug-in architecture for its browser, Navigator. Although
Netscape Navigator is no more, Firefox — created by Netscape's spin-off company, Mozilla — con-
tinues to support the
<embed>
as well as the officially sanctioned
<object>
tag.
Unlike
<object>
, the
<embed>
tag does not require a closing tag. All attributes are contained within
the single tag and there is no way to include alternative content. Here's an example:
<embed src=”assets/mySounds.mp3” height=”60” width=”144”>
The
src
attribute contains the path to the associated file; the path can be either relative or absolute. The
height
and
width
attributes are optional. Any plug-in-specific settings are entered as attributes within
the
<embed>
tag; there are no
<param>
tags as with the
<object>
tag. For example, here's how content
that requires the QuickTime plug-in might be coded with
<embed>
:
<embed src=”assets/weather.mov” width=”432” height=”376” autoplay=”true”
controller=”true”
pluginspage=”
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/”>
A web page with the preceding code — if the QuickTime plug-in is available to the browser — dis-
plays a QuickTime movie, complete with a control bar as shown in Figure 23-2.
FiGure 23-2
Just to keep life interesting, HTML5 — as of this writing — recommends that a
new version of the
<embed>
tag by itself be the vehicle for delivering plug-in con-
tent, although the
<object>
tag is also included in the specification.
