HTML and XHTML Pocket Reference, 3rd Edition

Name

object — <object> . . . </object>

A generic element used for embedding media (such as an image, applet, movie, audio, or even another HTML file) on a web page. The attributes required for the object element vary with the type of content it is placing. The object element may also contain a number of param elements that pass important information to the object when it displays or plays. Not all objects require additional parameters. The object and param elements work together to allow authors to specify three types of information:

• The implementation of the object—that is, the executable code that runs in order to render the object.

• The data to be rendered. The data attribute specifies the URL of the data, in most cases an external file, such as a movie or a PDF file.

• Additional settings required by the object at runtime . Some embedded media objects require additional settings that get called into play when the object plays or is rendered. The runtime settings are provided with param elements within the object.

The object element began as a proprietary element in Internet Explorer to support ActiveX and later Java applets. Browser support for the object element does not live up to the W3C’s vision of object as an all-purpose object placer; for example, it is not currently possible to reliably place images with the object element. The declare, standby, and tabindex attributes were introduced in HTML 4.01 and are not supported by version 4 browsers and earlier.

Attributes

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