HTML 4.0 introduces the
OBJECT element, which offers an all-purpose
solution for dealing with new media, while providing for effective
backwards compatibility with existing browsers. OBJECT allows the
HTML author to specify the data, and/or properties/parameters for
initializing objects to be inserted into HTML documents, as well as the
code that can be used to display/manipulate that data.
The term "object" is used to describe the things that
people want to place in HTML documents:
images, applets, plug-ins, media handlers, etc.
The new
OBJECT
element subsumes some of the tasks carried out by existing elements
The generic
OBJECT
element will serve as the solution for implementing future media types.
Images may still be included using the
IMG element.
To include applets, you should use the OBJECT element as the
APPLET element is deprecated.
To include one HTML document in another,
you may use either the new
IFRAME element or the
OBJECT element. In both cases, the embedded
document remains independent of the main document. Visual user agents
may present the embedded document in a distinct window within the main
document.
Images and other included objects may have hyperlinks associated
with them, both through the standard
linking mechanisms, and also via
image maps.
An image map specifies active geometric regions of an
included object and assigns a link to each region.
<OBJECT data = "/Images/Earth.gif"
type = "image/gif">
<!-- Else render the text -->
The <STRONG>Earth</STRONG>
as seen from space.
</OBJECT>
