<EMBED>

The <EMBED> element allows authors to embed objects directly into an HTML page

The basic syntax is:

<EMBED SRC="_URL_">
<NOEMBED>Alternative content</NOEMBED>
</EMBED>

where "_URL_" represents the URL of the object that is to be embedded.

The <EMBED> element will allow you to embed documents, or objects of any type. Your user only needs to have an application which can view the data installed correctly on their machine, or have a plug-in (for Netscape and Internet Explorer) that can manipulate the embedded file format.

The <EMBED> element can be used more or less the same as the <IMG> element and so accepts typical image embedding attributes such as ALIGN, ALT, BORDER, WIDTH, HEIGHT, HSPACE, VSPACE and NAME (for referencing the embedded object in a script function). Note that multiple <EMBED> elements can be grouped together with the same NAME attribute value, to provide multiple separate controls for a single embedded sound file).

Plug-ins Netscape plug-ins make use of the <EMBED> element. Essentially, plug-ins are dynamic code modules which are associated with a MIME data type that the Netscape client has no native support for. When Netscape encounters an unknown data type from a server, it will search for a plug-in that is associated with that MIME type and load it, enabling viewing/transforming of the data object. There are many attributes to the <EMBED> element that are plug-in specific (for these, see the relevant plug-in documentation), but as well as the attributes above, the <EMBED> element accepts the following attributes as standard across all embedded data types.

CLASS="Style Sheet class"
The CLASS attribute is used to specify the <EMBED> element as using a particular style sheet class.

HIDDEN="true|false"
Setting this attribute specified whether the plug-in is visible or not. Some plug-ins (like the LiveAudio plug-in) can control the embedded data type without being visible. The default value is "false", which causes the plug-in controls to be displayed.

ID="Unique identifier"
The ID attribute can be used to either reference a unique style sheet identifier, or to provide a unique name for the <EMBED> element for scripting purposes. Any <EMBED> element with an ID attribute can be directly manipulated in script by referencing its ID attribute.

PALETTE="foreground|background"
For users browsing in 256 colours, some embedded objects could cause what is known as 'palette flash', where palette differences between the embedded object and the browser/system cause the incorrect colours to be displayed. To avoid this, embedded objects can have their palettes expressly defined as either foreground or background (the default). 'Foreground' causes the embedded object to use the foreground palette and 'background' forces it to use the background palette (the colours not reserved by the browser/system). Note that this attribute only has effect on the Windows platforms.

PLUGINSPACE="_URL_"
If the user doesn't have a plug-in installed to handle the defined object data type (determined from the SRC attribute, or TYPE attribute value), then it is possible to guide the user to a different URL (the value of the PLUGINSPACE attribute) to provide instructions on installing the necessary plug-in module. Generally, this should be the plug-in vendors installation instructions document.

STYLE="Styling"
As well as using previously defined style sheet settings, the <EMBED> element can have in-line stylings attached to it.

TITLE="Informational ToolTip"
The Internet Explorer 4.0 (and above) specific TITLE attribute is used for informational purposes. If present, the value of the TITLE attribute is presented as a ToolTip when the users mouse hovers over the <EMBED> section, when the embedded object doesn't provide ToolTips of its own..