Talk:Object

Usage examples
Some within the HTML community believe that all embedded content should be represented by the object element and all more-specific elements (img, applet, embed, iframe, video, audio) should be marked as obsolete. Others argue that the specific elements enhance a page's semantics, allowing programs to more easily understand its contents.

While I don't have a solid opinion, I note that in the early days of the Web when all content was text, various text-related semantic elements with similar purposes were introduced including tt and code; em and strong; div and p, in addition to those which had more functional differences such as i, b and u; big and small; div and span.

But regardless, I assert that it is important to document both the minimalist and the semantic approaches, unless and until the consensus is that one is better than the other. To that end, I want to have an example of how to use the object element to render each of the others unnecessary from a practical (or naive) perspective. I have offered one (modified from ) for the video element, but I don't yet have anything for the others. Resources that I've found while researching this issue (some of them using the more specific elements) include:
 * [ W3C: Embedded content in HTML5]
 * Dive Into HTML 5: Video on the Web
 * HTML5Doctor: Native Audio in the browser
 * Dev.Opera: Introduction to HTML5 video
 * Mozilla Developer Network: Using audio and video in Firefox

Video is pretty much the only thing the object element has traditionally been used for, which is probably why no examples exist for its other capabilities (especially images, because img is one of the first elements most newbies learn). We might have to devise our own solutions, but in that case I really need some fellow standards wonks to discuss this stuff with because the normative language is very thick. --Jesdisciple (talk) 05:10, July 1, 2010 (UTC)