Bug 7163 – Applet markup in Object Tag - codebase conflict with Gecko/Opera browsers

• Status: NEW
• Component: Java

[David Leader]

This may not be a bug in WebKit, but it is a behaviour that differs from Gecko/Opera/iCab browsers and might therefore lead to a markup which, although not the proper interpretation of the HTML 4.01 spec, causes pages to fail in WebKit browsers.
The problem involves using the object tag to specify applets. The conflict arises over the use of codebase to indicate the location of the applet in relation to the page.
For the other browsers cited a codebase specified as a tag attribute can be used. This is shown in the example and fails in Safari etc. 
For other browsers *and* WebKit browsers a codebase specified as a parameter works - http://www.q7design.demon.co.uk/AppletObjectTests/testNonIE.html - so this is safe cross-browser code (Except for IE Windows that needs to be served different markup, but incidentally uses codebase like WebKit.)
I find the W3C specification of the object tag in HTML 4.01 beyond my powers of comprehension, so I can accept that it is possible the WebKit interpretation is correct. However support for 'codebase' as an attribute might be a wise course. This is not a problem at the moment as most people use the deprecated applet tag for markup of applets, but it could surface in the future.

[Joost de Valk (AlthA)]

I guess we should support both... Confirming.

Hello,
I think this issue has now more importance since there are now 2 major browser that use webkit both on Mac and Windows and they are growing in popularity (Chrome and Safari).

Note that the issue seems related to this one: 50829.

Would it be possible to increase the urgency of the issue? I work for a IT company and the bug is causing a lot of useless request in our production.

Regards,
Thomas