APPLETS - Specifying Alternate HTML Code and Text

[sukishan]

Note the ellipsis points (". . .") in the previous HTML example. What did the example leave out? It omitted alternate HTML code — HTML code interpreted only by browsers that don't understand the <APPLET> tag. Alternate HTML code is any text that appears between the <APPLET> and </APPLET> tags, after any <PARAM> tags. Browsers enabled with Java technology ignore alternate HTML code.
To specify alternate text to browsers enabled with Java technology and other browsers that understand the <APPLET> tag, use the ALT attribute. If the browser can't display an applet for some reason, it can display the applet's ALT text.

We use alternate HTML code throughout the online version of this tutorial to tell readers about the applets they're missing. Often, the alternate HTML code includes one or more pictures of the applet. Here's the complete HTML code for the Animator example shown previously:

<APPLET CODE="Animator.class" WIDTH=460 HEIGHT=160
ALT="If you could run this applet, you'd see some animation">
<PARAM NAME="imageSource" VALUE="images/Beans">
<PARAM NAME="backgroundColor" VALUE="0xc0c0c0">
<PARAM NAME="endImage" VALUE=10>
<PARAM NAME="soundSource" VALUE="audio">
<PARAM NAME="soundtrack" VALUE="spacemusic.au">
<PARAM NAME="sounds"
       VALUE="1.au|2.au|3.au|4.au|5.au|6.au|7.au|8au|9.au|0.au">
<PARAM NAME="pause" VALUE=200>
Your browser is completely ignoring the &lt;APPLET&gt; tag!
</APPLET>

A browser that does not understand the <APPLET> tag ignores everything in the previous HTML code except the line that starts with "Your". A browser that does understand the <APPLET> tag ignores everything on that line. If the applet-savvy browser can't run the applet, it might display the ALT text.