HTML <param> Tag

 

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The <param> Tag in HTML 5

The <param> tag specifies parameters for an object when the <object> tag is used to embed content from an external resource into a web page.

Using an <object> to embed a YouTube video

The "old" embed code for YouTube uses the object element with <param/> tags, as shown below. (The "new" embed code uses the <iframe> tag instead.)


<param/> Tag Syntax

Rules for coding HTML param/ elements
<body>
   ...
   ... flow content expected ...
   <object type="type/subtype" ...>
      <param name="pname" value="pvalue"/>
      ...
      ... flow content ...
   </object>
   ...
</body>

<param/> Content Model

Contents of the param element

Content: Empty. All properties are coded using attributes.

Since the <param/> tag is a void element, it is not allowed to have any content, even HTML comments and therefore should always be coded as a self-closing standalone tag, ending with the delimiter string /> rather than just > (<param .../>).


<param> Tag Attributes

Attributes of the <param> tag
global attributes In addition to the personal attributes of the <param> tag below, any of the common HTML attributes can also be coded.

<param> Tag Examples

Examples of the param tag in HTML 5
Example of embedding video in HTML 5

The "old" YouTube embed code used the <object> tag with <param> tags and an <embed> tag. (The "new" YouTube code uses the <iframe> tag.)

<object width="640" height="390">
   <param name="movie" value="http://www.YouTube.com/v/GGT8ZCTBoBA?fs=1&hl=en_US"/>
   <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/>
   <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/>
   <embed src="http://www.YouTube.com/v/GGT8ZCTBoBA?fs=1&hl=en_US"
      type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
      allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"
      width="640" height="390"/>
</object>

The <embed> tag provides a fallback for browsers that do not support the <object> tag.


Changes in HTML 5 - <param> Tag

What's new in HTML 5
Differences between HTML 5 and earlier versions of HTML

The 2000-2010 Recommendations from the W3C HTML Working Group defined the HTML namespace for the param element type name along with the names of all HTML element types. In older (pre-2000) versions of HTML, element type names were not associated with a namespace.


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