The return of the <embed> tag?

According to the w3 html 5.0 working specs, 2008/01/22

[Josefu]

I was amazed to see, in browsing this w3 article outlining the differences between html 4 and 5 [w3.org], the <embed> tag listed in the "new elements" section of that document. What!?

I can still remember my hours of combing articles describing how to make embedded Flash and movie content standards-compliant (the Flash Satay method), and others altogether applauding the demise of the <embed> tag (in showing also how to get by without it) (See Elizabeth Castro's article titled Bye Bye Embed).

If this goes through, talk about a lot of time wasted for a lot of people. Some explanation would be welcome - does anyone have the story on the reasoning behind this turnaround?

[edited by: BlobFisk at 12:48 pm (utc) on Jan. 29, 2008]
[edit reason] Fixed links [/edit]

[encyclo]

Good news. The battle over

embed

was pointless - it exists, it works, so why not standardize it?

[mattur]

...talk about a lot of time wasted for a lot of people. Some explanation would be welcome

Because a lot of people wasted a lot of time avoiding using <embed> - solely because it was not a W3C standard, and despite it being one of the few, sane, cross-browser ways of handling plug-ins - it is now part of the (draft) HTML5 standard. :)

[Josefu]

I was wondering about the actual decision to re-implement it as a standard... who decides, and how do they go about it? If there was any sort of discussion behind this decision, it would probably be interesting (voir amusing) conversation to read.

[mattur]

The HTML working group decides, and their approach is based on the WHATWG's work over the past 4 years. Anyone can email the public-html list (or edit the wiki) to make a case for/against something they feel strongly about - see Raising issues in a way that the editors will pay attention to them [lists.w3.org].

Bear in mind that HTML5 is currently a draft so <embed> could be removed. IMHO this is unlikely, but <embed> is an open issue [esw.w3.org] (no info on the <embed> wiki page as yet).

See also the HTML Design Principles [w3.org]:

2. Compatibility

2.1. Support Existing Content
Processing requirements should be specified to ensure that user agents implementing this specification will be able to handle most existing content. In particular, it should be possible to process existing HTML documents as HTML 5 and get results that are compatible with the existing expectations of users and authors, based on the behavior of existing browsers.

2.4. Pave the Cowpaths
When a practice is already widespread among authors, consider adopting it rather than forbidding it or inventing something new.

See this thread [lists.whatwg.org] on the WHATWG list or this thread [lists.w3.org] on public-html, or search the lists for further discussions.