HTML Guides for param

The name attribute is reported on the <param> element because <param> itself is obsolete in the HTML standard.

<param> used to sit inside <object> to pass named values to plugins such as Flash, Java applets, or ActiveX controls. Each one carried a name and a value. Browsers dropped plugin support, the element was removed from the HTML specification, and the Nu validator now rejects its attributes, including name.

There is no replacement attribute to add. The fix is to delete the <param> element. If the surrounding <object> points at a resource that browsers still handle on their own, like an image or a PDF, set the data and type attributes directly on <object> and drop the parameters. If the content depended on a plugin, use a native element such as <video>, <audio>, or <iframe> instead.

Invalid example

<objectdata="movie.swf"type="application/x-shockwave-flash">

<paramname="autoplay"value="true">

</object>

Valid example

<videosrc="movie.mp4"autoplaycontrols></video>

The <param> element is obsolete in HTML5 and should no longer be used inside <object> elements.

The <param> element was originally used to pass named parameters to plugins embedded via <object>, such as Flash, Java applets, or Windows Media Player. Since modern browsers have dropped support for these plugins, the <param> element lost its purpose and was removed from the HTML living standard.

If the <object> element references an external resource like a video, PDF, or image, the resource URL belongs in the data attribute of the <object> element itself. The type attribute should specify the MIME type of the resource.

For media playback, the <video> and <audio> elements are the standard replacements. For other embedded content, <iframe> or <embed> may be more appropriate depending on the use case.

HTML examples

Before: obsolete param element

<object>

<paramname="movie"value="video.mp4">

<paramname="autoplay"value="true">

</object>

After: using the data attribute on object

<objectdata="video.mp4"type="video/mp4">

<p>Your browser does not support this content.</p>

</object>

After: using video for media playback

<videosrc="video.mp4"controls>

<p>Your browser does not support this video.</p>

</video>