As many of you have noticed yet, this blog has the bad habit to embed many YouTube videos taken from different sources. Since I should be, theoretically speaking, a stickler of web standards, this should be done only through the object element. But this is not the case, and that's not my fault and it doesn't depend on a personal choice. The sad truth is that the object element alone is supported by all browsers, but not all its features, such for example the parameters you can pass to it via the param element. Internet Explorer, in fact, fully supports this element, but this is not the case of Firefox, which still uses the embed element. Why? Because this is a relic of the age of the first browser wars, when every browser tried to beat its adversary by implementing new features. More specifically, the embed element was not that bad, but the official HTML specs didn't include it as a standard element so its use should be deprecated. I said "should", but when it comes to reality, this element takes its revenge on standards in the form of a widespread support by almost all the platforms used for sharing videos (headed by YouTube). So what? As always, we must wait until the use of the object element will reach its momentum or, alternatively, try the new cool features of the latest HTML 5 specs (if we have enough spare time... or we can afford to wait). If you want code to the standards, consider the use of JavaScript as an alternative to avoid validation issues.