HTML is the backbone of the World Wide Web, holding together text, images, and other media types. This document describes two methods for embedding panoramas directly into Web pages.
Java applets, specified using the <APPLET> element, are always embedded into a HTML page. Complete information on the <APPLET> tag can be found at http://java.sun.com/applets/index.html.
Embedding VRML files or other panorama file types that have corresponding plugins is accomplished using the <EMBED> element. <EMBED> was created by Netscape as a non-standard extension to HTML (first supported in Netscape Navigator version 2.0), but is supported by virtually every Web browser (including modern versions of Internet Explorer).
In the future, the official way of embedding both Java applets and other media types into HTML documents will be the <OBJECT> tag, which is going through the process of standardization in the World Wide Web Consortium. The latest versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator both support the <OBJECT> tag, but given the large number of people still using older browsers (I'm writing in May 1998) you are better advised to use the older, pseudo-standard <EMBED> tag.
For complete information on the <EMBED> tag and information about Netscape Communicator 4.0's support for the <OBJECT> tag, see http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/htmlguid/tags14.htm.
The working draft of the <OBJECT> specification can be found at http://www.w3c.org/TR/WD-object.