What to Do If Java No Longer Works for Internet Explorer

If your website includes Java applets or other Java source code, be sure it is viewable in all browsers. This is especially important for those who use Java applets commonly created in Dreamweaver or another editor for site navigation. If you use Internet Explorer, you may not be viewing all Java code.

Your website may have been working fine until you downloaded a Microsoft update. Your Microsoft Java Virtual Machine no longer works and you cannot get Microsoft support, because Sun (creater of Java) is suing Microsoft. You go to Sun's website to download the appropriate Java plugin for your computer and operating system, and see the coffee cup, but when you visit your website, you can't see your Java? Now what?

I personally had a problem with my computer when I noticed that I could no longer view Java on this computer. I replaced the Microsoft Virtual Machine with Sun's Java plugin and saw the coffee cup on their site that said that I should be able to view Java, but when I tried to view other websites with Java, the Java was not viewable. When I viewed the websites in Netscape, the Java applets worked, but of course Netscape has its own built-in Java plugin and supports Java.

When I tested the websites with Java on my laptop in Internet Explorer, the Java applets were viewable. What did I do differently? Actually, what I didn't do was replace Microsoft Virtual Machine with Sun's version. But I also did not download and install every Microsoft update, since my son uses my laptop (once used for school) for games. I truly believe the Microsoft updates caused this problem in addition to others, because they want us to update our operating systems (and spend more money).

Well, okay. Microsoft deserves partial blame, but as a web programmer, I will take partial blame as well. I found that the new HTML standard has replaced the APPLET tag with the OBJECT tag and there are other changes to be done. See HTML specifications for details. So Java applets that worked fine for years and continues to do so for many users may not work for all users unless we update our source code to the latest HTML specifications. Too bad we can't get automatic updates on our source code like we do for our antivirus protection! So check your source code and if you see APPLET tags instead of OBJECT tags, beware. Not all users will be able to view your website correctly.

Yvette Kuhns, Power Pages Web Design, June 19, 2003

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