Obsolete Browsers

Not all browsers have virtual machines that support the latest version of Java. Even if such a browser exists, there is no way to guarantee that customers are using this browser. In this case a modern applet won't run, which may limit the success of a web site.

Solution 1: Use JDK 1.0

Solution 2: The Java Plug-In (The Activator)

Sun provides a Java plug-in that directs applets to download and use a virtual machine different from the one provided by the host browser. The plug-in is documented at:

http://java.sun.com/products/plugin/

Sun also provides an HTML Converter Tool that converts an ordinary HTML document containing an applet into an HTML document that first downloads the Java Plug-In. The converter can be downloaded from:

http://java.sun.com/products/plugin/converter.html

Here's a sample output of the converter tool:

<!--"CONVERTED_APPLET"-->
<!-- CONVERTER VERSION 1.0 -->
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!--
   var _info = navigator.userAgent; var _ns = false;
   var _ie = (_info.indexOf("MSIE") > 0 &&
               _info.indexOf("Win") > 0 &&
               _info.indexOf("Windows 3.1") < 0);
//--></SCRIPT>
<COMMENT><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1"><!--
   var _ns = (navigator.appName.indexOf("Netscape") >= 0 &&                      ((_info.indexOf("Win") > 0 &&
               _info.indexOf("Win16") < 0 && java.lang.System.getProperty("os.version").indexOf("3.5") < 0) || (_info.indexOf("Sun") > 0) || (_info.indexOf("Linux") > 0)));
//--></SCRIPT></COMMENT>

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!--
   if (_ie == true)
      document.writeln('<OBJECT
         classid="clsid:8AD9C840-044E-11D1-B3E9-00805F499D93"
         WIDTH = 300 HEIGHT = 300
         codebase=
"http://java.sun.com/products/plugin/1.1.1/jinstall-111-win32.cab#Version=1,1,1,0"><NOEMBED><XMP>');
   else if (_ns == true)
      document.writeln('<EMBED type=
         "application/x-java-applet;version=1.1"
         java_CODE = "NotHelloWorldApplet.class"
         WIDTH = 300 HEIGHT = 300
      pluginspage=
         "http://java.sun.com/products/plugin/1.1.1/plugin-install.html"><NOEMBED><XMP>');
//--></SCRIPT>
<APPLET CODE = "NotHelloWorldApplet.class"
   WIDTH = 300 HEIGHT = 300 ></XMP>
<PARAM NAME = CODE VALUE = "NotHelloWorldApplet.class" >
<PARAM NAME="type" VALUE="application/x-java-applet;version=1.1">

</APPLET>
</NOEMBED></EMBED></OBJECT>
<!--
<APPLET CODE = "NotHelloWorldApplet.class" WIDTH = 300 HEIGHT = 300 >
</APPLET>
-->
<!--"END_CONVERTED_APPLET"-->

Solution 3:

Scripts (for validation) +
Animated GIFs +
Forms (for data entry)

Solution 4: Ask users to download and use a Java application