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As mentioned, Navigator 3 was the first, and at that time, only browser to recognize the SRC= attribute of <SCRIPT>. Somehow, the eventuality of other browsers (or even newer versions of their own browser) supporting the attribute, and using it for scripts written in languages other than Javascript1.0 or JavaScript1.1 escaped Netscape.
Navigator 3 attempts to execute any external file specified by SRC=, whether it supports the language specified by LANGUAGE= or not!
If the filename has a .js extension, it is executed as JavaScript. If not, it may be loaded as a text file and displayed, or may even crash the browser!
For example, the following are all executed as JavaScript files by Netscape 3:
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JScript" SRC="extJscript.js"></SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.2" SRC="extJS12.js"></SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="Sanskrit" SRC="extSanskrit.js"></SCRIPT>
This file is loaded and displayed as text (or may terminate browser session):
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="Sanskrit" SRC="extSanskrit.sk"></SCRIPT>
All external script files not meant for Navigator 3, but included in a web page accessible by Navigator 3, should be loaded indirectly. That is, Navigator 3 must be excluded from reading the tag containing the SRC attribute.
Navigator 3 should not see any tags with the SRC pointing to JScript, VBScript or JavaScript 1.2+ external files.
If the SRC is omitted, Navigator 3 will correctly ignore any scripts with an incompatible LANGUAGE attribute value.
Therefore, we exclude Navigator 3 by using LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.2" in a <SCRIPT> tag, without an SRC, and then dynamically insert another <SCRIPT>, with an SRC into the page:
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.2">
<!--
document.write("<SCRIPT LANGUAGE='JavaScript1.2' SRC='myDHTMLSource.js'></SCRIPT>");
//-->
</SCRIPT>
Now, all version 4, DHTML-enabled, browsers will load and execute the external script.
Well, almost all. Now, Explorer 4 for the Macintosh has a problem.
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Created: Nov 2, 1999
Revised: Nov 2, 1999
URL: http://www.webreference.com/dhtml/diner/scriptsrc/scriptsrc2.html
