This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Error "a plugin is needed to display this content" for embedded Google map, but no plugin identified.

more options

When I try to view a page that has a Google map embedded on the page, I get the error message "a plugin is needed to display this content". However, I don't know what plugin, where to get it, etc. I've tried searching for this issue but haven't been able to come up with anyone else experiencing a similar issue, nor does there seem to be a plugin for Google Maps that I can find.

The page is here: http://osiama.org/lodges#

The map displays when one of the links is clicked in the table.

When I try to view a page that has a Google map embedded on the page, I get the error message "a plugin is needed to display this content". However, I don't know what plugin, where to get it, etc. I've tried searching for this issue but haven't been able to come up with anyone else experiencing a similar issue, nor does there seem to be a plugin for Google Maps that I can find. The page is here: http://osiama.org/lodges# The map displays when one of the links is clicked in the table.

Chosen solution

I was going to suggest adding type="text/html" into the embed tag but found a discussion saying that doesn't work: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17688628/firefox-tells-user-they-need-a-plugin-to-display-an-embedded-webpage

Following the cue in that thread, what about placing your embed inside an object tag like this:

<object type="text/html" data="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyA4e2zvSt_VeKb6u_IMvBSAuIPPINgfzNU&q=Nazzaro+Community+Center&zoom=15" height="300" width="450" frameborder="0" style="border:0;">
  <embed src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyA4e2zvSt_VeKb6u_IMvBSAuIPPINgfzNU&q=Nazzaro+Community+Center&zoom=15" height="300" width="450" frameborder="0" style="border:0;">
</object>

So in other words, browsers that can use the object tag will do so, but for those that do not, the embed is still in there. Does that work?

Read this answer in context 👍 3

All Replies (6)

more options

I'm not sure why, but the site uses <embed> for the map instead of <iframe>.

When Firefox wants to render an <embed>, it needs to know what type of object is being embedded, and the site doesn't supply that information, so you see a generic "I don't know how to handle this" error.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a quick workaround for you as the end user. If you are the type to tinker, you can manually edit the code of the page in the web console as follows:

  • right-click the plugin message and choose Inspect Element (Q) - the web console will open to the Inspector, with the <embed> element selected (screen shot #1)
  • double-click embed and edit it to iframe, then press Enter to finish the edit
  • Firefox will now load the map (screen shot #2)

This isn't a general fix-all for plugin errors, and ultimately the site will need to change this.

more options

Another possibly is to use a bookmarklet like this to replace the embed by an iframe.

javascript:(function(){var eE=document.querySelectorAll('embed[src*="//www.google.com/maps/"]'),i;for(i=0;E=eE[i];i++){N=document.createElement('iframe');for(j in E.attributes){A=E.attributes[j];if((A.name!=undefined)&&(A.value!=undefined)){N.setAttribute(A.name,A.value)}}E.parentNode.replaceChild(N,E)}})()
more options

It's using <embed> at the moment because the map doesn't load or render correctly when it's embedded using an iframe. The map loads correctly with the embed tag in IE and Chrome, so it's just Firefox that is causing the issue.

Is there something I can add to help Firefox be able to identify the object better?

more options

Seçilmiş Həll

I was going to suggest adding type="text/html" into the embed tag but found a discussion saying that doesn't work: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17688628/firefox-tells-user-they-need-a-plugin-to-display-an-embedded-webpage

Following the cue in that thread, what about placing your embed inside an object tag like this:

<object type="text/html" data="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyA4e2zvSt_VeKb6u_IMvBSAuIPPINgfzNU&q=Nazzaro+Community+Center&zoom=15" height="300" width="450" frameborder="0" style="border:0;">
  <embed src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyA4e2zvSt_VeKb6u_IMvBSAuIPPINgfzNU&q=Nazzaro+Community+Center&zoom=15" height="300" width="450" frameborder="0" style="border:0;">
</object>

So in other words, browsers that can use the object tag will do so, but for those that do not, the embed is still in there. Does that work?

more options

This seems to have solved the problem. Thanks so much!

more options

Oop. Spoke slightly too soon - while the map displays, it encounters the original issue that I was trying to avoid when using iframes in the first place: the map doesn't center correctly. For some reason, using embed tags on every other browser solves this issue, but the object tag doesnt for Firefox.

(Usually Firefox is the last browser to give me problems, yeesh.)