Since Chrome 42, released yesterday, Java, Silverlight and similar old plugins no longer run by default, and support ends in September. Find anything on your site that relies on them and replace it with standard web technology.

What changed yesterday

Chrome 42, released yesterday, no longer runs Java, Silverlight and other plugins built on an old system called NPAPI, at least not by default.

A page that relies on one now shows a grey box with a message that the plugin is not supported, or an empty space where something used to be.

A setting deep in Chrome can switch them back on until September. Then Chrome drops support for these plugins entirely, and the setting goes with it.

Chrome installs its own updates, so over the coming days and weeks most people on Chrome will move to version 42 without lifting a finger.

What these plugins are

NPAPI is the way browsers have let outside programs draw inside a web page since the 1990s. Java applets and Microsoft's Silverlight are the best known.

Google has been warning for well over a year that it would end support. These plugins can do almost anything on a visitor's computer, which makes them a favourite route for attacks and a frequent cause of crashes.

Flash is not part of this change. Chrome has its own built-in version of Flash, which keeps working, and its own PDF viewer.

Where they hide on small business sites

Seat maps and booking calendars cost money most directly. A visitor who cannot choose a seat or a time rarely phones to ask why; they close the tab.

What a visitor makes of it

Most visitors have no idea what Java or Silverlight is, and they should not need to.

They see a broken box on a business website, and the conclusion they draw is about the business, not about their browser.

A note asking them to change a Chrome setting or switch browsers helps a few. Most will not do either, and anyone on a phone never could, because phones and most tablets have never run these plugins at all.

September is the real deadline

Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer still run these plugins for now, each with its own restrictions and prompts. So the same widget may work for one visitor and fail for the next.

That makes the problem easy to miss. The owner, testing on an office computer with another browser, sees nothing wrong.

From September, nobody using Chrome will be able to switch these plugins back on, so anything still relying on them simply stops for every Chrome visitor.

Treat the setting as a stopgap for staff with an office tool, not as something to ask customers to do.

Finding them on your site

Open your own site in an updated Chrome and visit every page with something interactive on it: booking, tours, chat, calculators, video.

For a thorough check, a developer can search the site's pages for applet, .jar and Silverlight in the code, which catches widgets on pages nobody remembers.

Check pages that are no longer in the menu as well. An old virtual tour or calculator page can still be reached from search results long after everyone has forgotten it.

Then ask each supplier of an embedded tool, such as the booking or chat service, whether their widget uses Java or Silverlight, and what they offer instead.

A worked example

A summer theatre company stages three plays a season in a converted barn near a lake resort, and opens ticket sales each April.

Its ticketing supplier's seat map, which lets buyers choose their own seats, ran as a Java applet inside the theatre's website. Phone visitors had never been able to use it.

Sales opened on Monday. Once Chrome had updated itself, the box office began taking calls from people on computers who could see the seat map's frame and nothing inside it.

The box office manager called the supplier and learned that a seat map built in HTML5 had been included in the theatre's plan for over a year. Nobody had switched it on.

Switching took a call and a change to one line of the site's code. Until it was done, the ticket page carried a note with the box office number and its hours.

What replaces them

The replacement is standard web technology: HTML5 and JavaScript, which run in every current browser, on phones as well as computers, without anything to install.

Most suppliers of booking systems, tours and chat moved to it years ago. Often the newer version is already part of your account, waiting to be switched on.

Video belongs in a player built on HTML5, or on a service such as YouTube embedded with current code.

If a supplier has no plan for replacing a Java or Silverlight widget, that answers a larger question about the supplier.

Office tools that run in a browser

The same change reaches inside the office. Supplier ordering portals, time clocks and some older business banking tools still run Java in the browser.

Staff using Chrome will meet the same message there. Ask each supplier for their plan, and in the meantime let staff use another browser for that one tool rather than switching the plugin back on in Chrome.

Write down each tool, its supplier and the browser it works in, so new staff are not caught out.

The counter-case

Many sites have nothing to do. A site built in the last few years on a current content system rarely uses any of these plugins.

And a plugin that only appears on an old page nobody visits can be taken down along with the page, rather than replaced.

For any site with a booking widget, tour, chat window or player older than a few years, though, find what relies on Java or Silverlight and replace it before September.

Before September

  1. Open your own site in an updated Chrome.
  2. Check every widget, page by page.
  3. Ask each supplier about an HTML5 version.
  4. Put a phone number beside any affected widget.
  5. Check office tools that run in a browser.
  6. Replace or retire each plugin before September.
  7. Test replacements on a phone as well.

Step four costs nothing and protects bookings while the rest gets done. A visitor who meets a broken widget beside a phone number has somewhere to go; without it they leave.

Old video players went through the same change earlier this year, covered in YouTube has moved on from Flash video.

Frequently asked questions

What changed in Chrome 42?

Chrome no longer runs Java, Silverlight and other plugins built on the old NPAPI system by default. A setting can switch them back on until September, when support ends.

Does the change affect Flash?

No. Chrome includes its own built-in version of Flash, which keeps working. Flash still does not run on phones, which is a separate reason to replace it.

What will visitors see instead?

Usually a grey box saying the plugin is not supported, or an empty space where the widget was. Most visitors will leave rather than change a browser setting.

Should I ask visitors to switch browsers?

Only as a stopgap. Most will not, phones never ran these plugins, and the Chrome setting disappears in September. Replacing the widget is the actual fix.

What replaces Java and Silverlight widgets?

Standard web technology, HTML5 and JavaScript, which works in all current browsers, phones included. Many suppliers already include such a version in existing accounts.

Are office tools affected as well?

Yes, if staff use Chrome. Supplier portals, time clocks and some older business banking tools that run Java in the browser will show the same message.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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