Creating an Absolutely Positioned Div Element

An alternative to using iframe srcdoc is to use an absolutely positioned Div element. We can use the CSS properties position: absolute and top: 0 and left: 0 to position it in the top-left corner of the page. We can then use CSS to style the contents of this div element to achieve a similar effect to the embedded HTML code.

<!-- HTML -->
<div id="embedded-content"></div>

/* CSS */
#embedded-content {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
/* ... style and content settings ... */
}

This approach has the advantages of being simple and easy to understand, not requiring the iframe element, and having wide browser support. However, because embedded content is styled via CSS, some functionality that requires JavaScript, such as communicating with the embedded content, is not possible.

Using data URIs

Another alternative is to use data URIs. Data URIs allow you to inline resources within a link. You can use the background-image attribute to render the embedded content as a background image.

<!-- HTML --> 
<div id="embedded-content"></div> 

/* CSS */ 
#embedded-content { 
background-image: url("data:text/html;base64,PHNjcmlwdD5hbGVydCgiSGVsbG8iKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4="); 
background-size: 100% 100%; 
/* ... styling and content settings ... */ 
} 

In the example above, we encode the embedded content using Base64 and include it as part of a data URI. We then use this data URI as a link to a background image, which we render using CSS.

This approach has the advantage of being able to render the embedded content directly with CSS, without the need for additional elements. However, it also prevents some features that require interaction with the embedded content.

Using Pseudo-Elements

An alternative approach is to use pseudo-elements. We can leverage the ::before or ::after pseudo-elements and set the embedded content using the CSS content property.

<!-- HTML -->
<div id="embedded-content"></div>

/* CSS */
#embedded-content::before {
content: "Hello";

/* ... styling and content settings ... */
}

The advantage of using pseudo-elements is that you can style the embedded content directly with CSS without using additional elements. However, like the previous method, it doesn’t allow for interaction with the embedded content.

Summary

Through this article, we introduced three CSS alternatives to iframe srcdoc: creating an absolutely positioned div element, using data URIs, and using pseudo-elements. Each method has its own advantages and limitations. In practice, we need to choose the appropriate method based on specific needs and constraints. I hope this article helps you understand CSS alternatives to iframe srcdoc!