Frames: Overview

Frames divide a screen into separate windows, each with its own page, like a picture within a picture.

Frames have become common features in many web pages.

Many designers use frames just to show that they can.

However, not all browsers support frames. Most versions of both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer below 3.0 do not support frames.

Overuse of frames can clutter a screen.

Frames may be more trouble than they are worth.

Frames are difficult to control.

Readers find frames cumbersome to navigate and difficult to print.

A judicious use of tables can yield similar web page design results.

Rule of Thumb: Don’t use frames unless you have a real and good reason to do so.

Frames use a different type of HTML document.

To build a web site with frames, start with a FRAMESET document--a master document that provides a basic frames layout.

This document contains no content, only instructions for the frames that will be displayed.

Each frame will contain a body document, i.e., a normal web page.

A very common simple frame structure utilizes a horizontal upper frame for a nameplate or banner, a narrow vertical frame on the left side of the screen for a table of contents, and a wider vertical frame on the right side of the screen to hold the main site pages.

Example

Frame for a Banner
Frame for a Table of Contents	Frame for the main contents of a web site. The viewer might click on a link in the table of contents area to the left to cause the contents of this frame to change.

When you want to create frames, start by sketching out your frames.

Then create the documents that your frames will initially hold, e.g.,

a banner headline
a table of contents
a splash or welcome page
another page to replace the splash page.

At this point you are ready to actually create a framed web document.