In the FRAME!

Understanding HTML Part 4 - Frames. Browser frames let you divide the screen up into separate viewports, each containing its own HTML page. Even better, hyperlinks in one frame can load pages into other frames, so they're perfect for those trendy sidebar site menus. Paul Stephens

5 Steps

3 Plans

Reference

Microsoft

Netscape

Paul's Pages

Frames have been supported by at least two releases of both major Windows browsers now, so it's fair to expect your readers to be able to view them (with a polite hint about browser upgrades for those who can't, of course!). What's more, adding frame-based menus to an existing site is remarkably easy, as our three plans for upgrading and starting from scratch show. As well as menus, frames are great for giving your site a dynamic, 'split-screen' effect.

mp4.gif (15399 bytes) Check out this month's 5-step example guide, covering the frame-building HTML tags. Starting with the basic frame layout tags, it goes on to cover inter-frame hyperlinks, two ways of creating nested framesets (not as complex as they sound), and finishes off with a look at the optional tag attributes which let you control frame borders, resizing and scrolling.

mp3.gif (5966 bytes) Also, take a look at our three plans for building sites with frame-based sidebar menus. Choose between automatic framed/non-framed working, giving your readers a choice between frames and no-frames, and building frames-only sites, all with working examples.

As always, Microsoft's Internet Client SDK (note the new address) has all the details on frame-building HTML and scripts. However for the second month running, Netscape's HTML Tag Reference is easier to use, thanks to its quick-acces index of frame controls (perhaps it's not too surprising since, like last month's forms, frames are a Netscape invention). It's worth downloading both these free, HTML-based resources and keeping them on your PC for instant reference.

Until next month, happy authoring!