Accommodating the Frame-Intolerant

For all that frames can deliver, they can also make you pay.

Frames generally slow down initial access to a page (because the browser must download multiple files) and, when poorly designed, force visitors to do lots of scrolling simply to read the contents of a single page. Frames are supported in all versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator released since about 1997 and in some ”but not all ”other browsers.

Besides all that, many folks online ( especially relative newcomers to the Web) simply don't like navigating frames pages; they find them confusing.

For all these reasons, many authors who create frames pages also create a non-frames version, with identical content, and give visitors a choice of which version to view. The easiest way to do this task is to create a non-frames page that contains links to each of exactly the same, separate content pages also opened by the frame definition page.

Another useful touch is to add a "noframes" message to the frame definition page. When a visitor using a non-frames “capable browser opens the frame definition page, the message appears in place of the frames. The message can include a link to the non-frames version; for example:

 Sorry, your browser does not support frames. To view the non-frames version of the Web site, click here. 

Two easy ways to create the noframes message are

• Open the frame definition page in HTML Assistant Pro and look for the <NOFRAMES> tag near the bottom of the file. Replace the sample text there ( This is where to put text that browsers without frames support will display ) with your message and URL.

• Open the frame definition page in Composer. Because Composer does not support frames, it shows the sample noframes message created by HTML Assistant Pro ”it acts, in effect, like a non-frames “capable browser. You can edit the message right there in Composer, add your URL pointing to the non-frames version, and then save the file.