Chapter 9: Create Framesets and Frames Pages

How to…

Overview

• Understand frames and the XHTML frameset DTD

• Create a basic frameset

• Modify your frames

• Provide content for noncompatible browsers

• Use floating frames

• Create a frames-based navigation layout

If you’ve surfed the Web at all, you have encountered frames. Chances are you have also formed a strong opinion about them; you probably either love them or hate them. Why do frames provoke such strong emotional reactions from people? Possibly because they are misused so often. When frames are used incorrectly, they can be very frustrating to those trying to sort through them. The frustration is like opening a large gift-wrapped box only to find a slightly smaller box inside it. When you open the second box, you find another, even smaller one inside, and so on. By the time you actually get to the box with the gift in it, you might not even care anymore.

Nevertheless, frames provide an excellent tool for site navigation. They enable you to create, among other things, a navigation bar that is always present, pages that load faster, and a permanently reserved space for your site’s logo or banner. Just be careful to not get carried away—if the adage “you can’t see the forest for the trees” were ever applicable to Web design, it is when a visitor can’t see your site because of the frames.