January 01, 2002
The Ins and Outs of Frames
Frames. Who would have thought that such a simple idea could stir up so much controversy in the web community? It's almost ancient history now, but come along as we explore the ins and outs of frames.
In the beginning. ...
In the early days of the web, frames did not exist. Web authors had a single stream of HTML with which to create a document, and all our layout options were constrained by that simple model. We also walked to and from work uphill, both ways, and created our pages using coal-fired terminals. And we were happy!
But I digress. Eventually, someone at Netscape grew tired of the single HTML stream model and came up with the idea of frames: several HTML streams combined to create a single document. You could change one HTML stream without affecting the others, and you could cause a link in one stream to open a document in another. It was a great idea but wreaked havoc in the Web world.
It was unavoidable that a document created using frames would be unviewable with older browsers. Sites that started using frames were able to offer great content to people using the latest version of Netscape, but completely alienated folks using other browsers. Webmasters were forced to begin providing two versions of their pages, one for visitors with frame-capable browsers and another for those without. You can still see vestiges of this schism on the Web as some sites continue to offer two views of their content.
In general, this is no longer an issue and you should not fret about using frames to enhance your site. Visitors using Netscape, Internet Explorer, or any HTML 4.0-compliant browser will be able to see your site as you intended, and those who cannot are in dire need of a browser upgrade. Frames are now part of the HTML 4.0 specification and should be used to maximum effect, just like any other HTML feature.
Frame basics
Documents constructed with frames differ from conventional HTML documents in one way: they have no
Within a
As we'll see next week, there are a number of attributes you can apply to the
Supporting other browsers
In an effort to support browsers that do not support frames, HTML offers the
If you wish, you could put a complete copy (or reasonable facsimile thereof) in the Previously in Tag of the Week:
The Single Pixel GIF
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