HTML Frames

With frames, you can display more than one Web page in the same browser window.


Frames

With frames, you can display more than one HTML document in the same browser window. Each HTML document is called a frame, and each frame is independent of the others.

The disadvantages of using frames are:

  • The web developer must keep track of more HTML documents
  • It is difficult to print the entire page

The Frameset Tag

  • The <frameset> tag defines how to divide the window into frames
  • Each frameset defines a set of rows or columns
  • The values of the rows/columns indicate the amount of screen area each row/column will occupy

The Frame Tag

  • The <frame> tag defines what HTML document to put into each frame

In the example below we have a frameset with two columns. The first column is set to 25% of the width of the browser window. The second column is set to 75% of the width of the browser window. The HTML document “frame_a.htm” is put into the first column, and the HTML document “frame_b.htm” is put into the second column:

<frameset cols="25%,75%">
   <frame src="frame_a.htm">
   <frame src="frame_b.htm">
</frameset>

Basic Notes – Useful Tips

If a frame has visible borders, the user can resize it by dragging the border. To prevent a user from doing this, you can add noresize=”noresize” to the <frame> tag.

Add the <noframes> tag for browsers that do not support frames.

Important: You cannot use the <body></body> tags together with the <frameset></frameset> tags! However, if you add a <noframes> tag containing some text for browsers that do not support frames, you will have to enclose the text in <body></body> tags! See how it is done in the first example below.


Frame Tags

Tag Description
<frameset> Defines a set of frames
<frame> Defines a sub window (a frame)
<noframes> Defines a noframe section for browsers that do not handle frames
<iframe> Defines an inline sub window (frame)

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