» 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>

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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)