Joe Bernert >> [Working with HTML Frames]

Frames Cheatsheet - 02/18/01 Frame Tags

<frameset> ..</frameset> Defines a collection of frames in an HTML page. Values set in the frameset tag should be used as a default value to override values set in the frame tag. For best compliance, don’t set conflicting values in the frameset and frame tags. If a frame needs a specific setting, it’s better to NOT specify it in the frameset tag and specify it in the frame tag.

border=# sets frame border in pixels if frame border is turned ON
bordercolor=color if borders are turned on, will set the color for the frame bars
frameborder=yes frameborder=1 in the frame tag to make sure they show up. Turning them off uses both no and 0 respectively.
cols=list Sets the number and sizes of columns in a frameset Sizes are specified in pixels using numbers (absolute number) or by percentages (50%) and relative (*) values
rows=list Sets the number and sizes of rows in a frameset. Uses same values as above

<frame> ..</frame>Defines a frame within a frameset tag

bordercolor=color if borders are turned on, will set the color for the frame bars
frameborder=1|0 and/or yes|no determines whether or not bars are drawn between frames. NN and IE support different values from this tag. To make sure that borders are showing in both browsers you will need to code as follows:
frameborder=yes frameborder=1 in the frame tag to make sure they show up. Turning them off uses both no and 0 respectively.
name=”text” defines a name for the current frame. Useful for linking purposes
noresize prevents users from manually resizing the frame. If this is not specified, default is yes. Note: even if you turn off borders, the end user is still able to resize the border! In short, use this tag ALWAYS if you want to make sure the end user can’t resize your frames.
scrolling=yes/no/auto specifies if scroll bars will appear in HTML document. If not specified, auto is selected. Be careful, if you select scrolling=no and the document doesn’t fit within the end user’s screen resolution, the user cannot see all of the page!
src=URL defines the html page that will load into the current frame

<noframes> ../<noframes> Specifies content to be displayed to browsers that cannot view frames. This is largely outdated since most browsers DO view frames. However, there still are simple text browsers that cannot read content within frames. The noframes tags are designed to either prompt a message to the browser OR re-direct the user to a non-frames enabled version of the site. See the Etude 3 guidesheet for an example of using noframes content.

Using the TARGET attribute:

Target=_blank/_self/_parent/
_blank opens the link in a new browser window _self opens the link in the same window(frame) This is the natural default of ALL hyperlinks _parent opens the link in the “parent” frame (or one step up in the frameset) Example <a href src=http://www.yahoo.com TARGET=”_blank”>

<base> Using this tag will set defaults for the entire page. Once set in the header of the HTML document the TARGET tag for each hyperlink isn't needed. Usage:
<HEAD>
<Base Target="target frame">
</HEAD>

You will need to note the name of the frames as you set them up in your HTML document. Replace "target frame" with the name of the frame it should open up in.

Frame Examples:

Download the sample HTML files