Part III: Advancing Your Site in Java

Generation QR in Java Part III: Advancing Your Site

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Introducing HTML frames Creating frame pages Knowing when not to use frames Setting targets and links

o one wants to be framed, whether that means being falsely accused of something you didn t do or trapped in the HTML frameset of a Web site with no escape Appreciating not only the best way to create frames, but also the best way to use them to enhance site navigation is important if you don t want to leave your visitors feeling stuck in your pages Many experienced Web designers say you should never use frames I take a more open approach I don t recommend frames, but I think you should decide for yourself Besides, I can think of a few instances when frames come in quite handy, such as when you want to bring in content from another Web site and still maintain your own navigation and logo Of course, you should do this only with permission from the other site (see the sidebar later in this chapter, Resist using frames when you link to other people s Web sites ) To help you make the most of this HTML design feature, this chapter not only covers how to build HTML framesets in Dreamweaver, but also discusses when frames are most useful and when you should avoid them Frames add a wide range of design possibilities, but they can also create confusing navigation systems and can be very frustrating to viewers As you go through this chapter, consider not only how to create frames, but also whether they are really the best solution for your Web site project

Frames add innovative navigation control because they enable you to display multiple HTML pages in one browser window and control the contents of each framed area individually Web developers commonly use frames to

create a design with two or more sections within one browser window Each section consists of a different HTML page, and you can place links in one section that, when selected, display information in another page in a different section within the same browser window Web pages that use frames, such as the one shown in Figure 7-1, are split into separate sections or individual frames All the frames together make up a frameset Behind the scenes, each frame of the frameset is a separate HTML file, which makes a page with frames a little complicated to create, even with Dreamweaver If you choose to create your frame files in a text editor, you have to juggle multiple pages, working on each frame one at a time, and you can see what you create only when you preview your work in a browser The visual editor in Dreamweaver makes creating frames a lot easier because you can view all the HTML files that make up the frameset at the same time and can edit them while they display in the way in which they appear in a browser As a navigational feature, frames enable you to keep some information constant, while changing other information in the same browser window For example, you can keep a list of links visible in one frame and display the information each link brings up in another frame, as the site shown in Figure 7-1 does

Figure 7-1: This Southwest Scenes Web site uses frames to keep navigation buttons on the left and the banner at the top, while changing the content in the main part of the page

You can create as many frames as you want within a browser window Unfortunately, some people overuse them and create designs that are so complex and broken up that they re neither aesthetically appealing nor easily navigable Putting too many frames on one page can also make a site hard to read because the individual windows are too small This has led many Web surfers to passionately hate frames And some sites that rushed to implement frames when they were first introduced have since either abandoned frames or minimized their use Here s a list of guidelines to follow when using frames: Don t use frames just for the sake of using frames If you have a compelling reason to use frames, then create an elegant and easy-to-follow frameset But don t do it just because Dreamweaver makes creating them relatively easy Limit the use of frames and keep files small Remember that each frame you create represents another HTML file Thus, a frameset with three frames requires a browser to fetch and display four Web pages, and that may dramatically increase download time Turn off frame borders Browsers that support frames also support the capability to turn off the border that divides frames in a frameset If you turn the borders off, your pages look cleaner Frame borders, shown in Figure 7-1, are thick and an ugly gray in color, and they can break up a nice design You can change the color in the Properties inspector, but I still recommend that you only use them when you feel that they re absolutely necessary I show you how to turn off frame borders in the Changing Frame Properties section toward the end of this chapter Don t use frames when you can use CSS or tables instead Tables are easier to create than frames and provide a more elegant solution to your design needs because they re less intrusive to the design I include lots of information on creating tables in 6, and you find coverage of CSS an increasingly popular design option in 8 Don t place frames within frames The windows get too darned small to be useful for much of anything, and the screen looks horribly complicated You can also run into problems when your framed site links to another site that s displayed in your frameset The sidebar Resist using frames when you link to other people s Web sites later in this chapter provides many more reasons to limit using frames inside of frames Put in alternate <NOFRAMES> content The number of users surfing the Web with browsers that don t support frames becomes smaller every day Still, showing them something other than a blank page is a good idea I usually put in a line that says, This site uses frames and requires a frames-capable browser to view <NOFRAMES> content can also be read by search engines, which may otherwise fail to catalog the content within framed pages