Operation Manual

182
USING DREAMWEAVER
Laying out pages with HTML
Last updated 3/28/2012
Using Frames
How frames and framesets work
A frame is a region in a browser window that can display an HTML document independent of what’s being displayed
in the rest of the browser window. Frames provide a way to divide a browser window into multiple regions, each of
which can display a different HTML document. In the most common use of frames, one frame displays a document
containing navigation controls, while another frame displays a document with content
A frameset is an HTML file that defines the layout and properties of a set of frames, including the number of frames, the
size and placement of the frames, and the URL of the page that initially appears in each frame. The frameset file itself
doesn’t contain HTML content that displays in a browser, except in the
noframes section; the frameset file simply
provides information to the browser about how a set of frames should look and what documents should appear in them.
To view a set of frames in a browser, enter the URL of the frameset file; the browser then opens the relevant documents
to display in the frames. The frameset file for a site is often named index.html, so that it displays by default if a visitor
doesn’t specify a filename.
The following example shows a frame layout consisting of three frames: one narrow frame on the side that contains a
navigation bar, one frame that runs along the top, containing the logo and title of the website, and one large frame that
takes up the rest of the page and contains the main content. Each of these frames displays a separate HTML document.
In this example, the document displayed in the top frame never changes as the visitor navigates the site. The side frame
navigation bar contains links; clicking one of these links changes the content of the main content frame, but the
contents of the side frame itself remain static. The main content frame on the right displays the appropriate document
for the link the visitor clicks on the left.
A frame is not a file; it’s easy to think of the document that currently appears in a frame as an integral part of the frame,
but the document isn’t actually part of the frame. The frame is a container that holds the document.