Frames are generated by three things: FRAMESET tags, FRAME
tags, and Frame Documents.
FRAME DOCUMENT
A Frame Document has a basic structure very much like your normal HTML
document, except the BODY container is replaced by a FRAMESET
container which describes the sub-HTML documents, or Frames, that will
make up the page.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
</HEAD>
<FRAMESET>
</FRAMESET>
</HTML>
FRAME SYNTAX
Frame syntax is similar in scope and complexity to that used by tables,
and has been designed to be quickly processed by Internet client layout
engines.
<FRAMESET>
- This is the main container for a Frame. It has 2 attributes ROWS
and COLS. A frame document has no BODY,
and no tags that would normally be placed in the BODY can appear before
the FRAMESET tag, or the FRAMESET will be ignored. The FRAMESET tag has
a matching end tag, and within the FRAMESET you can only have other nested
FRAMESET tags, FRAME tags, or the NOFRAMES tag.
- ROWS="row_height_value_list"
- The ROWS attribute takes as its value a comma separated list of values.
These values can be absolute pixel values, percentage values between 1
and 100, or relative scaling values. The number of rows is implicit in
the number of elements in the list. Since the total height of all the rows
must equal the height of the window, row heights might be normalized to
achieve this. A missing ROWS attribute is interpreted as a single row arbitrarily
sized to fit.
- Syntax of value list.
- value
- A simple numeric value is assumed to be a fixed size in pixels. This
is the most dangerous type of value to use since the size of the viewer's
window can and does vary substantially. If fixed pixel values are used,
it will almost certainly be necessary to mix them with one or more of the
relative size values described below. Otherwise the client engine will
likely override your specified pixel value to ensure that the total proportions
of the frame are 100% of the width and height of the user's window.
- value%
- This is a simple percentage value between 1 and 100. If the total is
greater than 100 all percentages are scaled down. If the total is less
than 100, and relative-sized frames exist, extra space will be given to
them. If there are no relative-sized frames, all percentages will be scaled
up to match a total of 100%.
- value*
- The value on this field is optional. A single '*' character is a "relative-sized"
frame and is interpreted as a request to give the frame all remaining space.
If there exist multiple relative-sized frames, the remaining space is divided
evenly among them. If there is a value in front of the '*', that frame
gets that much more relative space. "2*,*" would give 2/3 of
the space to the first frame, and 1/3 to the second.
- Example for 3 rows, the first and the last being smaller than the center
row:
<FRAMESET ROWS="20%,60%,20%">
Example for 3 rows, the first and the last being fixed height, with
the remaining space assigned to the middle row:
<FRAMESET ROWS="100,*,100">
- COLS="column_width_list"
- The COLS attribute takes as its value a comma separated list of values
that is of the exact same syntax as the list described above for the ROWS
attribute.
The FRAMESET tag can be nested inside other FRAMESET
tags. In this case the complete subframe is placed in the space
that would be used for the corresponding frame if this had been a FRAME
tag instead of a nested FRAMESET.
- <FRAME>
- This tag defines a single frame in a frameset. It has 6 possible attributes:
SRC, NAME, MARGINWIDTH, MARGINHEIGHT, SCROLLING,
and NORESIZE. The FRAME tag is not a container so it has no matching
end tag.
- SRC="url"
- The SRC attribute takes as its value the URL of the document to be
displayed in this particular frame. FRAMEs without SRC attributes are displayed
as a blank space the size the frame would have been.
- NAME="window_name"
- The NAME attribute is used to assign a name to a frame so it can be
targeted by links in other documents (These are usually from other frames
in the same document.) The NAME attribute is optional; by default all windows
are unnamed.
- Names must begin with an alphanumeric character.
- Named frames can have their window contents targeted with the new TARGET
attribute.
- MARGINWIDTH="value"
- The MARGINWIDTH attribute is used when the document author wants some
control of the margins for this frame. If specified, the value for
MARGINWIDTH is in pixels. Margins can not
be less than one-so that frame objects will not touch frame edges-and can
not be specified so that there is no space for the document contents. The
MARGINWIDTH attribute is optional; by default, all frames default to
letting the browser decide on an appropriate margin width.
- MARGINHEIGHT="value"
- The MARGINHEIGHT attribute is just like MARGINWIDTH above, except it
controls the upper an lower margins instead of the left and right margins.
- SCROLLING="yes|no|auto"
- The SCROLLING attribute is used to describe if the frame should
have a scrollbar or not. Yes results in scrollbars always
being visible on that frame. No results in scrollbars never being
visible. Auto instructs the browser to decide whether scrollbars
are needed, and place them where necessary. The SCROLLING attribute is
optional; the default value is auto.
- NORESIZE
- The NORESIZE attribute has no value. It is a flag that indicates that
the frame is not resizable by the user. Users
typically resize frames by draggin a frame edge to a new position. Note
that if any frame adjacent to an edge is not resizable, that entire edge
will be restricted from moving. This will effect the resizability of
other frames.The NORESIZE attribute is optional; by default all frames
are resizable.
- <NOFRAMES>
- This tag is for content providers who want to create alternative
content that is viewable by non-Frame-capable clients. A Frame-capable
Internet client ignores all tags and data between start and end NOFRAMES
tags.