HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 10.23
This is the scene that will be scrolling by in the small window above.
When you look out the window in the room where you might be at the moment, it might
be one big pane of glass like a picture window, or the window might be divided up into
panes of squares or rectangles.
The browser is a virtual window that can be divided up into frames—independent
windows, like panes, within the main window, where each frame is used to display dif-
ferent information. Invented by Netscape, frames allow you to display more than one
Web page in the same window. Web designers have debated the merit of using frames
because they are often misused but have some distinct disadvantages discussed later in
this chapter.
The file that defines the layout of the frames is called the parent window, and each of
the frames it describes is called a child (see Figure 10.24). Although you can't see the
parent window, it will show up in the browser's source for the page.
Parent or Top Window
Child
Frame
Child
Frame
Child
Frame
Child
Frame
Figure 10.24
The parent window is divided into child frames.
To build frames in a Web page, you use the HTML
<frameset>
tags instead of the
<body>
tags (see Table 10.10). At least three files are needed to create frames. The first
file defines the layout of the frames (or subwindows) by defining the size and position
