HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
11.1. An Overview of Frames
Figure 11-1
is a simple example of a frame display. It shows how you can
divide the document window into columns and rows of individual frames
separated by rules and scroll bars. Although it is not immediately appar-
ent in the example, each frame in the window contains an independent
document. Frames may contain any valid content the browser is capable
of displaying, including XHTML documents and multimedia. If the frame's
contents include a hyperlink that the user selects, the new document's
contentseven another frame documentmay replace that same frame, an-
other frame's content, or the entire browser window.
Frames are enabled with a special frame document. Its contents do not
get displayed. Instead, the frame document contains tags that tell the
browser how to divide its main display window into discrete frames and
what documents go inside the frames.
The individual documents referenced and displayed in the frame docu-
ment window act independently, to a degree; the frame document con-
trols the entire window. You can, however, direct one frame's document
to load new content into another frame. You do that by attaching a name
to a frame and targeting the named frame with a special attribute for the
hyperlink
<a>
tag.
