Frameset

Frameset Support Key: [2\|3\|3.2\|4] [X1\|X1.1] [IE3A1\| M3B2\|N2\|O2.1*]	What is it? Attributes Tag Example	Parent/Content Model Tips & Tricks Browser Peculiarities
= Index DOT Html by Brian Wilson =

Main Index | Element Tree | Element Index | HTML Support History

Quick Statistics
End Tag:		Required
Standards Details:		Transitional/Frameset HTML 4.x/XHTML 1.0 DTDs only. Dropped in XHTML 1.1
XHTML Modules:		Frames
CSS 'display' Type:		"block" (according to CSS2, but that doesn't make complete sense)
CSS Mapping:		NA
Default Rendering:		Divides viewport into regions specified in ROWS and COLS attributes
Official Docs:		HTML 4.x, XHTML 1.0

What is it?: This element represents the meta structure of a document using frames. By replacing the BODY element in the document structure, the FRAMESET element defines the document layout in terms of areas of the screen containing sub-document URLs (the frame content.)

Each FRAMESET element can consist of a ROWS attribute, a COLS attribute, or both. The ROWS attribute indicates that the sub-area is to be divided in to horizontal document "stripes", while the COLS attribute defines vertical display areas. Using both attributes in a single FRAMESET creates a grid of sub document areas.

If no ROWS or COLS attributes are present in a FRAMESET element, it is interpreted as a single row arbitrarily sized to fit the current window. If BOTH ROWS and COLS have been specified, sub-document definitions are distributed left-to-right, top-to-bottom of the frame layout. Nested FRAMESET structures occur in place of where a corresponding FRAME definition statement would appear.

Note: The * character used below in the ROWS and COLS attributes deserves some explanation, as its use in this situation is unique in HTML. By itself, the * character specifies that any remaining frame width be devoted to the current frame. If there are multiple frames in the ROWS/COLS specification that have the * character, remaining space will be divided evenly between them. If the * character is preceded by an integer (N), that frame will receive N times as much of the remaining relative sized space as it would without the N prefix.

Common Attributes
%Core%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B1|M|N6B1|O5]
%Accessibility%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [ IE4 | M | N6 | O
%Events%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE3|M|N2|O3]
%Language%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4|M|N|O]
%Editing%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE5.5|M|N|O]
Specific Attributes
Border
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B1|M|N3B5|O2.1]: Standards Details: NA; Description:
This attribute is used in the outermost FRAMESET tag to globally set the border thickness for all frames within the FRAMESET.; Values: Positive integers representing the pixel space between frames. If BORDER=0 is used, it implicitly sets FRAMEBORDER to No.
BorderColor
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B2|M|N3B5|O]: Standards Details: NA; Required? No; Description:
When this attribute is used in the FRAMESET tag, it attempts to set the colors of all borders for all frames in the frameset. This can be overridden on a frame-by-frame basis in the FRAME tag.; Values: The standard HTML color specification methods apply.
Cols
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE3A1|M3B2|N2|O2.1]: Standards Details: In Transitional and Frameset HTML 4.x/XHTML 1.0 DTDs only. Dropped in XHTML 1.1.; Required? No; Description:
This attribute specifies that the current window will be sub-divided into columns (vertical bands of framed content.) Values to this attribute are separated by commas, and represent the horizontal widths of the resultant separate child frames in the current parent frameset. In theory, all values listed should account for, or sum up to, the full parent frame size. It is possible to abuse this, because the three types of values can be freely intermixed.; Values: CDATA. [Specified in pixels, a percentage of parent frame width (%) or in a dynamic relative sizing attribute specified by the use of the * character.]
FrameBorder
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE3A1|M|N3B5|O7]: Standards Details: NA; Required? No; Description:
This attribute gives the author the option of whether or not to have borders around all the frames in the FRAMESET. This value can be overridden locally at the FRAME level.; Values:
Internet Explorer lists values of 1 [DEFAULT] and 0 [display no border.]
Netscape lists values for this attribute as Yes [DEFAULT] and No, but also understands "1"/"0".
FrameSpacing
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE3A1|M|N|O]: Standards Details: NA; Required? No; Description:
This attribute specifies the size of the gap (in pixels) between individual frames in a frameset.; Values: Positive integers representing the pixel space between frames.
Name
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4|M|N|O]: Standards Details: NA; Required? No; Description:
This attribute specifies the name of the link so that scripting languages may access it.; Values: An alphanumeric string. Must begin with an alphabetic character.
Rows
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE3A1|M3B2|N2|O2.1]: Standards Details: In Transitional and Frameset HTML 4.x/XHTML 1.0 DTDs only. Dropped in XHTML 1.1.; Required? No; Description:
This attribute specifies that the current window will be sub-divided into rows (horizontal bands of framed content.) Values to this attribute are separated by commas, and represent the vertical height of the resultant separate child frames in the current parent frameset. In theory, all values listed should account for, or sum up to, the full parent frame size. It is possible to abuse this, because the three types of values can be freely intermixed.; Values: CDATA. [Specified in pixels, a percentage of parent frame height (%) or in a dynamic relative sizing attribute specified by the use of the * character.]

Example: <html>
<head>
    <title>Frames Example</title>
</head>
<frameset rows="20,25%,*">
    <frame src="frame1.html" name="frame1" />
    <frame src="frame2.html" name="frame2" />
    <frameset cols="30%,*">
         <frame src="frame3.html" name="frame3" />
         <frame src="frame4.html" name="frame4" />
    </frameset>
<noframes>
    <body>
        This text will appear only if the browser does not support frames.
    </body>
</noframes>
</frameset>
</html>

Parent Model: <frameset> | <html>
Content Model: <frame> | <frameset> | <noframes>

Tips & Tricks

There are many readers out there who do not like frames. Keep this in mind when authoring your pages.
Good situations to use frames:
Elements that the User Should Always See.
Things such as control bars, copyright notices, and title graphics can be placed in a static, individual frame.
Table of Contents.
One frame can contain an index that, when clicked, displays results in an adjoining frame.
Question and Answer.
Frames design allows queries to be posed and answered on the same page, with one frame holding the query form, and the other presenting the results.
It is STRONGLY recommended to include alternate body content in the NOFRAMES section of a frames definition document. Even if the content is a link to a non-framed version of the page, this provides users of frames incapable browsers the chance to view the content of your site.
[Test] It is easy to abuse any of the methods of specifying frame sizes to allow dimensions that are not equal to the parent frame size (while this can be harmless, it could cause display problems.)
A Frequently Asked Question about Frames authoring:
How do I cause a hyperlink to update multiple frames?
It is possible to do with just HTML, but it can become complex very quickly. If you need to update multiple frames, define the group of multiple frames that you want to update simultaneously as a single frame. The URL of that frame will be yet ANOTHER frameset. When it comes time to do an action that will affect multiple frames, call the action with the TARGET being the FRAME NAME for the group. This update will probably need to call another destination URL that is also a FRAMESET definition page. Note: This works easiest when the multiple frames that need updating are adjacent or easily defined by a single FRAMESET tag. This method does NOT work as well for pages that need to update multiple times.

Browser Peculiarities

Support Note: An attempt was made in the beta versions of Mosaic V. 3.0 to support frames capability, but it was retracted for the PC final release version.
[Test] None of the Internet Explorer or Netscape versions allow recursive references to parent documents.
Anecdote: A security hole was found in early Netscape implementations where an author could specify a fairly invisible 1 pixel frame that could keep track of all sites the user visited.
Internet Explorer seems to be much more stringent in parsing correct frames document syntax. If your documents work fine under Netscape, it won't hurt to re-check the behavior under Internet Explorer.
Netscape uses the BORDER attribute to control the frame border size while Internet Explorer uses the FRAMESPACING attribute to control the same behavior. It should be safe to use both of these attributes at the same time to ensure proper display on both of these browsers.
[Test] In all versions of Netscape, if no SRC attribute is initially specified, the frame area is no longer addressable as a target (even if a NAME is specified) for document links, etc. Internet Explorer and Opera handle the case of an initial blank SRC just fine.
[Test] Authors can also choose to specify ROWS and COLS in the same FRAMESET element. If this is done, the nested FRAME references will be assigned sequentially to the ROWS and COLS layout specifications as follows: left to right, top to bottom (eg: COLS, then ROWS.)
IE/Netscape Compatibility: If you are trying to create content that flows seamlessly across frames in IE and Netscape, check out this document for some tips.
[Test] Internet Explorer: If the FRAMESPACING attribute is given a value of zero, it effectively sets the NORESIZE attribute of the sub-frames as well. It almost seems as if IE frames need a positive FRAMESPACING value for the user to "grab on to" or move.
Internet Explorer versions before 5.5 Beta 1 implemented frames by creating new instances of IE. The greater the number of frames, the greater the number of active IE "browser copies" there were. This was not the most efficient of methods. Beginning in IE v5.5 Beta 1 frames are now implemented using a single browser control, which Microsoft states will improve overall frame performance.
CSS: Before IE v5.5 Beta 1, FRAMEs and IFRAMEs could not use the 'z-index' property (they would always be on the "top" of the rendering surface and nothing could be placed "above" them) and could not be transparent (such that content from positioned content beneath would "shine through".) Beginning in IE v5.5 Beta 1, these capabilities now exist.
Netscape 6 and CSS: Even though support for the %Core% attributes is listed here, in direct testing it seemed that VERY few CSS properties could successfully be applied to this element. Keep this in mind in your authoring.