Dreamweaver CS4 For Dummies®

Chapter 8. Framing Your Pages

In This Chapter

• Introducing HTML frames

• Creating frame pages

• Knowing when not to use frames

• Setting targets and links

• Changing the properties of frames

Using HTML frames to create a Web site is a little like putting pink plastic flamingos on your front lawn — some people love them, some people hate them.

Thus making the most of frames requires appreciating not only the best way to create frames but also the best ways to use them and why so many Web designers have vowed never to use them. Many experienced Web designers say you should never use frames because they can confuse visitors as they navigate around a site and because frames hide the actual URL of each page (only the main address of the main frame page is displayed in a browser, even when a visitor clicks a link that opens another page in the frameset).

These are valid reasons to avoid using frames, but I still think it's important to include instructions for creating frames in this book. Afterall, even if all you want to do is redesign a site that was created with frames, you still need at least a basic understanding of how frames work just to deconstruct the existing site before you re-create it in a new layout option, such as the much-preferred CSS approach covered in Chapter 6.

Overall, I try to take a non-judgmental approach to frames — I don't recommend frames, but I can think of a few instances when frames come in handy, such as when you want to bring in content from another Web site and still ...