Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference

Name

<FRAMESET> — NN 2 IE 3 HTML 4

Synopsis

<FRAMESET>...</FRAMESET>

End Tag: Required

Defines the layout of a multiple-frame presentation in a browser’s application window. The primary duty of the FRAMESET element is to specify the geographical layout—in a row and column array—of rectangular frames. Attributes defined in a FRAMESET element apply to all FRAME elements nested within (unless overridden by a similar attribute for a specific FRAME). A FRAMESET element’s tag takes the place in an HTML document that is normally devoted to the BODY element.

You may nest a FRAMESET element within a FRAMESET element. This tactic allows you to subdivide a frame from the outer FRAMESET element into two or more frames. For example, if you define one FRAMESET element with three rows and two columns, you get a total of six frames:

<FRAMESET ROWS="33%, 33%, 34%" COLS="50%, 50%">
    <FRAME NAME="r1c1"...>
    <FRAME NAME="r1c2"...>
    <FRAME NAME="r2c1"...>
    <FRAME NAME="r2c2"...>
    <FRAME NAME="r3c1"...>
    <FRAME NAME="r3c2"...>
</FRAMESET>

Figure 8.1 shows the resulting frame organization.

Figure 8-1. A three-row, two-column frameset

On the other hand, if you nest a frameset where a frame definition goes, that frame is divided into whatever frame organization is defined by that nested frameset. Consider the following nested frameset:

<FRAMESET ROWS="33%, 33%, 34%"> <FRAME NAME="r1"...> <FRAMESET COLS="50%, 50%"> ...