Web Design in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Frame Design Tips and Tricks

Using frames effectively requires more than just knowing the HTML tags. This section provides a few pointers and tricks for framed documents.

All-Purpose Pages

Designing a web page to be part of a framed document doesn’t guarantee that it will always be viewed that way. Keep in mind that some users might end up looking at one of your pages on its own, out of the context of its frameset (this is possible if a search engine returns the URL of the content, for example). Since frames are often used for navigation, this orphaned content page could be a big, fat dead-end for a user.

For that reason, you should try to design your content pages so that they stand up on their own. Adding a small amount of redundant information to the bottom of each page can make a big difference in usability. First, indicate the name of the site with a link to its home page on each content document. This helps to orient a newcomer who may have just dropped in from a search engine.

It is important to pay particular attention to the navigational options available on content pages viewed without their frameset. At the very least, provide a small link on every page to a more appropriate (and framed) starting point, such as the top level of your site. Be sure to set the target="_top" attribute so the link won’t load the home page frameset within the current frameset.

As a backup measure, you could use JavaScript to ensure that a page is always viewed in its original frameset. This ...