Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Targeting Frames

One of the challenges of managing a framed document is coordinating where linked documents display. By default, a linked document loads into the same window as the link; however, it is often desirable to have a link in one frame load a page into a different frame in the frameset. For instance, this is the desired effect for a list of navigation links in a narrow frame that loads content into a larger main frame on the page.

To load a new linked page into a particular frame, you first need to assign a name to the targeted frame using the name attribute in the frame element, as follows:

<frame src="original.html" name="main" />

Tip

Names must start with a letter (upper- or lowercase).

Now you can specify that frame by name within any anchor (a) element with the target attribute, as shown in this example:

<a href="new.html" target="main">...</a>

In this example, the document new.html will load into the frame named “main.”

If a link contains a target name that does not exist in the frameset, a new browser window is opened to display the document, and that window is given the target’s name. Subsequent links targeted to the same name will load in that window.