Building HTML Frames: Part I

The frame concept was first introduced in Netscape Navigator 2.0. In fact, HTML frames are used to break up one big browser window into several independent frames, each has its own file. From designing point of view, it's similar to using tables in designing and laying out data and elements. We begin exploring frames by using examples and explanation.

Example1: A simplest frame set, dividing browser window by columns
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>A Simplest Frame Set</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<FRAMESET COLS = "*,2*">
<FRAME SRC = "menu.html">
<FRAME SRC = "info.html">
</FRAMESET>
</HTML>

Explanation:
The above HTML frame code defines a page with two frames, organized as 2 columns. The first frame or columns takes up 1/3 of the width of the screen and contains the HTML document named menu.html. The second frame or column takes up the other 2/3 and contains the HTML document named info.html.

Example2: A simplest frame set, dividing browser window by rows
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>A Simplest Frame Set</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<FRAMESET ROWS = "*,2*">
<FRAME SRC = "menu.html">
<FRAME SRC = "info.html">
</FRAMESET>
</HTML>
The above HTML frame code defines a page with two frames, organized as 2 rows. The first frame or row takes up 1/3 of the height of the screen and contains the HTML document named menu.html. The second frame or row takes up the other 2/3 and contains the HTML document named info.html.

1.Frame Tags and Attributes

The <FRAMESET> </FRAMESET> tag set begins and ends the definition of a frame setup. This is the first pair of tags that has to be there before creating any frames. Within this pair of tags, we can define the number of frames we wants.
The COLS attribute divides the browser window into vertical frames, and the ROWS attribute divides the browser into horizontal frames.
The values for the COLS and the ROWS attributes can be absolute pixel(ex: "120"), percentage one(ex: "30%"), or relative scaling one(ex: "*, 2*")
The <FRAME> tag defines each frame. The value of the SRC attribute defines the HTML document for each frame. It doesn't need a closed tag </FRAME>.
Also note that when we use <FRAMESET></FRAMESET>, we don't use the tag pair <BODY> </BODY>.