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HTML frames divided a browser window into regions that loaded separate documents. A FRAMESET defined the divisions, each FRAME loaded a page into one region, and links could target a named frame. This is a historical technique, not a choice for new websites: the current WHATWG HTML Standard classifies frame, frameset, and noframes as obsolete and says authors must not use them.
How a frameset worked
In the older model, the frameset page did not contain the content shown in each region. Instead, it described the browser window’s layout and named the separate documents to load. A frame could show a navigation menu while another showed the page selected from that menu.
A period-style example looks like this:
<frameset cols="25%,75%">
<frame src="menu.html" name="menu">
<frame src="welcome.html" name="content">
</frameset>The cols attribute divides the window into columns; rows could divide it into horizontal bands instead. The values specify the relative sizes of the regions. Each src names a separate HTML document, and each name gives a frame an address that links can target. This markup is shown only to explain legacy pages. It is not conforming markup for a new page.
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How links loaded a page into a chosen frame
A link in the menu document could load its destination in the frame named content by using that name as its target:
<a href="about.html" target="content">About</a>Without a target, the link normally navigated the document containing it. Legacy pages could set a default destination for links with a BASE TARGET declaration in the document head; an individual link’s target could specify a different destination.
How one link changed more than one frame
“How do I make one link change two frames?” In a frameset, a single ordinary link target selects one destination frame. The historical workaround was JavaScript: a link called a function that assigned new page URLs to multiple named frames.
<script>
function showPages() {
parent.frames["menu"].location = "menu-new.html";
parent.frames["content"].location = "article.html";
}
</script>
<a href="article.html" onclick="showPages(); return false;">
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</a>Here, parent.frames refers to the frames in the containing frameset, and setting a frame’s location navigates it to another document. Returning false prevents the link’s normal navigation after the script runs. This illustrates a historical technique; it is not a modern pattern to adopt. Scripts can fail or be unavailable, so a link that depends on this behavior can also fail to provide useful navigation.
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NOFRAMES provided alternate content for browsers that could not display a frameset. Legacy authors could place a message and ordinary navigation links inside it:
<noframes>
<body>
<p>Browse the site:</p>
<a href="about.html">About</a>
</body>
</noframes>Some older frame-based sites also included discreet navigation links in their content documents, so users arriving directly at a document had a way to reach other sections. These fallbacks matter when maintaining old sites, but noframes itself is obsolete in current HTML.
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What to use instead today
The current WHATWG HTML Standard says authors must not use frame, frameset, or noframes. It points to two different approaches, depending on what the page needs:
- Use an
iframewith CSS when a page needs to embed another document within its content. An iframe is an embedded region; it is not a full-window frameset with independently divided page regions. - Use server-side includes when the goal is to reuse page regions such as a shared header or navigation across complete pages. This combines content into pages rather than making each region a separate browser frame.
These alternatives solve different problems: an iframe embeds a separate document, while server-side includes help assemble pages from shared pieces. Choose based on the purpose, rather than translating a frameset layout element for element.
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Recognizing frames in a legacy site
- A document containing
FRAMESETandFRAMEmarkup describes the window divisions and the documents loaded into them. - Links with a
targetmatching a frame’snamenavigate that region. BASE TARGETmay set the default destination for links, while JavaScript may update multiple frames from one action.NOFRAMESmay contain alternate content for browsers unable to display the frameset.
These clues help explain how an older site behaves; they are not a recommendation to build a new one using frames.
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