OK. Let's talk frames.... No, wait! Where are you going? Come back!
Perhaps I should've been a little more subtle. Chatted about the weather, or
maybe the Green Bay Packers.
Instead, I came right out and used the "f" word. I understand your
reluctance. Everybody, it seems, is sick of frames. But if frames are an
illness, then I just might have the cure. (And no, I don't mean turning off
the computer so you can get a life. You just sit back and let me finish.)
"So," I say, "I've got these killer frames...."
"Sure, whatever," you reply.
I look at you coyly. "But these frames, man ... these frames, they
float."
Intrigued, you turn around and smile. "They float, huh? Tell me more."
And I will. But first, for those who came in late: There's a possibility
that you missed Jill Atkinson's
treatise on frames — their
structure, usage, and relation to the four food groups. I don't know, maybe
you were sick that day, had to take the dog to the vet, whatever. Point
being, you might be unaware of how frames work. So for those of you thus
afflicted, I'd recommend that you take a peek at Jill's piece, and I'll also
tell you this: Frames are used to "separate, contain, and present" content.
Everyone up to speed? Let's go.
Frames, when used sensibly, can be a great tool for presenting a complex
site. Unfortunately, they've always been sort of boxy and constraining,
doomed as they are to dwell in and along the corners of a browser. But all
that changed with the introduction of the inline frame, or iframe for short.
The iframe made
its debut way back when Microsoft released Internet Explorer 3.0. For a while, they only existed on Intranets and
Microsoft-optimized sites. Now that they are fully supported by all
subsequent Microsoft browsers, Netscape 6, and Opera 5 (to name the
biggies), iframes are ready for the real world.
What's so special about iframes again? Ah, yes, the floating thing. An
iframe isn't bound to the side of a browser window. No way. Just like an
image, a floating frame can sit anywhere on the page. It goes where it wants
to go and calls in what it wants to call in. In every sense, a liberated frame
for the new millennium.
Think of your website as a stack of
magazines. Although it's interesting to look at, and no doubt chock-full of
hard-hitting, compelling content, some people will never know this because
all they see is what's at the very top. The only way for users to get at the rest of the content is
to dig into the stack one page at a time.
Now imagine if you could give your viewers a magic mirror like the one
Miss Cindy had on Romper Room — you know, the one she used
to see you through the TV? Well, with this mirror, your readers could see
what's in the center of the pile, um, I mean your website. No more clicking
and reloading, and clicking and reloading, and clicking and reloading to
dredge up information. So you see, floating frames are magic — just like
Miss Cindy's mirror.
OK, not magic, exactly. Let's look at how they really work.
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