Implementing Rule I
§ 1194.22 Web-based intranet and internet information and applications.
(i) Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation.
Before using frames, first determine whether using them is absolutely necessary.
They are not designed to be bookmarked, which is one of the biggest peeves people
have with using them. They need to be carefully designed so that all information is
available for all screen sizes; I have seen frames designed with a no-scroll attribute
(<frame src="TheFrameSet.htm" scrolling="no"
name="Navigation Frame" title="Navigation Frame">)
in which information disappeared below the screen, never to be seen again. Presumably,
the designer designed on a larger monitor. Because of different monitor sizes and
resolutions, the <frame> tag should never use
scrolling="no".
From an application development standpoint, frames make life easier. The most basic frame set can be divided into the following regions: identification and top navigation, left side navigation, and central main content. If one needs to change the side navigation frame contents, for example, for all pages on the site, then only one document needs to be changed, as opposed to editing all documents using the same layout on the site.
However, site development tools such as Dreamweaver, which have the capability of enabling you to work with templates, library items, and code snippets, enable you to change multiple items on an entire site with one change to a library item or template. Thus the above reason for using frames becomes less of a concern.
A problem arises if you are required to use the HTML
4 Strict standard, because, the target="_blank" attribute for the
<a> tag has been deprecated. This means that, in order to use frames,
your document type for the frame document needs to be set to the Transitional standard.
Effectively, the only usage for frames under the Strict standard is just to put documents
with fixed elements without links into the frames, except in the main window, which, by
default, loads itself with a new page each time a link is selected. Thus, to adhere to the Strict standard,
you cannot use side navigation links in a separate frame.
Another problem with frames is that they create messy viewable pages if you want to scale your fonts larger. Suddenly, information such as page headers now includes the frame's scrolling arrows. This change in the appearance can be avoided by setting the scrolling to "yes".
Implementing Frames
If you do choose to use frames, the requirement is merely to use informative titles.
Code: this goes in the frameset document.
<frameset cols="20%,*" border="0" frameborder="0">
<frame src="menu.htm"
scrolling="auto"
name="Navigation Menu"
title="Navigation Menu">
<frame src="home.htm"
scrolling="yes"
name="Main Content"
title="Main Content">
<noframes>
This site is organized by frames.
<ul>
<li><a href="home.htm">Home Page</a></li>
<li><a href="menu.htm">Navigation Menu</a></li>
<li><a href="lookup.htm">Site Index</a></li>
</ul>
</noframes>
</frameset>
One should also include the <noframes> section in the event that
a browser can't handle frames. Most visual browsers do, but this should enable those
that don't to still be able to access the information. This does mean that you have to
program "two" pages.
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