IFrames ...!

What exactly are they ?!

[ideavirus]

Hii,

Could someone please explain what exactly are Iframes..?? and where they could be useful ??

Where can i get more & best info on the same ??

Thanks in advance
Cheers
:)

[rewboss]

<iframe> stands for "inline frame".

In brief, it is a frame inside which you can display a (different) web page. Unlike ordinary frames, it is positioned on the page much like an image is. <iframe> is a container tag; browsers that do not support <iframe> will display whatever you put between <iframe> and </iframe>.

For example:

<iframe width="500" height="300" scrolling="auto" src="some_other_page.html">
Your browser doesn't support &lt;iframe&gt;. <a href="some_other_page.html">Click here to see the document.</a>
</iframe>

[mack]

Is it possible to use the above method in association with a link.

for example "take a look" if a user click on the take a look link the page will open. woudl it them be possible to have another link to close the new page???

[aspdaddy]

The iframe has an name & src atrributes - you can script with dhtml.

I-frames are good for getting asp/dynamic content into an html page:
<iframe src="dynamicstuff.asp" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>

[papabaer]

Iframes also make great image viewers... You can create a "gallery page" containing a single <iframe> sized to accomodate your images. One of the obvious advantages is that initially, you need only display a single image or small (kb) "gallery intro page" in the <iframe> with all the additional images accessible through links on the main gallery page.

This allows you to display your images or photographs without using pop-up windows or opening totally seperate new pages. This can be very useful when the main page contains important text related to the images and you wsh to keep all the main info on a single page.

Using "meta refresh," it is even possible to create a "dynamic image show" that will "refresh" through the list of image/image pages loaded into the iframe. It's easy.

[ideavirus]

Hii,

Thanks for all your replies...!

I would like to know, if I can achieve this, by using Iframes..??

... Lets say...On a page of my site, i have two columns.. ( colspace=2 )..now I have 2 links [ lets say forums and help desk ]on the left hand column which is only 15% of the total width...The other right hand column is 85% width..!

Now when i click on the link say forums, I want forums to load on the right hand colum without refreshing the whole page...and even after that...whatever is performed in the forums, i want it to done within the right hand colum, without ever refreshing the page...!

Again the same, i would like to achieve when clicked on the help desk link.

can i achieve this using Iframe idea...??

If yes..How do i go about doing it..??..

Thanks for the help in advance...!

Cheers
:)

[Knowles]

Yeah I am pretty sure you can do that, of course that sounds very much like a simple frameset. You would just have to size your IFrame to the size you needed (85%). As long as the Forum or Help Desk doesnt have any kind of targets to make it take over the browser there is no problem.

[dhdweb]

Does Netscape support iframes yet?

[choster]

IFRAME is specified in HTML 4.01 [w3.org] and supported by Netscape 6, but not Netscape 4.xx.

[gph]

Are bookmarking and browser history different from frames?

[Purple Martin]

<iframe width="500" height="300" scrolling="auto" src="some_other_page.html">
Your browser doesn't support &lt;iframe&gt;. <a href="some_other_page.html">Click here to see the document.</a>
</iframe>

The other great thing about what rewboss has done here is that spiders will follow the link to the other page. Always include a link inside your <iframe> tags, not only does it help users with old browsers, but it helps your site on the search engines :)

[papabaer]

I use an IFRAME as media browser and preview window; it allows me to create "intro/preview" version of features pages and aids in navigation. I deploy a dropdown menu that will let visitors scan through "mini-pages" in a 460x300px window and navigate accordingly.

The preview pages all contain links to the full featured page... each page listed has been indexed, some have excellent rankings.

I place a link to an archive page or site map between the iframe tags - good for NN4 users, great for spiders!

All in all... iframes are very versatile and since each page loaded into an iframe is a complete, stand-alone html page, they can easily be bookmarked and indexed (providing spiderable links are used).

[ideavirus]

knowles,

Could you please help me as to how I can go about doing it.

Also, How can i know, if the applications ( Help Desk and Forums ) doesnt have any kind of targets to make it take over the browser...!

Thanks again
Cheers
:)

[papabaer]

Keep in mind the name of the element in question: iframe. The name stands for "inline frame." An iframe is a flexible, fluid, inline element that can "flow with the page" or be positioned using CSS.

While the iframe element IS part of the parent page, the iframe content is not. Think of it as looking out of a window, but a very special window where you decide what appears.

Part of the iframe element includes the "name" attribute, using the name assigned to the iframe allows you to taget various urls to load into the iframe window:

<a href="content01.htm" target="alpha">Iframe Content 01</a>
<a href="content02.htm" target="alpha">Iframe Content 02</a>
<a href="content03.htm" target="alpha">Iframe Content 03</a>
<a href="content04.htm" target="alpha">Iframe Content 04</a>

<iframe src="initial-content00.htm" name="alpha" width="400px" height="400px" align="left" frameborder="0"><a href="http://mySite.com/iframe-index.htm">View iframe content<a/></iframe>

If the pages loaded into the iframe contain links, the links will load (self) into the iframe whne clicked and will not affect or refresh the parent pages unless you code the pages accordingly (target="_top").

Iframes are very flexible regarding placement and usage: you can do quite a number of creative presentations. They are also a method of presenting updating information without actually adding the content to the parent page. This can be a big plus if you have tweaked a page to SEO perfection and do not want to disturb anything by adding updated content that will affect your SEO efforts. Since the iframe content is NOT part of the parent page, any information displayed in the iframe window will not affect your main page content.

Regarding "taking over the browser" - it sounds as if you are referring to the "framebuster" scripts that help prevent content theft. If the pages you are loading into the iframe all belong to you, then you need not worry about that.