Forum Moderators: open

Message Too Old, No Replies

Alternative to frames?

Is there a good (e.g.asp ) alternative to frames?

         

netnerd

10:09 am on Aug 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Basically, im setting up a website (mysite.com) which uses functionality on another site (theirsite.com)

So, i have a http://www.theirsite.asp?referrer=etc link which i include in my main page which gives the impression that the whole site is on my main page.
However, when the user clicks the 'go' button, it then goes to the other sites url.

Without using frames, is there a way that i can make the results appear on my site and my url, so that the user thinks it is all on mysite.com and not theirsite.com?

[edited by: tedster at 2:46 pm (utc) on Aug. 14, 2003]

BlueSky

10:31 am on Aug 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



You can use iframes, frames, or a site scrapper. However, taking someone else's website content and presenting it on yours is a copyright violation. Unless you have permission from the other site, you open yourself up to not only having your site shut-down but also being sued. If the SE's see what you're doing they may penalize you too.

netnerd

10:52 am on Aug 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I do have permission for it - can you recommed an effective and easy to use screen scraper?

TGreene

1:30 pm on Aug 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I agree there is a very valid reason to do this at times, and I'm currently doing this with 3 sites. Since I own and operate numerous domains, there is often a need to pass info from 1 site to another, and even use 1 site as a central hub of sorts, for several others.

The way I do it, is via frames set to only show 1 pixel width, thus by using a series of 1 pixel pages, I have been able to build very clean "swap sites"... Working out the initial code parameters was a **** to make it fluid, but I'm now running 3 sites this way - 2 are mine, and the 3rd belongs to a client, that links to one of mine.

Here is the basic code, the way I use it:


<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE> MySite.com</TITLE>

<FRAMESET ROWS="100,*" BORDER=0>
<FRAME SRC="header.htm" SCROLLING=NO>
<FRAMESET COLS="125,1, *" BORDER=0>
<FRAME SRC="navbar-home.htm" NAME="navbar">
<FRAME SRC="spacer.htm">
<FRAMESET ROWS="1,*" BORDER=0>
<FRAME SRC="spacer.htm" SCROLLING=NO>
<FRAME SRC="www.OtherSite.com/blahblahblah.htm" NAME="main">
</FRAMESET>
</FRAMESET>
</FRAMESET>

<BODY BGCOLOR="F7F7F7" TEXT="#000080" LINK="#000080" VLINK="#000080" ALINK="#000080" TOPMARGIN="0" MARGINHEIGHT="0" LEFTMARGIN="0" MARGINWIDTH="0">

</BODY>
</HTML>

netnerd

1:51 pm on Aug 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



This looks great but i dont fully understand.

Can you tell me in a little more detail how to use it?

TGreene

2:16 pm on Aug 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Yea...

What this INDEX page is doing, is calling up 5 child pages, with 1 of them being sourced remotely.

The 2 instances of "spacer.htm", are the 1 pixel pages that seperate with a pinline.

It is frames, pure and simple... but frames that work!

It's easier to show, than it is to explain, so here is the actual page, where the code came from. You can see for yourself what I have done. The way this is setup, the [FORUMS] page is technically the remote url.

<edit>

I have designed the page this way, so as to heavily utilize Javascript and CSS, to create the navigational bar, without plain text or the use of any images, other than those that are placed in the header frame. I own the site, and began working on it last week, so if you like any of what you see, you can feel free to "borrow" code from it.

Another example is at <edit> -- This is the clients' site that links to one of mine. Once again, the [FORUMS] happen to be the remote URL, and in fact, this was first site I built this way (still very much in the build process)

* I know were not supposed to post sites, but he asked, and as I stated, it's easier to understand once actually seen.

[edited by: tedster at 2:29 pm (utc) on Aug. 14, 2003]

skipfactor

2:29 pm on Aug 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



netnerd, do a search for SmartFrames. Same stuff MSN uses to keep a frame on an outgoing URL in HotMail. I use them to frame out external real estate IDX data; they work great, very simple cgi script.

TGreene

2:31 pm on Aug 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Sorry Tedster... :(

netnerd

2:37 pm on Aug 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



TGreene,

Can you sticky mail me the url?

Cheers!

tedster

2:45 pm on Aug 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I understood the idea just from the code you posted and I put together a test page very easily - that's a very classy effect. Very clever approach, using those 1 pixel frames to make trim looking borders.

TGreene

3:06 pm on Aug 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Sticky sent

The CSS "effects" are the key to these sites, and are burried in the series of NAVBAR files.

The way the sites are being developed, requires a number a index-AAA.htm, index-BBB.htm, index-CCC.htm, etc pages to function properly. Each index page, then calls it's own reference NAVBAR page, in the same format as above. Each index/navbar page is a clone of the others, yet with a different URL and reference point for the selected target.

This actually creates a very confusing backside loop that requires close attention to detail, but it seems to function quite well for the end user.

TGreene

5:16 pm on Aug 14, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



{I understood the idea just from the code you posted and I put together a test page very easily - that's a very classy effect. Very clever approach, using those 1 pixel frames to make trim looking borders.}

As with an Excel file, you can bury a ton of information in what is essentially an invisible frame...

One could easily go the other direction as well, and setup a frame site with nothing but the 1 pixel "borders", and thus make it appear not to be frames at all, and still keep the proper header information and parent URL. The negative uses of this approach far outweigh the positive ones though!