loading file in frame

how to load a file in main.htm

[mcrides]

Newbie question: frustrated and in need of help

I'm setting up a new frame-based website using FrontPage 97.

I'm using the standard banner on top, contents on left, main on right.
I'm can’t get any files other than the initial ones part of the frameset to open in main.
The first 3 load fine.

Any links that I have on the contents side will open the file in a new window. I've gone to page properties and input <main> as target fram. I’ve also tried entering the full path name for the target frame. I've also done that when setting up the the hyperlinks. No results.

Anyone have any ideas of something that I'm obviously doing wrong?
After searching of archives and researching google as much as I can I'm still no further ahead.

I understand that to build navigation, you have to have the frame set open in order to build it. Maybe that's what I'm not clear on. What does frameset open
mean? The help sections mention that but they don’t tell a newbie what it means.

I do realize that frames are not popular. The reason that I'm using frames is that I want to have a banner and content section that is stable from one page to another. Included pages would work, but they reload the whole page. That’s not what I’m looking for. I want the content (link page and top banners to remain stable while the main page loads.

In addition, I’m not sure that FP97 supports included page.

So if anyone has an idea of why I can't get my pages to load in the main section, I'd appreciate it. I've done as much reading and google searching as I can but have not found what I'm doing wrong.

Maybe I'm not interpreting the directions properly.
But so far, including target frame of main is not working.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

[bill]

FP97 is really a dinosaur. You would almost be better off hand coding the site (as I'm sure many will suggest). If possible try to get the latest version of FP (currently 2003).

You might want to reconsider your decision to use frames. You could do what you want with iFrames or maybe CSS.

Regardless, it sounds like you just need to find the link target setting in FP to get the effect you are looking for. It's been a long while since I used FP97, but in the hyperlink properties dialog there is a place where you can set the target attribute for the link. So if your link is in the left frame you'd want to make sure that your link specifies that it is to open the target page in the main frame.

[mcrides]

>FP97 is really a dinosaur.

I know, but that's what I have to use. :(

>You might want to reconsider your decision to use >frames. You could do what you want with iFrames or >maybe CSS.

I'm not familiar with iFrames.

>Regardless, it sounds like you just need to find the >link target setting in FP to get the effect you are >looking for. It's been a long while since I used >FP97, but in the hyperlink properties dialog there >is a place where you can set the target attribute >for the link. So if your link is in the left frame >you'd want to make sure that your link specifies >that it is to open the target page in the main >frame.

Yes, that's what I've done. Inserted <main> as target frame. That's where I'm stumped.

[bill]

Check whether the link in the HTML has the target attribute set correctly. The target should be the name of your main frame.

[mcrides]

It does. I've put <main> as target when inserting a hyperlink. For example, for a page name <sample> on the left side frame (ie navigation) I do the following:
- insert a hyperlink on <sample> and input <main> on page setting
-on Target Frame setting, I input <main>

Using this, the link should call up <sample> and display in <main> frame, if I understand correctly.

But it's not happening. It opens in a new window.
I've also used page properties and input <main> in the default target frame setting.

No good. Anything else that I'm overlooking?

Thanks!

[mcrides]

> insert a hyperlink on <sample> and input <main> on >page setting

Sorry, I meant
insert a hyperlink on <sample> and input <sample> on page setting

Typed too fast. . .

[bill]

Sounds like you're doing it correctly. Could you paste some of the relevant HTML here?

[mcrides]

OK, this is from the content file. The actual name of the <sample> file I referred to is Why.

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN">
<html>

<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 2.0">
<title>contents</title>
</head>

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#000000" topmargin="0"
leftmargin="0">

<p><img src="images/corner%20image.jpg" width="223" height="154"></p>
<div align="left">

<table border="0" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#808080">
<tr>
<td width="55">&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="125"
bordercolorlight="#808080"><a href="what.htm"
target="main.htm"><font color="#000000" size="2"
face="Tahoma">What</font></a></td>
<td width="22"><font color="#0000FF" face="Marlett"><b>4</b></font><font
color="#0000FF"><b> </b></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="55">&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="125"
bordercolorlight="#808080"><a href="why.htm"
target="http://BV/TouringSmart/frames1.htm"><font
color="#000000" size="2" face="Tahoma">Why</font></a></td>
<td width="22"><font color="#0000FF" face="Marlett"><b>4</b></font><font
color="#0000FF"><b> </b></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="55">&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="125"
bordercolorlight="#808080"><font color="#000000" size="2"
face="Tahoma">Where</font></td>
<td width="22"><font color="#0000FF" face="Marlett"><b>4</b></font><font
color="#0000FF"><b> </b></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="55">&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="125"
bordercolorlight="#808080"><a href="../hopethis.htm"
target="main"><font color="#000000" size="2"
face="Tahoma">hope this works</font></a></td>
<td width="22"><font color="#0000FF" face="Marlett"><b>4</b></font><font
color="#0000FF"><b> </b></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="55">&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="125"
bordercolorlight="#808080"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2"
face="Tahoma">_</font><font color="#000000" size="2"
face="Tahoma">Logging in </font></td>
<td width="22"><font color="#0000FF" face="Marlett"><b>4</b></font><font
color="#0000FF"><b> </b></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="55">&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="125"
bordercolorlight="#808080"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2"
face="Tahoma">_</font><font color="#000000" size="2"
face="Tahoma">Hotels and Lodging</font></td>
<td width="22"><font color="#0000FF" face="Marlett"><b>4</b></font><font
color="#0000FF"><b> </b></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="55">&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="125"
bordercolorlight="#808080"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2"
face="Tahoma">_</font><font color="#000000" size="2"
face="Tahoma">Food and Dining</font></td>
<td width="22"><font color="#0000FF" face="Marlett"><b>4</b></font><font
color="#0000FF"><b> </b></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="55">&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="125"
bordercolorlight="#808080"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2"
face="Tahoma">_</font><font color="#000000" size="2"
face="Tahoma">Automotive</font></td>
<td width="22"><font color="#0000FF" face="Marlett"><b>4</b></font><font
color="#0000FF"><b> </b></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="55">&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="125"
bordercolorlight="#808080"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2"
face="Tahoma">_</font><font color="#000000" size="2"
face="Tahoma">Entertainment</font></td>
<td width="22"><font color="#0000FF" face="Marlett"><b>4</b></font><font
color="#0000FF"><b> </b></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="55">&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="bottom" width="125"
bordercolorlight="#808080"><font color="#000000" size="2"
face="Tahoma">When</font></td>
<td width="22"><font color="#0000FF" face="Marlett"><b>4</b></font><font
color="#0000FF"><b> </b></font></td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Thanks!

[mcrides]

In looking over the HTML (duh, never occured to me to look at it) I notice that the target for <Why> is frames1. I've changed it to <main> . But it still opens in a new window.

Any thoughts?

[bill]

You're using the target attribute incorrectly. In your frames page HTML the main frame will have a name. I'm not sure what that is...it could very well be main. That is the name you have to put in the target. You've got different targets for every link here, and it is the correct behaviour for them to open in a different page. A page target can be named anything. If there isn't a frame that matches the target name then browsers will open a new window.

[mcrides]

Thanks for the quick feedback.

>You're using the target attribute incorrectly. In >your frames page HTML the main frame will have a >name. I'm not sure what that is...it could very well >be main.

>A page target can be named anything. If there isn't >a frame that matches the target name then browsers >will open a new window.

Maybe this is part of what I misunderstand.
I’ve created the frameset and named as follows:
<frames1.htm> frameset
<banner.htm> top banner
<contents.htm> navigation left side
<main> right side display

The main file has content in it that it displays.
I use the name <main> as target frame.

Is this wrong and is this what you’re referring to?

[bill]

You seem to be confusing the frame name with the file name. You might have better luck if you separated these in your code. Name the frames main, top, left, bottom or something like that, and then in the link target attribute refer to them exactly that way...not with the .htm extension. That's where you're confusing things.

[mcrides]

Thanks a bunch. I'll get right to it.
Though I may be back with other questions!
:)

[bill]

If you're still stuck could you post the HTML from your frames page itself?