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Dreamweaver: Framesets

A Frameset is a method of showing two HTML pages in the same window. Many people and companies choose to use frames to set up a standard navigation bar or other unchanging data.

Should you use frames?

How are you going to use frames? Could you do the same thing with coding or a template?

One of the most common uses for frames is the "navigation bar." If you're using Dreamweaver to create your pages, a template might work just as well, and avoid the complications of frames. On the other hand, if you use a template, you'll have to make sure that any changes you make to the template are propegated to all the "child" pages of your template. Frames can be one way to avoid this trouble.

Another use you may have for frames is the juxtaposition of objects and use of links to change parts of the screen image. With the exception of Flash or Javascript, frames are the best way to accomplish this goal.

Make a frameset

A frameset is a webpage that works as a sort of server for your other web pages. For more information about this, consult the Dreamweaver instruction book or the NWE Frames help. As the Dreamweaver manual warns: "make sure that you understand the relationship between frames and framesets because linking with frames can be confusing"(205).

So, to start making a website that uses frames, you need to make a page with a frameset. To use a predefined frameset:*

  1. Create the pages that you want to appear in your frames. Save them.

  2. Open a new page. Click the top of the Objects window and select "Frames" (below, left).

  3. Choose one of the frame formats shown in the objects window and drag it to your open document window.

    Dreamweaver Object Window Choices     Dreamweaver Frames Window
    Object Window (with menu)     Frames window (frameset selected)

  4. Now choose the Window menu and select "Frames." This will open the Frames window and give you direct access to the frame settings (above, right).

  5. Click on the outermost frame in the Frames window. The tag at the bottom of your working area will say "<FRAMESET>." This is the page your readers will navigate to when they enter your site. Save this page.

  6. Click on the other frames in the frame window, naming each in turn by filling in the appropriate text boxes in the dialog window (below). Remember the names of your frames. They will be important later.

    Dreamweaver Frame Properties Window
    Dreamweaver Frame Properties Window
    (Click for Enlargement)

  7. Finally, click inside each frame in your work area and then choose "Open in Frame" from the "File" menu. This will load your pages into those frame spaces, solidifying your frameset. The pages you've loaded into your frameset should appear in the "SRC" text box of the frame properties window (above).

  8. Make other adjustments to your frameset by selecting the frames in the Frame window and making changes in the properties window.

Making pages that use frames
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* You may also design your own frameset from scratch, but detailing how to do so is beyond the scope of these pages. Consult the Dreamweaver manual for specifics.