When the documentation for graphics programs refers to frames, it is usually not referring to HTML frames, a type of web page distribution system. Instead, graphics programs use the term frame to refer to a single image in a series of images that make up an animated object, be it an animated gif, an image rollover, or a flash movie.
The term frame is drawn, like the term layer from the process of animation. However, where layers are images stacked one on top of the other, frames are images that follow one another temporally, as in a strip of film.
The simplest use of frames is in an animated gif, where an image cycles between any number of frames at a set rate. In the example below, the four frames on the left are combined into the animated gif on the right.
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| Frame 1 | Frame 2 | Frame 3 | Frame 4 | Animated |
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As you can see, the frames follow one another temporally, like separate frames in a film.
Different programs use frames in different ways. For example, Fireworks uses frames for both animated gifs and for rollover images. Alternately, Flash uses frames to refer to different parts of its movie files.
Regardless of how frames are used, though, the concept is pretty constant.