Windows
and Html frames
Careful use of windows
and html frames can enable you to manage your content and traffic.
Using frames to
build up different parts of a web page makes it easy to have replicate
certain common elements, such as naviation columns, title bars etc.
The drawback is that some browsers do not display them properly, and
search engines cannot index the content within them. Given there are
other ways to replicate content betwen pages (such as using templates
and style sheets) , and given the problems with search engines we would
not advocate the widespread use of frames on a small business web site.
However html frames
and new windows can help if you link to other sites. The problem with
linking to other sites, is that you could lose the traffic altogether.
Here are two ideas on how you can avoid this:
a) instead of linking
straight to the external website, make a framed page with your title
bar across the top or bottom, and the other site in the main frame.
You can include some buttons on your title bar to link back to your
homepage etc. The button links must include the code to display in a
new window as in (b) below, otherwise the page would display in that
frame.
b) when you link
to an external site you can make the page selected display in a new
window. This means your own site remains on the screen so your visitor
is reminded to come back. In your html hyperlink add the code: target="_top"
For example: the hyperlink to show Yahoo in a new window would be:
<a href="http://www.yahoo.com" target ="_top">
To get more information
on these techniques, other variations to it, and use of html in general,
read: Web
Design in a nutshell.
