F r a m e s

The issue of whether to use frames or not is a big one. On the one side they are great advertising banners and showing the hyperlinks. On the other, however, they are a hassle and often poorly implemented. When deciding on using frames or not you should carefully consider the following

• What purpose would frames serve?
• Can I do the same without using frames?

Frames have both their merits and demerits. Frames can make a site look more organized, but only at the price of viewing space for the main page being shown. Frames can provide a great set of contents links within your site, but sites outside of your site should have the target=_top property specified in the <A HREF> tag. Frames can cut down on code, but at the cost of not everyone being able to view your site.

Not using frames also has its advantages and disadvantages. To create a set of navigation links in the same setup as a contents frame takes a lot of coding, but everyone can see it. The main page is clearly viewable at all times. however, the site can be less organized. The target property of the <A HREF> tag does not need to be included.

One solution to this dilema is to use javascript. You can use a function similar to this one to cut down on code:

Function goURL(choice) {
    If (choice == 1) {
        location.href = ' http://geocities.datacellar.net ';
    }
    if (choice == 2) {
        location.href = ' http://geocities.datacellar.net/Tokyo ';
    }
}

You can modify that script easily by cutting and pasting. Just change the number and the URL or address of the site you wish to have the script send to. Then place that script in a file called javascript.js and you will almost be done. All that is left is two steps first add this to the head section of the html page:

<SCRIPT SRC="javascript.js"></script>

Then all you have to do is create you navigation links or images and instead of links just use images (if you can), and add < onClick="goURL(1)" to the <IMG> tag. If you are using text based links you will need to add the code the the <A HREF> tag instead.

In conclusion there are may ways, aside from Javascripts [or something], to get around the decision of whether or not to use frames.