Framesets divide a browser window into multiple frames or regions, each of which can display different content. You design pages with frames in an HTML design application, such as Adobe Dreamweaver. You can edit pages with frames in Adobe® Contribute® CS3.
Note: For more information about creating pages with frames in Dreamweaver, see Dreamweaver Help (Help > Using Dreamweaver).
This chapter contains the following sections:
• “About frames” on page 151
• “Editing frame content” on page 153
• “Saving and publishing a page with frames” on page 154
• “Targeting frame content” on page 154
About frames
A web page designed with frames displays different content in different regions of a web browser. This design is typically used to display content that doesn’t change, such as a navigation bar, in one area and content that changes in the main content area.
For example, a web page might have one narrow frame on the left side that contains navigation links, one frame along the top that contains the logo and title of the website, and one large frame that takes up the rest of the page and displays the main content.
A. Navigation frame B. Title and logo frame C. Main content frame
Understanding frames and framesets
A page that contains frames is called a frameset. A frameset is an individual file that defines the layout and properties of all the frames on a page, including the number of frames, the size and placement of the frames, and the web address (URL) of the page that initially appears in each frame.
A frame is an organizational element of a frameset page. It’s easy to think of the page that’s currently displayed in a frame as an integral part of the frame, but each frame is just a container for a page. Pages that initially load in the frames are referenced by the frameset, but any page can be loaded in a frame.
The content that appears in each frame is saved in separate files. A page with three frames—navigation, logo, and main content—actually has four files: the frameset and three web pages, one for each frame. When a website visitor clicks a link in one frame, a new page can be loaded in another frame. There can be a different page for each link in a frame.
A frame can load pages from the same or different websites. So you might be able to edit content in some, but not all, frames.
About targeting a frame
To use a link in one frame to open a new page in another frame, you must set a target for the link. Selecting a frame in which to open a page is called targeting a frame.
Each link in a frameset should have a target—a frame in which to open the page when the user clicks the link. For example, the main frame might be the target for multiple links, so that the content of the main frame changes each time the user clicks a link in the navigation frame.
Note: If you don’t specify a target for a link, Contribute uses the Default option and opens the new page in the frame that contains the link.
When you add a link to a page in a frameset, you can indicate a target frame for the page you’re linking to. The frameset designer should have given each frame a name so that you can select specific frames as targets. You can also change the target after you’ve inserted the link by editing the link properties (see “Editing links” on page 147).
Editing frame content
When you browse to a page with frames, you can use Contribute to change content in any of the frames, as long as you have permission.
For more information about frames and framesets, see “About frames” on page 151.
To edit content in a frame:
1 Browse to the page with frames to edit, and then click the Edit Page button.
The Select a Frame to Edit dialog box appears, with a list of page titles and web addresses (URLs) for the frame pages.
2 Select the frame you want to edit.
When you select a frame, a border appears around that frame in the Contribute editor.
A. Selected frame in the dialog box B. Selection indicator in the editor
Note: A lock icon appears beside the page name if you can’t edit it. The lock means that you do not have permission to edit that frame’s content or that another user is currently editing the page.
3 Click Edit.
A draft for the frame you selected appears in the Contribute editor without the other frames.
4 Edit the content as you normally would.
5 When you are ready to publish, see “Saving and publishing a page with frames” on page 154.
Saving and publishing a page with frames
A frameset is made up of individual web pages. When you edit a page that appears in a frame, you alter only the page you edit—not the frameset. Publishing a page that appears in a frameset is the same as publishing a page that isn’t in a frameset. Because you do not actually alter the frameset page, you do not need to publish it.
After you finish editing a frame page (see “Editing frame content” on page 153), you have the following options before you publish the page:
• Click Cancel in the toolbar (see “Discarding a draft, new page, or new blog entry” on page 54).
The individual frame in the frameset appears in Contribute without your changes. Click Back in the toolbar to return to the frameset page.
• Select File > Preview in Browser (see “Previewing a page in your default browser” on page 158).
The individual frame showing your changes appears in a browser.
• Click Send for Review in the toolbar (see “Getting web page drafts and files reviewed by others” on page 41).
Contribute sends the draft to another use for review.
To publish a page that appears in a frame:
• In your draft, click Publish (see “Publishing a page to your website” on page 158).
Note: Depending on the role the Contribute administrator assigned you, you might not be able to publish.
Contribute displays the frameset with the updated page loaded in the correct frame.
Note: If you publish changes to a frameset that is nested (a frameset in a frameset), the child nested frameset that you changed appears in Contribute. If there are multiple nested framesets, only the first frameset containing the edited page appears.
Targeting frame content
You can change the content that appears in a frame by creating links in one frame that open pages in another frame.
For more information, see “About targeting a frame” on page 152.
To insert a link and select a target frame for the linked page:
1 Browse to the page with frames to edit, and then click the Edit Page button.
The Select a Frame to Edit dialog box appears.
2 Select the frame in which you want to add a link that opens a new page in another frame, and then click Edit.
A draft for the frame you selected appears in the Contribute editor.
3 Place the insertion point in your draft where you want the link to appear or select text or an image.
4 Do one of the following:
• Select Insert > Link, and then select a type of page from the pop-up menu.
• Click Link in the toolbar, and then select a type of page from the pop-up menu.
The Insert Link dialog box appears.
5 Complete the dialog box.
The options in the dialog box vary according to the type of page you are linking to.
For information about options in the dialog box, click the Help button.
6 In the Insert Link dialog box, click the Advanced button to expand the dialog box, if it is not already expanded.
7 In the Target frame pop-up menu, select the frame where you want the linked page to open. You can either enter a custom-named frame in the Target frame text box (which opens the page in that frame) or select one of the following frame targets:
Default opens the page in the same frame as the current page.
Entire Window replaces the frameset with the page.
New Window opens the page in a new browser window.
8 Click OK.
The link appears in your draft.
Note: If you created a link to a new page, the new page draft appears and you need to return to the draft where you added the link.
9 Click Publish.
The frame page appears, with updated content in the frame you edited.