TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: HTML documents with frames From:"Wing, Michael J" <mjwing -at- INGR -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 22 Jun 1998 16:16:03 -0500
My suggestions on whether to uses frames depends on whether the online guide
is kept on your site (thus, the user views it across the net) or is
delivered as a collection of HTML pages. If the guide is kept on your site
there have been many cautions sited in these responses as to making
judicious use of frames.
However, if the online guide is delivered as a collection of HTML files
which the user views locally, frames, IMO, are fine. I delivered a set of
HTML files as an online programmer's guide and used framed pages. Because
the files are viewed locally, bookmarking pages is a moot point.
I used a main two-framed page that had a TOC in the left frame and the
current topic in the right (which is a popular configuration). Some topic
pages were also framed pages (split vertically). I used these pages to
display non-sequential code in one frame and explanations in the other. The
user could select an icon for each step in the explanation that would
synchronize the code with the current step in the explanation. By
separating the information into separate frames, the user could
cut-and-paste the example code from the HTML frame into VB.
Because your user's browsers are 3.02, you are limited in what you can do
with a framed approach. However, if they upgrade to 4.0 or higher you can
make the framed layout more palatable. I implemented the following into my
document for IE 4.0 or higher browsers:
* The TOC frame could be collapsed or expanded by selecting a button.
Thus the topic frame could be viewed as a virtual non-framed page.
* The TOC entry paragraphs highlight when the cursor was over them and
revert when the cursor moves off the entry.
* TOC entries were expandable/collapsible through mouse clicks.
* The TOC could be synchronized and highlighted to the section of the
document by clicking in the document.
> I'm doing an online user guide in HTML format. I'm using FrontPage 98 and
> wanted to use frames. The user or customer has IE 3.1 or higher. Is there
> any reason you can tell me why not to use frames? I'm assuming that IE
> supports frames.
>
> Suzanne
>
>
> Suzanne Pyle
> Documentation Consultant
> Communication Lines - Putting Your Message to Work!
>
