Can Frame Styles be Included in a CSS File for Web Design?

  • Thread starter Thread starter neurocomp2003
  • Start date Start date
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the use of frame styles in CSS for web design, specifically whether frame attributes can be included in a CSS file. Participants explore the implications of using frames versus other layout methods like tables and client-side includes, as well as challenges related to maintaining a large number of pages.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants question whether frame styles can be effectively included in a CSS file, with one suggesting that multiple DOM structures complicate this.
  • One participant describes their use of frames for a website with many pages, expressing concerns about transitioning to tables and the difficulties faced with layout alignment.
  • Another participant proposes a div-based layout as an alternative to frames, providing an example but acknowledging that it may not meet the original poster's needs for dynamic content swapping.
  • There is a discussion about client-side includes and server-side includes, with participants sharing links and resources for implementing these methods.
  • One participant expresses a preference for frames due to their simplicity as a novice, despite acknowledging the potential downsides.
  • MathML and LaTeX are mentioned as options for displaying mathematical symbols on webpages, with varying opinions on their usability and complexity.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the use of frames versus other layout methods. There are competing views on the effectiveness of frames, tables, and includes, with some expressing frustration over the limitations of each approach.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight challenges related to maintaining directory structures and compatibility issues between different web browsers, indicating that the discussion is influenced by practical experiences and technical limitations.

neurocomp2003
Messages
1,359
Reaction score
4
sup, does anyone know if you can stick frame styles in a css file?
best
neurocomp2003
 
Technology news on Phys.org
Do you mean borders? I know how to do borders.
 
no I'm talking about frames. and placing their attributes in a css file like you would any other attribute.
 
Ek, frames

I don't think you can stick multiple frame styles into one css file. The reason being is that your dealing with multiple DOM stuctures.
 
dduardo. quick question.
i have 5 frames on my main page..wchih i will be constantly switching the contents of 3 of them(say over 100-1000pages). The reason I stuck with frames is because its easier and i don't have to repaste a lot of organization structure to maintain it.

ooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooo
xx...xx
xx...xx
xx...xx
---------------
ooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooo

Thats the gist of what it looks like.
Now if i really wanted to move to tables...will it be easy? will the basica layout be easy to manipulate as a table(because the first time i tried, i really messed things up with the alignment. Note that the title/end will be the same page but the TOC/main/nav bar will change. IF your willing to take a look at the basic structure. I can email it to you if you can provide your remail.
 
Ek, tables for layout

You should do something like this:

Code:
<div id="header"></div>
<div id="content">
          <div id="leftContent"></div>
          <div id="centerContent"></div>
          <div id="rightContent"></div>
</div>
<div id="footer"></div>

See this example:

http://www.realworldstyle.com/nn4_3col_header.html

Then stick all your content inside the div blocks.
 
Last edited:
thanks fro the example but i don't think its what I'm looking for.
Because looking at the source code for that: If i wanted to swap images/code/formula..constantly...i'd have to duplicate the same page with the rest of the contents being the same and only one line changed for image...because I'm unfamiliar with coding in javascript...i don't even know if you can do that put a place marker on a region where the contents is determined by what the user is looking at and not have to duplicate the contents.
 
You can follow this code to do client-side includes:

http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/creating/include.html

But the preferred way is to use server-side includes.

Who is hosting your website? If they support php then it is just a matter of doing something like this:

Code:
<?php require("header.php"); ?>
 
yeah i think I'm a long way from learning php =] but i'll look into it.
thanks for the advice though. Its much appreciated. As for hosting either a friend or rogers. Oh yeah and thanks for the above link on clientside stuff.

oh one more question...what would i use to put math symbols on a website?
Latex/mathematica/mathxhtml(i think its called)?
 
Last edited:
  • #10
You'll want to use MathML if your doing pure client based webpages. Unfortunetly, the code looks nasty:

[/code]
<math>
<mrow>
<mi>x</mi>
<mo>=</mo>
<mfrac>
<mrow>
<mrow>
<mo>-</mo>
<mi>b</mi>
</mrow>
<mo>&PlusMinus;</mo>
<msqrt>
<mrow>
<msup>
<mi>b</mi>
<mn>2</mn>
</msup>
<mo>-</mo>
<mrow>
<mn>4</mn>
<mo>&InvisibleTimes;</mo>
<mi>a</mi>
<mo>&InvisibleTimes;</mo>
<mi>c</mi>
</mrow>
</mrow>
</msqrt>
</mrow>
<mrow>
<mn>2</mn>
<mo>&InvisibleTimes;</mo>
<mi>a</mi>
</mrow>
</mfrac>
</mrow>
</math>
[/code]

It is much nicer to do using latex:

x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}

[tex]x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}[/tex]

But you'll need to do the parsing server-side.
 
  • #11
dduardo: do you know of any book that teachs that stuff you listed.
Again thank you for all the help
 
  • #13
neurocomp2003, I seriously recommend that you use one of the scripting languages out there (preferably php). Frames? I really hate frames, they do have their purpose though... but 5 on a page...
 
  • #14
yes...unfortunately I'm a novice at this so frames is easiest...i haven't learned the include style that dduardo referenced to above. And I'm not ready to learn because there is quite a bit more fundamentals you got to learn before you reach tthat point.

With frames...i can just easily remove a webpage and replace it with the one demanded on by a click. And its going to be a website of maybe 100-1000 pages of content with maybe 4-5 colours schemes. and different subject TOC.
 
  • #15
DDuardo: just wanted to thank you again. The link above with the clientside
includes works like a charm...its a bit more hassle(quite a bit of tweaking) then frames but hopefully i won't have any issues with mozilla using includes like i did using frames(mozilla screwed up my dir. tree or IE has defaults that auto link perfectly). Now i have both to work with, but will eventually choose one and can go show my buddy whose suppose to be working on thise with me and let him choose.

The only problem i have with client side is that for every page of content I want I need a duplicate page to hose the structure of the layout unless of course I dump the content into the same page which i don't really want...but meh.

EDIT: bah ran into a second problem...if you have a directory tree and are including files from different folders. The links of those files are not relative to them but to the host page that has the includes... guess i'll have to restructure the folders

EDIT: argh is there a reference that tells you what not to use in IE becasue of other browsers like mozilla. My scrollbar technique doesn't work in mozill.a
again I'm grateful for your help.
Best
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
3K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
3K
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
3K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • · Replies 33 ·
2
Replies
33
Views
3K
Replies
7
Views
3K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
3K
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
2K