Adjusting Frame and Frameset Attributes Saving, Opening, and Closing Frames and Framesets Targeting Frames IFrames Targeting Browsers That Don't Support Frames In the mid-1990s, Netscape introduced a proprietary HTML extension known as frames. The idea was that web pages of the time used up far too much memory and required excessive bandwidth to be viewed in a timespan that didn't bore the user. On top of that, Netscape hoped that framed sites could be viewed only in Netscape, further positioning its browser implementation as the standard of the time. Designers fell right in line with the concept, using framed websites to present consistent unmoving navigation bars that remained static even when content in a separate frame was scrolled. Even better, users visiting sites using 14.4 Kbps or 28.8 Kbps modems enjoyed the fact that framed sites had an initial load time but ran much smoother and loaded quicker during the viewing experience. Although frames definitely offer another page-structuring option for the web designer, disadvantages have emerged. This chapter aims at demystifying framed sites, discussing the advantages, disadvantages, and even how to build them in Dreamweaver.           Understanding Framed Websites Framed websites are generally easy to spot; chances are you've used one and might not have known it. A framed website generally consists of numerous parts, starting with the frameset. As you've seen up to this point, browsers typically open one page at a time. When a site uses frames, this concept is no different. However, rather than opening numerous files at one time as you might think occurs with framed sites, a browser generally opens a frameset. The frameset is usually split into numerous frames that make up the content of the site in the frameset. Figure 8.1 shows a framed website in use. Figure 8.1. The MSDN Library website is a classic example of a framed website. [View full size image]   Microsoft's MSDN Library website is a good example of a framed website. In Figure 8.1, you can see that the page is split into three frames, each making up important parts of the frameset. The frame near the top contains important top-level navigation items that relate directly to Microsoft and the major sections in the overall site. The frame on the left makes up the navigational structure for the MSDN Library specifically. Finally, the frame on the right makes up the content that appears when a link in the navigational tree on the left is clicked. Navigation items in the top and left frames always remain static, don't change, and don't move, even when content in the right frame is scrolled up and down or left to right. Even better, the navigational structure represented in the top and left frames loads once and only once. Only the content in the right frame is loaded every time a navigation item in the left tree is clicked, essentially improving load time and the overall user experience. Furthermore, the frame that makes up the navigation menu on the left can be manually resized