Although a very high percentage of browsers today have frame support, we can still find browsers that do not have it. And if we think about the FireFox 2, Internet Explorer 7, Opera 9 and company we will never be presented with the non-support of frames. However, browsers in text format (Lynx already supports them since version 2.6) or certain agents may not support a web page with frames. In this second group we could include search engine bots, accessibility tools,…
And it is in these cases when we must provide alternative content to the frames. Since our agent will not be able to upload them.
In these cases, the HTML v4.01 specification provides us with the NOFRAMES. We must place this label behind the FRAMESET and its content will be the alternative content that will be presented instead of the frames.
An example of a page prepared for not supporting frames would be the following:
<noframes> <body> You need a browser with frame support to view this page. You can download the following... </body> </noframes>
We can see that the NOFRAMES goes inside the FRAMESET and its content will be what is displayed if our browser or agent does not support frames.
What is most commonly seen on the Internet is the message that tells us that our browser does not support frames. However, this approach is not entirely valid. In a way we are discriminating against the person who does not have frame support. Something that in certain cases could become a legal impediment.
The best approach is to give them the same information that is given on the page, but in a different way to the frame system. It’s okay because visually it doesn’t have a correct appearance, although from a functional point of view it should give the same information.
Thus, a good case could be the following:
<noframes>
<body>
<h1>Home page</h1>
<h2>Menu</h2>
<a href=link1.html>link 1</a>
<a href=link2.html>link 2</a>
<a href=link3.html>link 3</a>
<h2>Content</h2>
Page content
</body>
</noframes>
Inside the tag NOFRAMES we are putting the same content that will go on the different pages of the frame system.
NOTE: To be able to view the example correctly you must use a browser that does not support frames.