How can I identify a frames website

[KidsBeeHappy]

Hi

How can I tell (as a visitor) whether a site is a frames site. What's the give away in the code?

Asking as someone with a very limited knowledge of html and coding.

Thanks
Sandra

[openmind]

The HTML tags IFRAME or FRAMESET. More info here:

http://www.w3schools.com/HTML/html_frames.asp

Note though that it is also possible to use Ajax to load content dynamically into a page, even from a third party site, so frames (which are outdated now anyway) are not the only way to do it...

[Eagle]

Visually, you'll see 'internal scroll bars'. Probably. :D

[KidsBeeHappy]

Visually, you'll see 'internal scroll bars'. Probably. :D


That's what i see, So that's why i'm asking!! :D

[openmind]

Although you can also hide the scrollbars ;)

[KidsBeeHappy]

OK. Thanks a lot. Not frames, I learn something new today :rolleyes:

[woodss]

You can also see scrollbars if content is in a "div" tag which has its "overflow" property set to "scroll" or "auto" in the CSS, and the content is larger than the div dimensions - in that case, it isn't a frame but the scrollbars will show up on the div to allow you to see the hidden content.

Just look for "iframe" or "frameset" in the source - if it isn't there, it's not a framed site.

[openmind]

Hacking frameset css is almost as bad as using frames in the first place though ;)

From a geek perspective you would be better using Ajax to load the content in...

[woodss]

Not sure I follow...What do you mean hacking frameset css?

the "overflow: hidden|scroll|auto;" property is valid on block level elements and the frameset tag is not required (and indeed is depreciated, along with the iframe tag).

You can load the content in however you like (via Ajax etc)... but when it comes to displaying whatever content you load, you might want to place it in a restricted size area on your page. Using CSS to control the property of the content container allows you to let whatever content is loaded be scrollable so it doesn't muck up your layout.

Just because there are scrolling areas on the page doesn't have anything to do with frames nowadays...

[openmind]

Sorry I wasn't clear, nothing wrong with scrolling areas in the slightest, what I'm talking about is the use of a frameset to display the content when there are better ways to achieve the same thing as you rightly described :)

[woodss]

ah right :)

[Jozo]

Splitting a page into frames is very confusing for users since frames break the fundamental user model of the web page. You cannot bookmark the current page and return to it (the bookmark points to another version of the frameset), URLs stop working, and printouts become difficult. Even worse, the predictability of user actions goes out the door: no-one knows what information will appear where when you click on a link?

zygella.com

[fisicx]

How can I tell (as a visitor) whether a site is a frames site. What's the give away in the code?

Probably a bit late here but if you are using Firefox just use Ctrl+U to see the code. If the site uses frames then you will see half a dozen lines of code that includes the words <frameset>.