Network: Web Design: An open and shut case for frames

Minimise the size of elements when they are not needed

ONE COMPLAINT I hear about frames is that they monopolise screen space by placing menus and titles permanently on the screen. While this may be fine if you have a large monitor with plenty of room, those with smaller monitors can be turned off by the experience.

However, if you have worked in any type of windows environment before, you will notice that there are usually ways to open and close different "panes" in the window, to allow maximum space for important information by minimising the size of elements, such as navigation, when they are not needed. Why should the Web be any different?

I want to show you a technique I developed using nested framesets and some JavaScript that allows you to open and close a menu in a frame. When the menu is closed, the content area of the window can use as much of the space as needed. Check out http://www. webbedenvironments.com/examples/ 37.html if you have any problems and to see what this looks like.

First, we have to set up our main frameset, called index.html: