NOFRAMES - Frames Alternate Content

Syntax	<NOFRAMES>...</NOFRAMES>
Attribute Specifications	common attributes
Contents	In HTML 4.0 Transitional: inline elements, block-level elements In HTML 4.0 Frameset: one BODY element that must not contain any NOFRAMES elements
Contained in	APPLET, BLOCKQUOTE, BODY, BUTTON, CENTER, DD, DEL, DIV, FIELDSET, FORM, FRAMESET, IFRAME, INS, LI, MAP, NOSCRIPT, OBJECT, TD, TH

The NOFRAMES element contains content that should only be rendered when frames are not displayed. NOFRAMES is typically used in a Frameset document to provide alternate content for browsers that do not support frames or have frames disabled.

When used within a FRAMESET, NOFRAMES must contain a BODY element. There must not be any NOFRAMES elements contained within this BODY element.

A meaningful NOFRAMES element should always be provided in a Frameset document and should at the very least contain links to the main frame or frames. NOFRAMES should not contain a message telling the user to upgrade his or her browser. Some browsers support frames but allow the user to disable them.

Various methods of automatically creating non-frames content exist. See Frames design guidelines: automatic no-frames content for more details.

An example follows:

<FRAMESET ROWS="*,100">
  <FRAMESET COLS="40%,*">
    <FRAME NAME="Menu" SRC="nav.html" TITLE="Menu">
    <FRAME NAME="Content" SRC="main.html" TITLE="Content">
  </FRAMESET>
  <FRAME NAME="Ad" SRC="ad.html" TITLE="Advertisement">
  <NOFRAMES>
    <BODY>
      <H1>Table of Contents</H1>
      <UL>
        <LI>
          <A HREF="reference/html40/">HTML 4.0 Reference</A>
        </LI>
        <LI>
          <A HREF="reference/wilbur/">HTML 3.2 Reference</A>
        </LI>
        <LI>
          <A HREF="reference/css/">CSS Guide</A>
        </LI>
      </UL>
      <P>
        <IMG SRC="ad.gif" ALT="Ad: Does your bank charge too much?">
      </P>
    </BODY>
  </NOFRAMES>
</FRAMESET>

In HTML 4.0 Transitional, the NOFRAMES element is also permitted within most block-level elements. This allows authors to include content, such as navigation aids, that should only be displayed if the document is not being viewed within a frameset. Such use helps to ensure that a frame could stand on its own if bookmarked or accessed through a search engine while not burdening the frames user with duplicate content. However, most browsers do not support this use of NOFRAMES and will always display the content.

More Information

NOFRAMES in W3C HTML 4.0 Recommendation

Copyright © 1998 by Liam Quinn. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later (the latest version is presently available at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/).

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