On the face of it, HTML tables are ordinary: just a way for academics and other like-minded data crunchers to format items into columns and rows for easy comparison. Scratch below the surface, though, and you will see that tables are really extraordinary. Besides
tag and related attributes provide the only way for you to easily control the
layout
of your document in HTML. The content inside a tag, of course, is very limited. Tables, on the other hand, may contain nearly anything allowed in normal body content, including multimedia and forms. And the table structure lets you explicitly control where those elements appear in the users' browser window.
With the right combinations of attributes, tables provide a way for you to create multicolumn text, and side and straddle heads in HTML. They also enable you to make your forms easier to read, understand, and fill out. That's just for starters.
We don't know that we can recommend you get too caught up with page layout - tables or beyond.
Remember, HTML is not about looks, but about content. But ...
It's easy to argue that at least tables of information benefit from some controlled layout, and that HTML forms follow a close second. Tables provide the only way to create predictable, browser-independent layouts for your web pages. Used in moderation and filled with quality content, tables are a tool that every HTML author should be able to wield.
And now that we've whetted your appetite for page layout with tables, don't despair that we've let you
down by ending this chapter without examples - we have several in Chapter 15, Tips, Tricks, and
Hacks
.
11.3 New HTML 4.0 Table
12. Frames
Tags
Chapter 12
12. Frames
Contents:
An Overview of Frames
Frame Tags
Frame Layout
Frame Contents
The Tag
Inline Frames
Named Frame or Window Targets
Beginning with Netscape Navigator 2.0, HTML authors have been able to divide the browser's main display window into independent window
frames
, each simultaneously displaying a different document - something like a wall of monitors in a TV control room. Instantly popular, frames were soon adopted (and extended) by Microsoft for Internet Explorer, and are now standard features for the language in HTML 4.0 frames.
12.1 An Overview of Frames
Figure 12.1 is a simple example of a frame display. It shows how the document window may be
divided into columns and rows of individual frames separated by rules and scroll bars. Although it is not immediately apparent in the example, each frame in the window is displaying an independent document. We use different HTML documents in the example, but the individual documents may contain any valid content the browser is capable of displaying, including multimedia. If the frame's contents include a hyperlink that the user selects, the new document's contents - even another frame document - may replace that same frame, another frame's content, or the entire browser window.
Figure 12.1: A simple six-panel frame layout for Netscape
HTML The Definitive Guide
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