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NWE Help: Web: Authoring: HTML: Frames: Linking

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Linking is perhaps the most confusing part of using frames. This page will cover it in detail.

NOTE: Because linking using frames can be somewhat confusing, it's important that you are comfortable with the protocols of linking using HTML. If you don't feel comfortable with the <A HREF=""> tag, review our linking page before you proceed.

The target attribute

When you create a link in a page using frames, you need to include the target attribute. The target attribute tells the browser where to put the page referred to by the anchor tag. There are four places you might want that data to appear:
  1. In the same frame
  2. In another frame
  3. On the whole page (removing the frameset)
  4. In another window
The target attribute determines which of these options you will take.

To include the target attribute in your anchor tag, simply add it to the tag like this:
<A HREF="somepage.html" TARGET="body">This is the link</A>
The value you include between the quote marks (where we put body in our example) should indicate where you want your link to appear.

target values

For each of the four places your data might end up, there are choices for the target attribute.
Where you want to go Value Comment
In the same frame N.A. If you want your link to appear in the same frame that the page is in, you don't need to include the target attribute at all.
In another frame TARGET="name" As you remember from the frame page, each frame was given a name. That name then becomes the designator with which you can send your link to a specific frame.
On the whole page (removing the frameset) TARGET="_top" If you want your link to remove the frameset and fill the whole window, you can use this special target name, _top. Any link with this value in its TARGET attribute will remove the current frameset and fill the screen.
In another window TARGET="_new" Opening a new window using the TARGET attribute is pretty dang easy. All you have to do is fill in the TARGET attribute with the name of a frame that does not exist. This will result in a new browser window popping up.