You guys have the scoop, no doubt about it. Thanks for sharing it with us and I see now I read the situation entirely wrong. I'll shut up and be patient because there's lots of other work to be done. Logos can be added easily anytime.

I have a question on HTML for you but I'll put it in another post.

Ok, this is the web site clinic. Are you seeing patients with HTML problems, Dr. Didactylos? I'm having a problem with frames. Ooooh, that dirty frame word, hope Nelsoc doesn't bleep it out.

I have a navigation bar in Frame A and text in Frame B. I would like to click a link on the nav bar in Frame A and have it load a new html file into Frame B plus load a new html file into Frame A. Is it possible to do that? I've tried the following...

<a href="file1.html" target="frame B"
href="file2.html" target="frame A"

> click here </a>

... which of course is illegal syntax but I'll try anything when I'm desperate.

Hope you're not one of those anti-frames HTML doctors. I really like using frames because you can scroll one area of the screen without scrolling it all. But perhaps I've run up against a limitation with frame usage and may have no other choice but to abandon frames? Can this be accomplished with Javascript?

Your list of essential topics matches mine in almost every way. I agree, we need to get the newcomers on firm ground with simple and thorough explanations of the basic concepts. We want to define new terminology clearly and explain how the basic parts fit together and function as a whole. If we can bring them along that far they'll be able to handle more problems on their own and start to learn independently.

Glad you're not fanatical on frames. I agree they are often misused and they can really make navigation confusing when used improperly

I like to keep the nav bar scroll independent of the main text scroll because when I'm new to a site I can get a picture of the layout faster. As I read along, my mind is forming, testing and accepting/rejecting hypotheses on what's going to be behind the other links. For example, sometimes I run across concepts I need to have explained in more detail but there's no inline link to click for further depth on that concept. Then I glance over at the nav bar to see if there's an appropriate looking link. I might even drill down a few links and see where it goes. Maybe I make a mental note like "ok, after I'm done with this page I'm going to follow those links but first I want to finish this page". That process of flipping ahead for a quick preview and returning is sooo much easier when the nav bar doesn't scroll with the text. Does that make sense to you? Do you read a new site that way too? After I've been to a site a few times I remember the layout. But still, it's annoying having to scroll all the way back up the page to bring the nav bar back into view. It's so much faster and less confusing when the nav bar stays put.



OK. I haven't used Javascript in years but I think that little hint is enough to get me unstuck and moving forward.

I've been thinking also that Javascript might make it a lot easier to build a site that is translated into several languages. I think you could have 1 layout, 1 structure in 1 set of files and just overlay different languages onto the same link buttons, text screens, frames, etc. Each language is then an exact mirror of the others with respect to link associations. Change 1 link to drop in a new file and youve changed all the languages at once, less chance for error, easier to maintain, fewer files to keep track of.



At the moment I'm using 4 frames ( 2 on top row, 2 on bottom) but have already planned to cut it down to 3 because the top 2 will just be banners, 1 frame is enough for that, the contents won't change and won't scroll off the screen. Maybe scrolling the banners away is actually a good idea because it frees up real estate for more useful purposes, the banners are just decoration anyway, nice to see on the welcome screen but not terribly useful after that.

Anyway, that leaves 2 frames on the bottom: 1 narrow one for the nav bar on the left, a wide one on the right for the content, fairly common layout.

Here's an easy example of where I want to go. Later, I'll send up the actual pages so you can see the real thing. Right now some of the links are goofed up because I've been experimenting with different solutions to the problem. I'll have to fix the links before I upload.

At the welcome screen the nav bar will have, for example, 3 links: planes, trains and cars. You click planes and the text screen loads an intro page on planes and the nav bar loads a page with 4 links: Home, Boeing, Lockheed, deHavilland. Click Boeing and the nav bar loads 6 links: Home, Back, 767, 757, 747, 737.




That's what they say but my personal experience is I ignore them. Of course that doesn't mean I should ignore titles when building a website. Perhaps other folks pay closer attention to the titles than I do.

First up, do you mind going up and editing that broken post - I think the opening quote tag is missing a ].

I've just written a wee bit of javascript to implement an expanding menu. I'll improve the CSS a little and upload it (just for the English site initially).

My javascript is tested in Firefox and IE. Anything else may or may not work. However, it will work without javascript.