Why is "Parent Frame" the same as "Whole Page" ??

[lifeson]

Here is my understanding of the targets (links) properties in
FrontPage: I tested this with my site, and for some reason, Parent
Frame ( _parent ) is the same thing as _top (Whole Page). Both
replace the current page with a new one. Shouldn;t they do two
different things ?

As a second question, why is there no target that causes the usual
property of "target=new" to be inserted into the HTML code ?
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Same Frame ( _self ) - the link opens up in the same window that is
currently active in your browser - replacing it's contents. This
option is made for frames, for where you do not want to open a new
window

Whole Page ( _top ) - replaces the entire page with the linked page
(the existing page vanishes, replaced by the new page) - you can get
to the previous page with the Back button. This is the same thing as
the older, but still valid: Target="New"

New Window ( _blank ) - creates a new instance of the browser with
the linked page - leave the previous page open

Parent Frame ( _parent ) - oddly - this is the same thing as _top
(Whole Page) - replaces the entire page with the linked page - you can
get to the previous page with the Back button

 

[lifeson]

Thanks - that clarifies it perfectly !!

_parent addresses the frameset that contains the current
page.

_top addresses the page that occupies the entire browser
window.

True, these are usually the same. Howver, they'll be
different if you nest framesets (that is, if you display a
whole new frameset inside one frame of another frameset).


"target=new" isn't a predefined or special target name. It
simply tells the browser to display the target page in a
frame named "new". Of course, if there *is* no frame
named "new", it will open the target page in a new browser
window. But specifing any other non-existent frame name,
such as "target=old" or "target=same" would have the same
effect.

Jim Buyens
Microsoft FrontPage MVP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.interlacken.com
Author of:
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|\----------------------------------------------------/|
|| Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 Inside Out ||
|| Microsoft FrontPage Version 2002 Inside Out ||
|| Web Database Development Step by Step .NET Edition ||
|| Troubleshooting Microsoft FrontPage 2002 ||
|| Faster Smarter Beginning Programming ||
|| (All from Microsoft Press) ||
|/----------------------------------------------------\|
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