Re: facelift, frames, navigation and accessibility

Advising frames because you can change only the navigation bar 
without changing the other pages is not sufficently conviencing.

One may use a preprocessing tool in which the navigation bar of 
all pages may be changed in batch.

Also, if existing pages were not generated with a preprocessor, but were 
written in a template which is consistent across pages, a program that
modifies 
the navigation bar of multiple pages may be written.

Concerning the Lynx browser, the more recent versions present the frameset 
as a list of links to the different frames.
You may also use an online Lynx simulator such as 
http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html or even better get Lynx from 
http://lynx.browser.org

Regards,
Nir.

At 11:57 AM 11/22/99 +0100, k.walmsley@swipnet.se wrote:

>Despite my title of webmaster (I actually just write html), I have
>questions which, hopefully, are elementary for true masters of web
>design.
>
>The site I work on is undergoing a facelift.  Currently we use frames
>and are unsure whether we should continue this.  The advantages are
>obvious: twice in the past year we made changes in the navigation menu,
>which meant simply adjusting one document.  If we were to include the
>navigation links on each and every page, it would take weeks to make
>changes to the thousands of pages in our site.  I know this from
>experience.
>
>On some pages I've included a "no frames" link, by simply using the
>TARGET="_top" link.  But how could I create a "navigation frame" link to
>each page, without having to create a copy of each page with a frame
>extension in the title (ie.
>http://www.independentliving.org/ILDef.html
>and
>http://www.independentliving.org/ILDefframe.html)?
>
>Is there a JavaScript that could handle this?
>
>And how does web accessibility affect all this?  Is it now safe to use
>frames for browsers such as Lynx, or Palmtop computers?
>
>Looking forward to any advice, examples of good practice, suggestions,
>etc.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Kris Walmsley, Webmaster
>k.walmsley@swipnet.se
>Institute on Independent Living
>http://www.independentliving.org
>________________________________
>Our latest Newsletter examines Personal Assistance
>http://www.independentliving.org/newsletter/4_99.html
> 
===================================
Nir Dagan
Assistant Professor of Economics
Brown University 
Providence, RI
USA

http://www.nirdagan.com
mailto:nir@nirdagan.com
tel:+1-401-863-2145

Received on Monday, 22 November 1999 20:21:14 UTC