[RESOLVED] Frameset question

[cadlewv]

Hello. I have built a site using frames. I have a top frame for my banner, left frame for navigation and a main frame for content.

My problem is that I want people to be able to type in a url for a specific page on my site, without having to first go to my home page. Whenever a specific page is typed in, only the page loads without either the top or navigation frame loading.

The reason I'm concerned is because I want to create ads for specific pages on my site, but can't because the whole frameset won't load if I do.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[yamaharuss]

Don't use frames unless you absolutely have to. Use Server Side Includes if you can.

[cadlewv]

So there's no way to use frames and get traffic to individual pages and have the pages (including all frames) load correctly?

Also, without asking you to explain in tremendous detail, SSI are.... and how I would use them...?

Thanks.

[tracknut]

I would agree, frames are completely the wrong thing for what you're doing. I don't know of any way you're going to get a URL specific to one of your pages (at least while still having the frameset around it).

To use SSI, you'd make a file for your navigation code, and "include" it where it's sitting, on the left of the page. Make another file for your banner, and "include" it on the top. You do the include on each of your pages, so that if you ever need to change the banner or the navigation, you can change them in just the one file. Very simple to do.

Dave

[cadlewv]

Is there a certain language I would have to know to do this? Would including them push the main content of the pages to where the main content should be automatically, or would I need to put everything in a table or... something else?

[cadlewv]

Wow, had never even once looked at SSI, and there you have it. It (at least my home page) is already done! Truly was very simple.

Thank you!

[tracknut]

One more convert

[cadlewv]

Ok, one more question. SSI doesn't allow absolute paths or '../'. If I were to copy the .txt files to each directory with .shtml pages in them, I'd use the line: <!--#include file="filename.txt"-->. But, what would I use if I wanted to keep the .txt files in one directory, and have all of the pages in my site reference the same files. I haven't been able to figure it out, so I've just been copying the .txt files into each directory as the .shtml pages.

Thanks again.

[cadlewv]

Anyone?

[tracknut]

Hmmm... so I use PHP includes myself, not SSI. I find it hard to believe SSI does not allow directory paths in the file specification. Have you tried putting the .txt file in your top-level directory, and specifying it like "/navbar.txt" (or whatever)?

Dave

[yamaharuss]

<!--#include virtual="/includes/filename.txt"-->

[cadlewv]

Do I need an 'includes' directory? And if I can't specify the root directory, how would I specify an 'includes' directory? I tried using the virtual include with the full url even and it didn't work either. Could you go into more detail?

Also, each of my pages is in it's own folder, i.e.: /root/specificpage/specificpage.shtml.

[yamaharuss]

The first forward slash indicates your root directory. The rest is simply relative to the root. You don't need a directory called "includes", that was just an example.

If your file is in the root then:

<!--#include virtual="/filename.txt"-->

You do NOT use the full URL.