Frames provide a means of visually dividing the computer screen into distinct areas that can be separately rewritten. Unfortunately, frames can also present difficulties for users with disabilities when those frames are not easily identifiable to assistive technology. For instance, a popular use of frames is to create "navigational bars" in a fixed position on the screen and have the content of the web site retrievable by activating one of those navigational buttons. The new content is displayed another area of the screen. Because the navigational bar doesn't change, it provides a stable "frame-of-reference" for users and makes navigation much easier. However, users with disabilities may become lost if the differences between the two frames are not clearly established.
What is the best method for identifying frames?
The most obvious way to accomplish this requirement is to include text within
the body of each frame that clearly identifies the frame. For instance, in the
case of the navigation bar, a web developer should consider putting words such
as "Navigational Links" at the beginning of the contents of the frame to let
all users know that the frame depicts navigational links. Providing titles like
this at the top of the contents of each frame will satisfy these requirements.
An additional measure that should be considered by agencies is to include
meaningful text in the <frame> tag's "title" attribute. Although not
currently supported by major manufacturers of assistive technology, the "title"
attribute is part of the HTML 4.0 specification and was intended to let web
developers include a description of the frame as a quote-enclosed string.
Demonstrating the use of the "title" attribute requires a basic understanding
of how frames are constructed. When frames are used in a web page, the first
page that is loaded must include a <frameset> tag that encloses the basic
layout of the frames on the page. Within the <frameset> tag,
<frame> tags specify the name, initial contents, and appearance of each
separate frame. Thus, the following example uses the "title" attribute to label
one frame "Navigational Links Frame" and the second frame "Contents Frame."
Example:
<FRAMESET ROWS="20%, 70%, 10%">
<FRAME SRC="navlinks.html" name="navlinks" title="Navigation Links Frame">
<FRAME SRC="content.html" name="contents_page" title="Contents Frame">
<FRAME SRC="copyright.html" name="copyright_info" title="Copyright Information and Acknowledgments>
</FRAMESET>
This code renders the following screen layout :
While assistive technology does not yet widely support the "title" attribute, we recommend including this attribute in web pages using frames.
