HTML element#Frames

An inline frame ( iframe also [ aɪfɹeɪm ] ) is an HTML element that is used to structure websites. It is used to display different web content as a separate document in a defined area of the browser.

Introduction

The element was introduced with the HTML 4.0 specification. Initially, the browser support was still low. Meanwhile inline frames, however, supported by almost all web browsers.

Application

The technique is often used to embed advertisements or contents of other suppliers in a Web page.

Pros and Cons

The advantages and disadvantages are the same as in conventional frames substantially.

Benefits

The advantage is that the browser has to take on the dimensions, but not on the design and load time of the IFrame content consideration. Since an inline frame allows parallel loading of the content, the surrounding page can already be presented during the frame content is still loading. A federated document as an inline frame can be scrolled together with the surrounding text. Moreover inline frames may also have its own scroll bar, if required by the size of the embedded document.

Disadvantages

Through the frame technology, only the address of the surrounding page will be displayed in the browser address bar. This makes it difficult to save the page as a bookmark so involved. Another disadvantage is that the visitor can not always detect when it leaves the content offering one side and the other enters, so the risk that he attributes to the page content with the correct source.

Implementation

To include an inline frame, the " iframe " element is used: