How To Make Content Updates Appear in Two Frames at Once

By Eileen Mullin

Dear Dr. Website®: I created a framed Web site that uses four frames. I would like to activate some links in one of the frames that will cause new content to appear simultaneously in two of the other frames. I can get it to appear in one frame, but not two. I have seen sites that do this; can you help me?

One way you can cause two frames in your Web site to update at the same time is to contain them within a separate new <FRAMESET>. You would then link to the new <FRAMESET>, not the two individual frames, to reload the two frame contents.

The drawback to this method is that the two frames to be updated must be adjacent, since they're part of the same <FRAMESET>. It also adds a layer of complexity-something that's already in abundant supply on most frame-based Web sites-by compelling you to create and manage several extra pages containing the <FRAMESET> declarations.

You can also accomplish this effect by using JavaScript, via a variety of scripts. One good place to look for information about both HTML and JavaScript solutions to this problem is the Frames FAQ: Updating Two Frames at Once page on the Web Design Group's site.

Link Checking

Dear Dr. Website®: I need to find a way to let all the users at my company who create Web pages check the links on their sites and make sure everything works. Ideally, I'm looking for a program that runs online, since I haven't been able to find anything that works for both Macs and Windows. It would also be great if it could check links across a whole site instead of just a page at a time.

Few things frustrate Web visitors more-and damage their impression of your site-than an abundance of dead links. There are several sites that offer link checking as a service, and even a couple that can help you check all files in a directory instead of a single page at a time. Here are a couple:

Net.Mechanic is one relatively new, free online service; its robot can search your entire site for broken links. Since this can be a time-consuming process for larger sites, the service gives you the option of submitting a "background job" in which the results are e-mailed to you when complete. You can also ask for your results via a Web page, so you can even watch as the robot evaluates all of your Web documents.

Dr. HTML is an HTML validator that also includes link checking. You can check single Web pages for free by entering your URL in a form. The site also offers a paid service wherein they check individual pages or your whole site for you on a regular basis and deliver a report containing the results.

Chatting In Java

Dear Dr. Website®: Do you know of any Web chat software that's based on Java?

There are several commercial and shareware Java-based programs available to help you provide a cross-platform chat environment on your Web site. For example, VolanoChat offers a free testbed on its site for testing its flexible Java chat environment. The product features a separate chat window, private talk, and real-time message scrolling.

The Gamelan Java Chat Index has the most comprehensive listings of Java and JavaScript chat resources and software. It categorizes these links by chats with avatars, IRC-based chat, general links, and source code for Java-based chat.

You may also want to visit the Quick Chat Cafe Java chat room; its help page will guide users through using Java-based chat rooms and help them gain an understanding of how Java chat rooms work.

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