links within table

[Tony Vella]

I'm trying to do something (and having problems) and I suddenly get the
feeling that perhaps it just cannot be done and I'm wasting my time even
trying. But, here goes:

Let's say we have a table with three columns: a, b and c.
In column 'a' there is a list of countries in alpha order. Each
country-name in column 'a' is a link.
When I click a country-link in column 'a', I want to see in column 'b' a
list of years in which that particular country issued stamps. Each year in
column 'b' is a link.
When I click a year-link in column 'b' I want to see in column 'c' pictures
of the stamps issued by that particular country in that particular year.

I can do this using frames quite easily but I have been told that many
browsers do not support frames and I'm therefore trying to find a way around
the problem by using tables.

Can it be done? Any help is appreciated.

 

[dorayme]

I can do this using frames quite easily but I have been told that many
browsers do not support frames and I'm therefore trying to find a way around
the problem by using tables.

Who told you that? How many browsers have you got? How many
other friends with computers have you got. Count the ones having
no luck with frames and see if it comes to more than a big fat
0...

OK, I am just saying this is not a good reason... and if you
know how to do it in frames, this may be the simplest. I bet
that frames are less likely to muck up than any other fancy
doodle thing you might have to do, javascript, css trickery and
so on.

dorayme

 

[Mark Parnell]

Let's say we have a table with three columns: a, b and c.
In column 'a' there is a list of countries in alpha order. Each
country-name in column 'a' is a link.
When I click a country-link in column 'a', I want to see in column 'b' a
list of years in which that particular country issued stamps. Each year in
column 'b' is a link.
When I click a year-link in column 'b' I want to see in column 'c' pictures
of the stamps issued by that particular country in that particular year.

Why? Why not just display it all in the first place? Split the table up
onto multiple pages if necessary (e.g. by first letter of country name).

If you wanted to, you could then hide the second and third columns with
Javascript and then use Javascript to display them when you click on the
country etc., as described above.

It would also be possible to do much the same using a server-side
script, though that means reloading the entire page each time.

Either way would be preferable to frames.

 

[Luigi Donatello Asero]

Who told you that? How many browsers have you got? How many
other friends with computers have you got. Count the ones having
no luck with frames and see if it comes to more than a big fat
0...

But you cannot bookmark a page using frames, can you?



--
Luigi Donatello Asero
(sono italiano ma vivo in Svezia)
(Ñ Ð¸Ñ‚Ð°Ð»ÑŒÑнец но Ñ Ð¶Ð¸Ð²Ñƒ в Швеции )
(我是 æ„大利人 , 但是 我 ä½ åœ¨ ç‘žå…¸)
(minä olen Italian kansalainen, mutta minä asun Ruotsissa)
(yo soy italiano mas vivo en Suecia)
(je suis italien mais j'habite en Suède)
(ich bin Italiener aber ich lebe in Schweden)
https://www.scaiecat-spa-gigi.com/it/traduzioni.php

 

[dorayme]

Why? Why not just display it all in the first place? Split the table up
onto multiple pages if necessary (e.g. by first letter of country name).

If you wanted to, you could then hide the second and third columns with
Javascript and then use Javascript to display them when you click on the
country etc., as described above.

It would also be possible to do much the same using a server-side
script, though that means reloading the entire page each time.

Either way would be preferable to frames.

Perhaps...

If you did use frames, it would be quite a nice use of them but
you would still need to put in a lot of targeted links and make
a lot of different html pages to fill the frames.

If you don't want to use frames nor js or server-side anything,
you could do this simple, easy but slightly tedious and dumb but
very effective thing:

Count the number of possible different combinations that can be
obtained: a page with just the countries in col a is one, a page
with all the same in a, but years of one choice of one country
in b is two, a page with the stamps of one year of one country
in c is another. If the number is not too great, you can make an
html page for each without frames and the site will work fine.

Or, really, and better, rethink the design as Mark is partly
suggesting. What about a page with the countries only as a home
page or index page. A click goes to the years with a reminder of
the country concerned and the stamps for the earliest year(s) to
give a nice idea straight away of the format to the viewer, he
or she can pick a different year from the list that would be
there, you could even have buttons or arrows to move through
year by year... as is quite common all over the web for such
navigation... This way you have just an index page and a set of
other pages that get down to business straight away.

Yes, this is a slightly different concept to your table idea.
You might also this way, dispense with tables altogether. I am
not saying this /should/ be your aim, but it could be a bonus in
the scheme I outline. It will aid you in separating style from
content and generally help our church here grow its membership


dorayme

 

[Neredbojias]

With neither quill nor qualm, Tony Vella quothed:

I'm trying to do something (and having problems) and I suddenly get the
feeling that perhaps it just cannot be done and I'm wasting my time even
trying. But, here goes:

Let's say we have a table with three columns: a, b and c.
In column 'a' there is a list of countries in alpha order. Each
country-name in column 'a' is a link.
When I click a country-link in column 'a', I want to see in column 'b' a
list of years in which that particular country issued stamps. Each year in
column 'b' is a link.
When I click a year-link in column 'b' I want to see in column 'c' pictures
of the stamps issued by that particular country in that particular year.

I can do this using frames quite easily but I have been told that many
browsers do not support frames and I'm therefore trying to find a way around
the problem by using tables.

That's bull. Frames may be frowned upon, but they are well-supported.
(So saying, I *do* have a feeling that the W3C is trying to quash them
for it is "simplifying" options relating to frames in a rather ulterior
way.)

Can it be done? Any help is appreciated.

It can be done. However, you'd have to rely heavily on scripting. Is
this acceptable to you and what you want for your site?

 

[rf]

But you cannot bookmark a page using frames, can you?

Yep.

Even IE remembers the URL of each frame as well as that of the frameset.

 

[Mark Parnell]

Even IE remembers the URL of each frame as well as that of the frameset.

sp/Even/Only

Neither FF nor Opera do.

 

[Alan J. Flavell]

Yep.

Care to send us one? Hint: it'll only be useful if it works on the
respective web browser that each of us is using.

Even IE remembers the URL of each frame as well as that of the frameset.

"Even"?

Did we mention that IE disqualifies itself as a www-compatible browser
by violating some of the mandatory interworking requirements?

 

[rf]

Care to send us one? Hint: it'll only be useful if it works on the
respective web browser that each of us is using.

"Even"?

Yeah, OK guys, my bad. Thanks for pointing this out to us

I only[sic] recall once ever bookmarking a framed site and it did work,
this was IIRC pre mozilla/firefox/opera. I naturally thought that modern
browsers would have followed suit on this and thus posted without proper
research.

However, I suspect my statement *is* true, to a certain extent. One
deformed browser *will* take you back to the place where the bookmark was
set so yes, under certain circumstances, one may bookmark a framed site,
although "add to favourites" is probably a better term. Obviously, though,
don't use it in the wild.

In retrospect, it's probably a good thing modern browsers don't bookmark
framed sites as IE does, helps to stop the use of frames.

Did we mention that IE disqualifies itself as a www-compatible browser
by violating some of the mandatory interworking requirements?

I knew that. I've seen you mention it several times

 

[Jake]

I'm trying to do something (and having problems) and I suddenly get the
feeling that perhaps it just cannot be done and I'm wasting my time even
trying. But, here goes:

Let's say we have a table with three columns: a, b and c.
In column 'a' there is a list of countries in alpha order. Each
country-name in column 'a' is a link.
When I click a country-link in column 'a', I want to see in column 'b' a
list of years in which that particular country issued stamps. Each year in
column 'b' is a link.
When I click a year-link in column 'b' I want to see in column 'c' pictures
of the stamps issued by that particular country in that particular year.

I can do this using frames quite easily but I have been told that many
browsers do not support frames and I'm therefore trying to find a way around
the problem by using tables.

Can it be done? Any help is appreciated.

The simplest way to handle this requirement will be to use frames, as
you suggest. If you find frames easy, then go for it -- this is the kind
of use that frames are ideal for.

No mainstream browser since Netscape 2 (back in the 1990's) has had any
trouble in handling frames.

regards.

 

[Jake]

But you cannot bookmark a page using frames, can you?

Yes. IE can bookmark the frameset (in context); that's 85-90% of your
audience.

Other, newer, browsers have not considered this sufficiently important
to warrant providing the option.

If the site is written correctly, you can bookmark the main content page
if required.

Regards.

 

[Alan J. Flavell]

No mainstream browser since Netscape 2 (back in the 1990's) has had any
trouble in handling frames.

Quite right. It's been their users who have the trouble, not the
browsers.

Aside: hardly any of them qualify as what I call "noframes-capable",
i.e giving their user the option of accessing the author's valid
noframes alternative.

 

[Jake]

Quite right. It's been their users who have the trouble, not the
browsers.

Hmm. Can't say I've ever met anyone who had any trouble accessing a
well-written frames-based page ..... want to explain?

Aside: hardly any of them qualify as what I call "noframes-capable",
i.e giving their user the option of accessing the author's valid
noframes alternative.

Well, I can't think of a good reason why anyone (other than SEs) would
want to access the 'no-frames' alternative.

Still Opera will accommodate anyone with the need to....

regards.

"