Frame Layouts

With CMS Fiona you have the ability to create frame layouts in two ways. One way is to use the NPSOBJ instruction provided by NPS that can be used in layouts to automatically create framesets complete with their required content files.

Another way is to use the folder hierarchy to structure the frame hierarchy. This is done by creating a folder for the frameset and creating a subfolder for the table of contents frame. The main frames can be placed as documents in this subfolder.

The first method has the advantage that the editorial staff must not concern themselves about the underlying frame structure during document creation or editing: for every document, the CMS always creates a complete frameset during export and for the preview. The document is bound to its frameset, since every reference to a document exported in this way results in a reference to the frameset in which it is to be displayed. It is thus possible to set a bookmark for the document without having to do without the surrounding frameset.

In the second method this is not the case, for the frameset is only created for every index page of a folder hierarchy, and not for the documents found in the sub-hierarchies themselves. If one follows a link to such a document then it will only be shown in its frame if the frameset was previously loaded, and the target frame predefined or given in the link tag. Since the document is not bound to its frameset no bookmark can be set for it.

You should use the first method mentioned for creating a webserver based on frames if you want to minimize the work involved in administering frame structure and if every document should always be displayed in its frameset during the preview and in the export results. The second method is useful if you place value on having a leaner web server. It does not make sense to combine the two methods.