Activating parent page link from 'child page' - revised

[SF RVN]

[Experiencing difficulty posting... please excuse if this is a
duplicate post]

Hmmmm.. a wee bit of a problem:

Background
default.htm has a left-aligned table serving as a 'navigation menu' and
a right-aligned iFrame (named 'viewframe') serving as the 'target' for
left-side menu. [iFrame is NOT in the table; table and iFrame are
side-by-side elements] I think of iFrame as 'child page'.

Example:
Clicking a left menu item (link to initiation.htm) loads initiation.htm
in iFrame. iFrame height is automatically adjusted by SCRIPT LOCATED
IN DEFAULT.HTM

initiation.htm serves as topic introduction and describes the processes
included in the project management "initiation phase". The term
'Governance Structure' appears within the text of initiation.htm
'Governance Structure' is also a menu item in the table.

The problem:
If I click 'Governance Structure' in the menu, gov.htm is loaded into
the iFrame and the iFrame is automatically resized. Kewl!

If I make the (initiation.htm ) text a simple link
blah blah blah blah <a href="gov.htm target="viewfra me">Governanc e
Structure</a> blah blah blah, the page is loaded into a new windows
because initiation.htm is unaware of 'viewframe' target.

My desired solution:
Can I make my links in *initiation.htm * activate/run/call the
corresponding menu items (links!) in default.htm?? My goal obviously is
that when an initiation.htm link is clicked, the appropriate page is
loaded into the iFrame AND the resize function activates/runs!

I would appreciate your ideas. I have not been able to find ANY topics
like this after a couple hours of searching.

G'day

gary b
gbowesATstate.p a.us - during business day

[Philip Ronan]

Re: Activating parent page link from 'child page' - revised

"SF RVN" wrote:
[color=blue]
> Can I make my links in [framed HTML file] activate/run/call the
> corresponding menu items (links!) in [parent frame]??[/color]

What you described isn't your biggest problem. What do you suppose will
happen if a visitor reaches one of your pages (e.g., initiation.htm) from a
search engine? There's no way the search engine can tell the visitor's
browser to put this page in an IFRAME with your navigation menu beside it.
So as a result the visitor is stuck in a single page with no menu. Basically
that means your site is unusable.
[color=blue]
> I would appreciate your ideas. I have not been able to find ANY topics
> like this after a couple hours of searching.[/color]

Try starting here: <http://www.google.co.u k/search?q=frames +suck>

Phil

--
phil [dot] ronan @ virgin [dot] net

http://vzone.virgin.net/phil.ronan/

[SF RVN]

Re: Activating parent page link from 'child page' - revised

Ahhhhh... you are quite correct, Phil. For brevity, I did not provide
some other info -- such as: this website is on an large intranet. It
is not visible to the Internet -- nor is it intended to be indexed by
any search engine. So I'm not concerned about this scenario. Although
it would be possible for a user to ascertain the name of the 'child'
web page and point the browser directly at this page (bypassing the
'container' page and the menu), they have no reason to do so.

Therefore, my original question stands: Is it possible to click a link
on a 'child page' and have it execute a link on the 'parent page'? The
only way I can envision this type of action is through an onMouseDown
event (on the child page link) running a script. That script would
then have to shift focus to the parent page, then to the specific
element/link, and then 'click' (execute) the link. If this is
possible, I can/would hardcode each script for each such child page
link.

Whew...

Thanks again, Phil. Anyone else have any ideas??

Philip Ronan wrote:[color=blue]
> "SF RVN" wrote:
>
>
> What you described isn't your biggest problem. What do you suppose will
> happen if a visitor reaches one of your pages (e.g., initiation.htm) from a
> search engine?[/color]

[Tim]

Re: Activating parent page link from 'child page' - revised

On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 19:26:50 -0700, SF RVN wrote:
[color=blue]
> Therefore, my original question stands: Is it possible to click a link on
> a 'child page' and have it execute a link on the 'parent page'? The only
> way I can envision this type of action is through an onMouseDown event (on
> the child page link) running a script. That script would then have to
> shift focus to the parent page, then to the specific element/link, and
> then 'click' (execute) the link. If this is possible, I can/would
> hardcode each script for each such child page link.[/color]

Try a scripting news group, as that's not really an HTML issue...

Having said that, I wonder why do it. Why isn't what you want to happen
in the windows that you're currently using?

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[SF RVN]

Re: Activating parent page link from 'child page' - revised

The 'why' is because the people making the decision believe our website
users will be 'inconvenienced ' if they must scroll up in order to see
the links for any SUB-process pages that are listed on the left-side
(nav) menu tree. Therefore, we should put links to subordinate pages
where they can see them without having to scroll up to the nav menu.
[Of course, if they want to go to the next sequential process step,
they have to scroll up anyway!]

Your point about a script newsgroup is well-made. Hadn't thought about
that, since my problem originated with an HTML link activation. I'll
post there.

Thanks, Phil.

[Tim]

Re: Activating parent page link from 'child page' - revised

On 4 Jun 2005 10:32:45 -0700,
"SF RVN" <sfrvn@earthlin k.net> posted:
[color=blue]
> The 'why' is because the people making the decision believe our website
> users will be 'inconvenienced ' if they must scroll up in order to see
> the links for any SUB-process pages that are listed on the left-side
> (nav) menu tree. Therefore, we should put links to subordinate pages
> where they can see them without having to scroll up to the nav menu.[/color]

Perhaps the overall layout needs a rethink, then? On my pages I took an
approach of putting links to major sections of the site near the top of the
page (so those who'd got lost, or wanted something different) could quickly
go somewhere else, as well as newcomers being able to see what else was
around, straight away. But links to the next page, etc., are nearer the
bottom (where it's more likely that you'll be when you've finished with
that page).

There's other approaches, like sidebars, where the links always stay close
by, no matter the length of the main page information.
[color=blue]
> [Of course, if they want to go to the next sequential process step,
> they have to scroll up anyway!][/color]

No matter what you do, especially if the page is big, it's hard to do some
things in an optimum way.

--
If you insist on e-mailing me, use the reply-to address (it's real but
temporary). But please reply to the group, like you're supposed to.

This message was sent without a virus, please delete some files yourself.

[SF RVN]

Re: Activating parent page link from 'child page' - revised

Call off the dogs... problem has been resolved!

Thanks to all who put some thought into this question.