spectrum48k

I have an application whereby a customer is viewing a catalogue onscreen, with lots of rows.

At the very top of the screen are illustrations showing cad drawings with dimensions. The actual value of these dimensions are shown in each row of catalogue.

The problem is, the MD doesn't want to scroll all the way down to say, row 45, then scroll back to the top of the screen to see the drawing. He wants the drawing visible at all times, which means putting the drawing in an HTML frame.

Is this acceptable ?

Iain Young

Why not put the information in a scrollable <div>?

spectrum48k

hmm, never used one before

So the <div> would show the database results, in a scrollable area ? Sounds ideal. I'll pop off and check it out.

Iain Young

FAQ - Creating a scrolling DIV area.

spectrum48k

thank Iain.

This method seems to be a bit limiting. I need to fil the top of the screen with the illustration, then I just want the rest dedicated to the results window.

It doesn't seem to like relative height eg. specified in %

I hate using absolute values.

bob269

Can't you use a table split with your image in the top cell and your scrollable content stored in the bottom cell?

My web design knowledge is limited so i'm sure there's easier better ways

spectrum48k

The <DIV> tag seems to require a absolute height (beyond which the scroll bar will appear)

Simply putting it in a <TR> isn't enough.

I may have to use FRAMES

With HTML, I hate to specify absolute values - I believe a good layout should use relative values, so for example my table fills the width and height of the users screen, maximized or otherwise. This to me is the essence of HTML.

Iain Young

Not sure, I try to never use % values if possible (it can have unpredictable results across different browsers). Maybe a google will provide the answer...

p.s. bob, Tables are even more taboo than iframes

GazTheHat

Search engines don't like frames.

I don't see how you frames are the only solution and not <div>

Think you'll find relative values vary across browsers.

bob269

lol, i was under the impression frames/iframes were frowned upon and tables were king sure the initial setting up is a pita but the end result seemed better

spectrum48k

I don't have ANY problems with relative values at all, but I totally agree FRAMES are horrible - both from useability, search engine and printing point of view. I might just say sod it and keep things as they are.

spectrum48k

you're dead right - they are frowned upon - quite rightly. Search engines hate them, printers hate them, its nonsense they ease site maintenance, and devices other than computers, eg. PDA's, etc... can't render them properly.

Its just for this example, they could offer a solution, although I'll have to write some separate printer friendly code for printing the contents of the rows.

bob269

How about one of those floating jpg's that always display at a certain place on the page when scrolling ?

spectrum48k

hell no - thats javascript, and can be even more of a pain. It's ok, I'm going to check out a few other options.

RichB

Tables are acceptable when displaying data in tabulated form.
What they are not supposed to be used for is layout.

Other sites I have seen like iStock will pop up a preview window when you hover over something like a 'more info' button which works quite well.

Depends whether this page is to be search engine optimised etc or is it just purely for internal use...

spectrum48k

yes, its all tabulated data, so tables are fine

private use / not for search engines

mykp

I look at frames as a sometime neccassary evil, as I write online apps sometime the only way to do things is to use frames. If its non search engine or private facing then functionality comes first.

IMHO that is!

simog

iTrader: (1)

You can use <DIV> tags and make use of CSS style sheets. The height does not have to be set to a specific value, you can set the height to auto in the style sheet and it will adjust the height of the layer based on the content held within it. Another route would be to specify a height in pixels and then set the overflow option for the layer to auto which will give you scrolling within that layer.
Create a stylesheet, reference that CSS in the html document. Give the Div an ID e.g <DIV ID="test"> then in your css write #test{ <your options here> }.

I have written several CSS Layer based web-pages using Ajax (a means of updating a layer using xmlhttp requests using Javascipting) and php. You wouldn't believe the flexibilty you have with web-design once you start down this path.

Hope that helps a bit.

Simon

spectrum48k

Thanks - will check it out