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1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 75 people)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

Ranked #450 in How-To, #4361 overall

Rated G. (Control what you see)

iframes

 

R.I.P. The iframe Tag. Deceased 12th July 2007. 

The humble iframe tag... actually, the iframe tag is anything but humble. It's quite powerful. And it opens up a window of opportunity for webmasters and lensmasters alike...

Except for lensmasters, who used to use it to do things in their TEXT/WRITE module that couldn't be done any other way. But that's in the past now.

ATTENTION: Squidoo's new policy on iframes 

On July 12 Squidoo disabled the iframe tag and it's amazing ability to enhance, improve and empower your lenses.

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What Wikipedia says about the iframe 

IFrame (from inline frame) is an HTML element which makes it possible to embed another HTML document inside the main document.

The size of the IFrame is specified in the surrounding HTML page, so that the surrounding page can already be presented in the browser while the IFrame is still being loaded. The IFrame behaves much like an inline image and the user can scroll it out of view. On the other hand, the IFrame can contain its own scroll bar, independent of the surrounding page's scroll bar.

While regular frames are typically used to logically subdivide the content of one website, IFrames are more commonly used to insert content (for instance an advertisement) from another website into the current page.

Source

Recommended Reading 

This book won't just improve your grasp on iframes, it'll set you on the road to becoming a HTML guru!

HTML Mastery: Semantics, Standards, and Styling

Amazon Price: $25.54 (as of 07/19/2008)

Do It Yourself 

The thing to keep in mind with iframes is that they work a bit differently than frames. It's more like a 'window' in your webpage (or in our case 'module') that displays a target URL (another webpage).

They're not hard to do once you've got the hang of it.

In fact if you go to the i-Frame Code Generator you can do it without having to know much about HTML.

Just enter the details of how you want your iframe to look, the url you want to show within the iframe and the code will be generated for you.

Be sure to also check out Jeffry Vance's lens on iframes where he demonstrates multiple uses of the powerful iframe.

With an iframe you can add a printable coupon! 

The iframe can be used to target a page that can be printed by itself. Click on the printer icon to see how it prints just the graphics.

A step-by-step tutorial on how to do it is found here.

Add your own Amazon search box! 

You'll first need to be an Amazon Associate (affiliate). But after that it's so easy. In fact they GIVE you the iframe code to use. Just copy and paste the code into your Text/Write module.

Add an Opt-in Form 

MrLewisSmile gives a four step tutorial on how to add an opt-in form to your lens.

Be careful what you iframe 

iframes should only really be used for html pages that have intentionally been made with a specific function in mind.

Don't iframe whole webpages from other sites. It'll look ghastly with a horizontal scroll bar as well as a vertical scroll bar.

It's yet to be confirmed but having a target page with a bit of code that 'breaks out of frames' can cause you to be locked out of your lens.

How would that happen?

By inserting and saving a Write/Text module to such a page will automatically load the page even in edit mode. Once loaded it'll bust out of the iframe and reload in the browser window. Thus stopping you from editing your lens, each and every time.

It would seem that Myspace has such a function.

So don't try putting your Myspace profile in an iframe. In fact avoid putting whole webpages of just any website in an iframe. Just link to them as normal if you really need your visitor to see it.

Do you have a lens with an iframe? 

Post it here so others can see how you've used an iframe to empower your lens.

thefluffanutta

For anyone missing the Amazon Product links, I've built a tool that will generate Squidoo compatible code that looks similar. See the Amazon Links lens for details.

Posted September 04, 2007

webseitler

I know (from my web designer husband) that the iframes were bad news for Squidoo. But now I'm torn because I just discovered a widget on another site (a site I wanted to make a lens on) and now I can't use it! Boo hoo. So my vote is for "Lens Masters We Can Trust."

Posted August 21, 2007

billc

They have made a VERY bad decision in disabling iFrames. If one person crashes their car on the freeway, does that mean we should no longer be allowed to drive? This will come back and bite them very hard and people will look to other sites for hosting their content. Bring em back or else

Posted August 17, 2007

Forgiven

I really miss the it! =(
I used iframes to show christian videos not on youtube but GodTube. Oh well, I can't say that I blame em! I was once auto forwarded to a bad site because of an iframe.
Nice lens Glen!

Posted August 07, 2007

RadioPages

They disabled iframes just before I tried to use one! I've been using iframes on my site for years, so I could place the same content on a number of pages (like a list of links to back issues). You can see several examples at http://radiopages.net/radio ... and I was going to use some of them here!

Posted August 03, 2007

 
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N376

About N376

Glen likes to write. If it's something that he hasn't already enjoyed or experienced in life if you so much as throw a topic at him and if he finds it even mildly interesting he'll research it until his fingers cramp up and his eyes are fatigued. He'll chew it up and spit it out like quality cud. For some that might be disgusting, but for others with a taste for the offbeat and whimsical it's like stumbling on a vein of gold.

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