§1194.22(i). Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation.

Checkpoint
Does this site use frames?

Explanation
A page designed in frames will be split into two or more separately behaving sections within the same browser. If necessary, you can check for the presence of frames on a web page by reading through the source code for the <frameset> tag.

Explanation
Some assistive technologies still do not accommodate pages designed with frames, so it is important to identify each frame's purpose and function.

Guidelines
The easiest way to comply with this checkpoint is to add text to the body of each frame page that will clearly identify its purpose or function (e.g. the navigation links page should contain text that clearly identifies it as the navigation page). This identifying text should appear at the beginning of the frame page.

Checkpoint
Do the <frame> and <frameset> tags contain a title attribute?

Explanation
The title attribute within both the <frame> and <frameset> tags will provide users with information about the frame in which they are viewing.

Guidelines
The title attribute for the <frame> and <frameset> tags must explain in detail what type of content or mechanism is hosted in that particular frame.

NOTE: Although the majority of assistive technologies do not support the use of the title attribute at the present time, it is part of the HTML 4.0 specification and was intended to let web developers include a description of the frame as a quote-enclosed string.

Checkpoint
Are links properly targeted to the correct frame?

Explanation
A common practice is to list all of a site's navigation links in one frame, and the content in a separate frame.

Guidelines
The problem with placing navigation links and content in separate frames is that improperly targeted links can attempt to open a page in the navigation frame instead of the content frame. There are also cases where improperly targeted external links open an external site inside one of the frames instead of allowing that site to expand to the browser's full size.

Each <frame> tag must contain a one-word name attribute. This attribute can be a word describing what the frame will contain (e.g. 'content' or 'menu'), or a reserved target name as described on the W3C web site: http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/types.html#type-frame-target. The name attribute can also be multiple words that are all connected by the underscore character.

<frameset rows="50%,50%">
   <frame name="menu" src="menu.html">
   <frame name="content" src="homepagecontent.html">
</frameset>

Next, add a target attribute to all <a href> tags.

<a href="aboutus.html" target="content">About Us</a>

In the above example, the <a href> tag's target attribute has the value of "content," meaning that the About Us page will open in the content frame, not in the menu frame where the link itself was coded.

The W3C web site has additional information on the use of target attributes:
http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/frames.html#h-16.3
http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/appendix/notes.html#notes-frames

Checkpoint
Does the page contain a <noframes> tag?

Explanation
Some users might try accessing web sites with an older browser that does not acknowledge the <frameset> tag, causing them to miss out on the page's content.

Guidelines
Simply add the <noframes></noframes> tags, along with a link to a non-framed equivalent page, just after the last <frame> tag and before the last </frameset> tag.

<frameset cols="*,200">
     <frame src="contents_of_frame1.html">
     <frame src="contents_of_frame2.gif">
<noframes>
     Please follow this alternate link to view this page in a <a href="sametext.html">Non-frames format</a>.
</noframes>
</frameset>