Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference

Name

COLS — NN 2 IE 3 HTML 4

Synopsis

COLS=”columnLengthsList"

Optional

Defines the sizes or proportions of the column arrangement of frames in a frameset. If it is the intent to use the FRAMESET element to create frames in multiple columns, you must assign a list of values to the COLS attribute.

Column size is defined in one of three ways:

• An absolute pixel size

• A percentage of the width available for the entire frameset

• A wildcard (*) to represent all available remaining space after other pixels and percentages have been accounted for

Use an absolute pixel size when you want the width of a frame to be the same no matter how the user has sized the overall browser window. This is especially useful when the frame is to display an object of fixed width, such as an image. Use a percentage when you want the frame width to be a certain proportion of the frameset’s width, no matter how the user has adjusted the size of the overall browser window. If you use all percentage values for the COLS attribute, they should add up to 100%. If the values don’t add up to 100%, the browser makes the columns fit anyway. Finally, use the asterisk wildcard value to let the browser calculate the width of one frame when all other frames in the frameset have fixed or percentage values assigned to them. Separate the values within the attribute value string with commas.

You can mix and match all three types of values in the attribute string. For example, consider a three-column frameset. If you want the leftmost ...