Technique H64:Using the `title` attribute of the `frame` and `iframe` elements

Applicability

HTML and XHTML documents that use frames or iframes

This technique relates to:

2.4.1: Bypass Blocks (Sufficient, together with H70: Using frame elements to group blocks of repeated material when used with Grouping blocks of repeated material in a way that can be skipped, using one of the following techniques: )
4.1.2: Name, Role, Value (Sufficient when used with G108: Using markup features to expose the name and role, allow user-settable properties to be directly set, and provide notification of changes)

Description

The objective of this technique is to demonstrate the use of the title attribute of the frame or iframe element to describe the contents of each frame. This provides a label for the frame so users can determine which frame to enter and explore in detail. It does not label the individual page (frame) or inline frame (iframe) in the frameset.

Note that the title attribute labels frames, and is different from the title element which labels documents. Both should be provided, since the first facilitates navigation among frames and the second clarifies the user's current location.

The title attribute is not interchangeable with the name attribute. The title labels the frame for users; the name labels it for scripting and window targeting. The name is not presented to the user, only the title is.

In HTML5 the frame element is marked as obsolete. The iframe element remains part of the HTML5 specification.

Examples

Example 1

This example shows how to use the title attribute with frame to describe the frames containing the navigation bar and the document.

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <head>
    <title>A simple frameset document</title>
  </head>
  <frameset cols="10%, 90%">
    <frame src="nav.html" title="Main menu" />
    <frame src="doc.html" title="Documents" />
    <noframes>
      <body>
        <a href="lib.html" title="Library link">Select to
        go to the electronic library</a>
      </body>
    </noframes>
  </frameset>
</html>

Example 2

This example shows how to use the title attribute with iframe to describe the contents of an inline frame. The example also includes an alternative link to the page included by the iframe element for older browsers, which may not understand the iframeelement.

 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <head>
    <title>A document using iframe</title>
  </head>
...
<iframe src="banner-ad.html" id="testiframe" 
  name="testiframe" title="Advertisement">
    <a href="banner-ad.html">Advertisement</a>
</iframe>
...
</html>

Other sources

No endorsement implied.

Tests

Procedure

Check each frame and iframe element in the HTML or XHTML source code for the presence of a title attribute.
Check that the title attribute contains text that identifies the frame.

Expected Results

Checks #1 and #2 are true.