Ways around having to use frames

lukkyjay · #1 (**permalink**) 12-01-2007, 03:20 PM

For years, I've had this page:
Instant Colorado Health Insurance Quotes

as an Iframe because that is all I thought I could do. The bottom portion is a seperate website that provides that quote engine service for us, but I need to have special content at the top so the user stays on our website. I've been thinking about adding a sidebar and footer as well, but I haven't been able to figure it out. I know it's not the greatest for SEO.

You guys know a lot better - what would you do with that page if the main content (the insurance quote engine) is coming from a different url?

mikmik · #2 (**permalink**) 12-01-2007, 04:03 PM

Why is that page different from th rest?????
Put your shite into a page like this: Why Use a Colorado Health Insurance Broker
Put your stuff in the div #feature.
You already answered your own question with a page like this.
You can put an Iframe in a div, and it is a good idea, AFAICT
PS I really like your color choices and presentation.
This is your source:

Code:

<HTML>
<head>
<title>Instant Colorado Health Insurance Quotes</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<frameset rows="130,*">
<frame name="top" scrolling="no" noresize src="instant-quote-frame-top.htm">
<frame name="main" src="http://prospectzone.com/quote/start.jsp?login=jnorris">
</frameset><noframes></noframes>
<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "UA-719377-1";
urchinTracker();
</script></body>
</HTML>

You can put this in "<div id="content">"

Code:

http://prospectzone.com/quote/start.jsp?login=jnorris

This you would put in the iFrame.
I will clarify this better, see this:

Quote:

Iframes, or inline frames, allow you to load html files into an existing document. Internet Explorer 4+, Netscape 6+, Firefox, Mozilla, Opera and other modern browsers all support iframes.

New html documents can be loaded into the iframe without disrupting the rest of the document. CSS and JavaScript can be used to manipulate properties of the iframe, such as its position and size. JavaScript can also be used to communicate between the document containing the iframe and the document loaded inside it.

Scripting Iframes - Tutorial and Examples

That is a good site, by the way. That guy is a wizard.

JLM · #3 (**permalink**) 12-04-2007, 07:28 PM

I just ran through the first 2 pages of the form (enter contact info, then select various options, tobacco user, applicant spouse, etc), does all it do is collect info and then forward it to your company? It doesnt do any calculating? If thats the case, I would take prospectzone out of the picture entirely, unless their service goes alot deeper than can be seen.

100% custom content is always best, so take a look at what that site (in the iframe) does for you, and then think "Can we provide this service to ourselves easily enough?".

If it is just forwarding data to your company, you might want to think about recreating the remote document locally. It would also be a more professional look, you may not want your customers coming to the website and seeing "this feature provided by this company, that feature provided by that company, etc", it can exude a mild level of incompetence. So if it is something basic as mentioned above, look into providing the feature yourself.

Haze · #4 (**permalink**) 12-04-2007, 08:14 PM

talking frames or iframes?
anyway, check this online golf booking site
Book golf tee times, hotels and rental cars on Costa del Sol, Golf Service can organize tee times on golf courses in Costa del Sol, Spain
made by my son..

Ciao Haze

Serj · #5 (**permalink**) 12-05-2007, 12:23 AM

You can use javascript as I do on this site:
Ovation Productions - event planning.

If you see the top banner: "Current Projects" it is an actual javascript call:

Quote:

<div class="current">Current Projects:
<noscript><br>JavaScript needs to be enabled in order to view this page properly.</noscript>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript" src="projects.js"></script>

Then the actual projects.js file has the javascript commands:

Quote:

// This is the line of code that displays your current project(s); Could potentially have an image rotator later
document.write('<center><img src="http://ovationproductions.org/images/event.jpg" width="470" height="110" alt="Current Project: Skillet, Toby Mac, Kutless, Boise, Idaho, August 2005"></center>');
// Images need to be width = 470px, height = 110px

So using the document.write you can put in any HTML into the calling document....this is a long way about doing it...but it may be better than iframes....

magnets · #6 (**permalink**) 12-05-2007, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lukkyjay

For years, I've had this page:
Instant Colorado Health Insurance Quotes

as an Iframe because that is all I thought I could do. The bottom portion is a seperate website that provides that quote engine service for us, but I need to have special content at the top so the user stays on our website. I've been thinking about adding a sidebar and footer as well, but I haven't been able to figure it out. I know it's not the greatest for SEO.

You guys know a lot better - what would you do with that page if the main content (the insurance quote engine) is coming from a different url?

I don't know what you will end up doing. This is what I would learn to do if I were you.

1. find a low-cost hosting service. (I noticed your DNS servers are at Yahoo. For your purposes even their $12 service is way over priced for hosting.) Make sure they provide database access such as MySQL and the PHP programming language. (Other solutions will be more expensive and more complex.) Move your website there.

2. Start with the code found at
Quote Engine
and add it to your web page.

3. Pay a PHP programmer around $50 bucks for a program like "include/info1Save.jsp" that does what you need to save the contact information and send it to you as you receive it today.

That's pretty much it.

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