An alternative to frames?

[OriginalSunny]

Hi,
i am currently using frames within my menu for my webpage. Having had a look at a range of other webpages, many have not used frames. I am assuming this is because frames do not look as professional. I am assuming they have used tables. Can you use tables in the same way as frames?? The code i have used for these pages (in html) is:

[u]MainPage[/u]
<frameset cols="20%,80%">

<frame name="main" src="menu.htm">

<frame name = "other" src="home.htm">

[u]Menu[/u]
<a href="catalogaccessories.php" target="other">Accessories</a><br><br>
<a href="shoppingcart.php" target="other">Shopping Basket</a><br><br>
e.t.c....

How can i modify this to use tables? Or is there another way so that the pages clicked on open on the righthand side (using a target or however it is for the other method)?
Thanks.

[redbullmarky]

there are a couple of ways to replace frames.

1, if you have dreamweaver, use their templating functions. the basic idea is to draw the page, including stuff that will appear on all your pages (logo, menu, nav, etc) and use the same template for all your pages. any changes to the template will make the changes automatically to pages that have been drawn using the template.

2, use includes. so instead of 'hard coding' your menu, logo, etc into your pages, you do them as seperate php files and just 'include' them in the same way as each of your pages.

it is possible to make frames look ok, but you can get into all sorts of problems, and things just don't seem as solid as a properly structured page. also, getting the frames to 'talk' to eachother can be alot more hard work for you in the future, not to mention the fact that some people like to bookmark individual pages in a site, which is made trickier using frames as only the parent frame gets bookmarked.