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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-01T13:16:38+00:00

In my Java EE application page, I have header.jsp, a side menu.jsp, a body.jsp

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In my Java EE application page, I have header.jsp, a side menu.jsp, a body.jsp and footer.jsp. The side menu contains the jQuery dynatree plugin. When a user clicks a menu item from the tree, the body should be changed with the appropriate page (also a .jsp). I am using tiles framework, where I am importing all js code in layout.jsp page. I want to achieve an effect replicating a frameset, but without actually using a frameset. I think framesets are difficult to be managed and take time to load.

Can anyone suggest how I can approach this problem? If I use AJAX to fetch each page when dynatree node is activated, then I have to manually update the page. If I use an IFRAME in body.jsp, then I have to reimport all plugin js code as the frame will not be able to access js functionality on the main page.

I want efficient html page management.

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  1. Editorial Team

    Since you are using jQuery, you should be able to use AJAX in combination with the live method of applying events (see the docs or here). This method is called “event delegation”, and even though jQuery will do it for you like magic, you should understand what is happening. Depending on what version of jQuery you are using, you might use delegate instead of live – essentially the same thing.

    Framesets are actually deprecated in HTML5 — you should avoid using them because soon they will not be supported at all in newer user agents. See http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9612.html for a lengthy discussion that should hopefully dissuade you from considering that approach.

    The IFRAME approach is a hack. You might be able to make it work, but you’re hammering a square peg into a round hole.

    Bottom line, if you don’t want to directly deep link to inner pages, AJAX is the best and preferred solution. In combination with event delegation, it really is superior to any older or hacky solution. And, be sure to use the idea of “progressive enhancement” — if someone clicks those links and has javascript turned off, the content should still load. That means you start with regular direct links, then add the fancy stuff on to it for those users that have javascript enabled. Otherwise, you close a percentage of users off from anything past your home page.

    When you use AJAX for your navigation, you still need to plan for a user that doesn’t understand the difference between when they click a link on your site or any other site. They’ll use the browser’s “back” button and end up back at Google instead of on the last page! That’s because their navigation through your site does not look like unique pages to their browser. There are tools in newer browsers to deal with this, but the details are a little beyond the scope of this answer. Check out this article on MDN for more info on manipulating the browser history.

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