If frame 1 has a link with target='_self', the link targets frame 1 (i.e.

Then target attributes have these effects:

the outermost webpage is the parent of frame 3.

the outermost webpage/browser is the starting context.

Imagine a webpage containing 3 nested aka 'frame'/'frameset'. Д«elow is an image showing nested frames and the effect of different target values, followed by an explanation of the image. While the name was the proper method that method has been replaced with using the id identifying tag. This will target the exact frame in question. Target='framename This was originally deprecated but brought back in HTML5. Target='_top' This breaks outside of all the frames it is nested in and opens the link as top document in the browser window. Target='_parent' Will open the in the next level up of a frame if they were nested to inside one another

Instead if this anchor was nested in frames it would open in a sandbox mode of sorts, meaning only in that frame. What is confusing is that because we generally don't write in frames anymore (and the frame and frameset tags are obsolete in HTML5) people assume this a same window function. Target='_self' This opens an anchor in the same frame. The '_parent', '_top' and framename tags are left a mystery to those that aren't familiar with the days of iframe site building as the trend.

While target='_self' is default by browser and the most common target is target='_blank' which opens the anchor in a new window(which has been redirected to tabs by browser settings usually). This was well before CSS came to the aid of HTML developers. They were initially created in order to manipulate and direct anchors to the frame system of document. The target attribute in an anchor tag tells the browser the target of the destination of the anchor. While these answers are good, IMHO I don't think they fully address the question.

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