cyberfrem.co.uk
(or "why you shouldn't touch frames with a barge pole!")
Summary:
- DON'T use frames if they can be avoided.
- Frames cannot be searched.
- Frames cannot be bookmarked.
- Pages cannot be recommended.
- Frames confound browsers.
Elaboration:
- Avoid them like the plague!
- Frames are unpopular and can be problematic in use. The majority of web sites avoid them and I recommend that you do likewise unless you understand them well, use them wisely, and test them fully.
Search engines cannot analyse their contents.- Search engines often fail to be able to 'spider' the content within frames.
You cannot 'bookmark' pages in a frameset.- The URL for a specific page is not readily available for you to create a shortcut.
You won't be recommended to others!- As the URL of a page cannot be easily ascertained then visitors find it difficult to recommend the page to others via email; ie. you lose a potential audience.
There's no going back!- The 'back' and 'forward' buttons can no longer be relied upon.