Frames: The case for and against

Frames have a reported tendency to crash browsers and take a long time to load. Remember you are downloading more than one page when you first load them. There is also a tendency among some designers to use them simply because they can, and not for any real design purpose, more for showing off their html skills.

Frames aren't part of HTML 3.2. And as a result they are implemented inconsistently amongst browsers. For example, the browser back button operates differently in Internet Explorer 3 to the way it operates in Netscape. In some browsers, pressing the back button takes you to the document before the frames loaded (which could be any number of pages earlier) and in others it takes you back one document, thus navigating you back up the list of pages you have viewed.

Frames don't lend themselves to Bookmarking. No matter where you are in a frames driven site, because the URL remains the same as far as your browser's URL window is concerned, it is impossible to accurately bookmark a particular section.

Frames use up screen real estate. Particularly if your user has a 14in or 15in monitor, there simply isn't a lot of room on the screen to display a series of frames. While having to scroll vertically is bad enough, if users have to scroll horizontally as well, they won't think kind thoughts about you!

Frames are not supported by many browsers. If your site is to be navigable by people using non-frames browsers, you'll need to create two sets of Web pages, one with frames and one without. The result is double the hassle of creating your site and double the work in keeping it updated.

Frames are misunderstood by many Web designers. When a similar effect can be obtained with clever use of tables, mark-up and background pictures that display as left-hand coloured margins, you simply have to ask why bother with frames at all. The designers of the CNET site (http://www.cnet.com/) have done a great job using just these tools. And what about the Internet heavyweights? Well, while neither Microsoft nor Netscape use frames on their homepages, they do use them, judiciously, in certain areas of their sites.

And of course PC User Online, the site you are now viewing, uses frames, though it may not look it because they are invisible.