Frames, in websites, yes or no?

[Claire B]

I just wondered about this.

I m currently having a website designed (will let you all see it when it's ready :D ) and got the impression from all the webdesigners on here that frames were not really a good idea.

I just wondered what the reasons were.

I have spoken to the designer that is doing my site and he says that the main problem with frames is that the search engines may pick them up outside of their frame set (ie out of context with the rest of the site). However, he can insert some code into the site to prevent this from happening.

So I just wondered what people thought, are there any other reasons why I should be avoiding frames?

cheers everyone

Claire

[darren atkinson]

I am not a full time webdesigner, although I have done my own site, and a few for other people.

Frames should NOT be used anymore at all. Hopefully your web designer did not suggest them, if they did then I would take a long and hard think about whether to continue with them.

They are correct in the search engine problem, but there are other problems as well.

In my opinion there is absolutley no reason to use frames anymore, as anything you would be considering in them can be replicated by using more modern technology such as css.

Im certain some 'proper' web designers have strong views on this as well.

Darren

[Coding Monkey]

Yes, search engines CAN read frames. The problem is that if you have frames, someone will go onto the framed page via the search engine and won't see the sidebars etc, although, as he mentions, you can use JavaScript. The user might not have JavaScript enabled, as around 1/10 people don't, and you're back to problem 1. I generally think they're ugly, and you can have far more elegant solutions using CSS.

[Enigma121]

Yes, search engines CAN read frames. The problem is that if you have frames, someone will go onto the framed page via the search engine and won't see the sidebars etc, although, as he mentions, you can use JavaScript. The user might not have JavaScript enabled, as around 1/10 people don't, and you're back to problem 1. I generally think they're ugly, and you can have far more elegant solutions using CSS.

To be honest, there was a more elegant approach with table layout, let alone CSS.

Frames are still acceptable for intranet use, in fact many open source applications make extensive use of them to approximate MDI windows.

The only real advantage of frames is the ability for the user to set the size dynamically. However, this is almost never needed.

[Coding Monkey]

To be honest, there was a more elegant approach with table layout, let alone CSS.


Yep, sorry, I don't mean to come across as one of those "USE CSS!" type fellas, who resemble the "GET FIREFOX" crowd. I was referring to how you could have a section, which you can scroll seperate from the rest of the page, using CSS overflow