Frame Basics

Framed Pages Vs. Standard Pages

Most web designers will not recommend creating a completely framed site except for special design considerations. Some will recommend using frames deep inside a site but not for the opening pages or even for the main pages of a site.

There are good reasons for this. Search engine crawlers and spiders do have more problems with framed sites than with standard "flat" page sites. The reasons are obvious. Usually all main navigation links are included on navigation pages displayed in navigation frames. These page usually do not have any other information but the navigation links, which is a mistake in site design.

These are all good arguments against using frames; however, I prefer frames. Frames make site navigation easier not only for the viewer but also for me, the site designer. Unless you can afford a good site management program, placing links on every page of any site over 20 pages can be a real pain, especially if the links need to be changed often. (FrontPage and Server Side Includes can also simplify this problem .)

Also, frames, as a rule, don’t leave a blank screen while a new page is downloaded. This isn’t much of a problem for high-speed connections, but for dial-ups it can be annoying and scary, especially for inexperienced users. Frames allow slow connections to appear much faster because usually only a small portion of the screen requires downloading when a link is clicked.

If tables are used, as is common in standard page layouts, the complete table must download before the page can be displayed. As site complexity increases, these pages can become large and slow. Agreed, you can replace tables with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) positioning, which will speed up the page download, but one problem with CSS is that until the CSS commands are read, page positioning jumps around as each new page element is downloaded. A minor but annoying problem.

In a framed site, the navigation panel can stay put while the contents of a second frame is downloaded and that navigation panel can be used for several pages within a site section. This feature along can reduce site design time and also reduce the possibilities of the dreaded broken link.

Unless the contents are heavy in graphics, downloading a frame of content will usually be fairly quick and the viewer is less likely to go looking elsewhere before the new contents appear. Yes SSI (Server Side Includes) and FrontPage's Include Page can approximate the look and feel of frames, however, SSI pages are usually slower because the SSI commands must be executed by the server before the page can be downloaded. Besides, SSI and framed page both have search engine crawl problems. Also, SSI pages usually are constructed using tables for page layout, coming back to the problem with downloading tables.

While it is true frames require a little more HTML knowledge, frames provide benefits well worth the extra effort. W3C sanctions frames and my experience suggests that with careful attention to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques getting a framed site indexed is not a major concern. There are some techniques that help search engines when dealing with framed sites.

A more likely problem with framed sites is that a lot of people like to bookmark their favorite pages. Most browses will not display a bookmarked framed page within its frameset - at least not yet. This is where page links become important so as to allow the viewer to easily reframe the page without going to site home and having to retrace his or her steps to find another page in the same section of the site. If each page contains a home link to that page’s frameset (not necessarily to site home) and a link to a site map page, the viewer can easily reframe the page without getting lost in the site. (The site map link is primarily for the search engines not the viewer.) As browsers become more capable they may store the page within its proper frameset, making the viewer’s job even easier and framed site less controversial.

Because getting an orphan page from a search engine is not that unusual, using JaveScript may be a good way to reframe an orphan page. The problem with this idea is that unless the JavaScript is fairly complex the viewer will get the starting page for the frameset instead of the called-for page. I believe using JaveScript to detect an orphan page and then including a link at the top of that page to reframe the page may be the best and easiest solution. This way the viewer doesn’t have to scroll to the bottom of the page to find a reframe link. Of course, none of these ideas work if the viewer doesn’t have JavaScript enabled in their browser.

In conclusion, framed sites can be indexed without a great deal of problems, but good design principals must be used on each page to ensure best results. In the article on Search Engines And Framed Sites, I have mentioned several ideas that have worked for me. Give the article a read - it may encourage you to use frames on your site.