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<H1>Problems With Frames</H1>
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<p>HTML frames were introduced by Netscape in version 2.0 of its Navigator
browser. They are a method for a web author to arrange multiple separate HTML
documents on the visitor's screen to form a somewhat cohesive whole — they
are often used to replicate the same piece of content on multiple percieved
pages. Frames later went on to form part of the HTML 4.0 standard and are now
supported by nearly all web browsers.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, as is the case with most non-standard HTML extensions (even if
they do later become adopted as standards), it was poorly thought out. In
practice frames introduce several problems.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>Not all browsers support frames.</strong> Enough said.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Lack of unique URLs:</strong> each page on the Web traditionally had
a unique URL (address). Frames allow you to view many documents at the same
address, breaking this concept. This may not seem important, but it has knock-on
effects:
<ul>
<li>It is tricky to bookmark a framed page;
<li>It is tricky to link to a framed page or send it by e-mail.
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<strong>Multiple scroll bars:</strong> each page in a set of frames may have
its own scroll bar. These can be hidden, but that may hide content in cases
where there is too much content to be visible without scrolling. Multiple
scroll bars can confuse visitors.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Orphan documents:</strong> if you visit a sub-document directly you
will not see the other sub-documents that normally surround it, so will often
miss out on vital pieces of information, such as the navigation menu.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Printing:</strong> many browsers have problems printing frame sets.
</li>
</ul>
<p>For other resources listing the problems of frames, please see:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html">Google Information for
Webmasters</a> under the <cite>"Your page uses frames"</cite> subheading.</li>
<li><a title="Introduction – XFrames – W3C Working Draft 6 August 2002"
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-xframes-20020806/#s_intro">XFrames</a>
– the technology set to eventually replace frames.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9612.html">Why Frames Suck (Most of
the Time)</a> – rather an old document, but still raises some valid
points.</li>
<li><a title="alt.html Frequently Asked Questions – Why are frames so evil?"
href="http://www.html-faq.com/htmlframes/?FramesAreEvil">Why are frames so
evil?</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Read on for the solutions to some of these problems.</p>
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<A NAME="navi"></A><H2>Navigation</H2>
<UL CLASS="navi">
<LI><A TARGET="_top" HREF="frameset.php?page=problems">Problems With Frames</A></LI>
<LI><A TARGET="_top" HREF="frameset.php?page=emul">Emulating Frames</A></LI>
<LI><A TARGET="_top" HREF="frameset.php?page=keep">Keeping Frames</A></LI>
<LI><A TARGET="_top" HREF="frameset.php?page=unique">Unique URLs</A></LI>
<LI><A TARGET="_top" HREF="frameset.php?page=nonav">No Navigation</A></LI>
<LI><A TARGET="_top" HREF="frameset.php?page=back">The Back Button</A></LI>
<LI><A TARGET="_top" HREF="frameset.php?page=noframes">No-Frames</A></LI>
<LI><A TARGET="_top" HREF="frameset.php?page=combined">All together now!</A></LI>
</UL>
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