Frames: Just say no or your site will become invisible to
search engines
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Navigation does
not work with frames since the unit of navigation
is different from the unit of view.
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If users create a bookmark in their browser they may
not get the same view back when they follow the bookmark
at a later date since the bookmark doesn't include
a representation of the state of the frames on the
page
Even worse, URLs stop working:
the addressing information shown at the top of the
browser no longer constitutes a complete specification
of the information shown in the window.
If an author copies the URL
in order to include it as a hypertext anchor in one
of his or her own pages then that anchor will not
lead readers to the desired view but to the initial
state of the frameset.
Given that social filtering
is one of the most powerful mechanisms for information
discovery on the Internet,
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it is an utter
disaster to disable the URL as an addressing mechanism.
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If a user decides to send an email
message to a friend with the recommendation to check out a
page, then copying the URL from the browser will not work
if frames are used since the URL points to the frameset and
not to the current view (with the information of interest
to the friend).
Print Problems
Many browsers cannot print framed
pages appropriately. Of course, most browsers don't print
anything really well, but at least regular pages normally
print in full. With frames, it is common to have the print
command result in the printing of a single frame. Printing
the full page is difficult with scrolling frames: should only
the visible part of the frame be printed or should the content
be allowed to expand and take up more room than it does on
the screen?
User Preferences
Many websites that offer users a
choice between regular and framed versions have found that
most users prefer frame-free designs.
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