Frames: When to Use Them, What to Avoid

Why Use Frames?

You can use frames to:

• keep the title on the screen
• keep the menu on the screen
• display increasing levels of detail
• display sidebar information
• display copyright or other information that should always be visible.

Design Tips

• Make most or all frames borderless.
• Make frames large enough to display your text in your reader's browser.
• Give your screen a point of interest—a clue as to where your reader should look first.
• If your menu is in a separate frame, include a you are here indicator.
• Be sure links to non-framed pages display the pages independently, not inside the frameset.
• Be sure return links from non-framed pages link back to the originating frameset, not an internal page.
• Include a non-frames version for readers whose browsers do not display frames.
• Link to the non-frames version to provide a printer-friendly file.

Frames Considerations

Browsers: Some browsers don't support frames. Others let readers turn frames off. If you don't provide a non-frames version, nothing may will display when the reader accesses your site.

Bookmarks: Bookmarks set by readers can't capture the state (content) of the frames displayed. Readers can only bookmark the initial state of the frameset.

Links: Links from other documents can't display internal pages in a frameset. You can only link to the frameset's initial state.

Printing: When frames are displayed, the reader's browser may not print anything or it may print whichever frame is in focus when the print command is invoked. It may also print only the visible part of scrolling frames.

Search Engines: Search engines have difficulty cataloging framed Web sites, and may send readers to individual components of the frameset rather than displaying the frames properly.