Navigation Benefits of a Frame Web Site
Frame web sites are generally frowned upon by most web site designers
because they not supported by all browsers, take longer to load and are
not search engine friendly.
Why then would you want to create a frame web site or frame page?
In this article I will discuss what is a frame web site, the pros and
cons of frame pages and give a practical example of how to utilize
and design a frame page. I will also provide you with advanced
resources should you decide to pursue frame web sites a little deeper.
What is a frame web site?
This is when you combine several html pages in one browser window.
Pros and Cons of frame web sites
Pros
1. Easy navigation. The navigation bar remains stationary while the other
framed web pages change. This enables you to always know where you are.
2. Simple to design large web sites - if you create a web site of 300 pages
your navigation bar can remain the same while the other 300 pages change.
3. Keep visitors on your web site - you can design a frame page so that offsite
links appear in the larger frame instead of taking the visitor off site. Here's a
good example: http://www.virginia-real-estate-homes.com/frameset.shtml.
This uses a small navigation frame at the top which remains the same while
the main pages from another site appear in the larger frame.
Cons
1. Difficult for search engines to index frame web sites (although there are
ways around this).
2. Not supported by all browsers. The older browsers especially don't support
frame web sites and newer browsers are more supportive of Cascading Style
Sheets (CSS).
3. Slow loading - because a frame web page consists of several web pages
(frames), it takes longer to load than a single html page.
The main purpose of a frame page is to keep some information permanently
visible (ie navigation bar) while viewing other information (main pages)
that is subject to change. This makes it easy for a visitor to navigate say
300 pages of your site. The navigation menu or advertisement remains in
front of your visitor at all times, instead of creating one on each page.
Frame web sites are generally frowned upon by most web site designers
because they not supported by all browsers, take longer to load and are
not search engine friendly.
Why then would you want to create a frame web site or frame page?
In this article I will discuss what is a frame web site, the pros and
cons of frame pages and give a practical example of how to utilize
and design a frame page. I will also provide you with advanced
resources should you decide to pursue frame web sites a little deeper.
What is a frame web site?
This is when you combine several html pages in one browser window.
Pros and Cons of frame web sites
Pros
1. Easy navigation. The navigation bar remains stationary while the other
framed web pages change. This enables you to always know where you are.
2. Simple to design large web sites - if you create a web site of 300 pages
your navigation bar can remain the same while the other 300 pages change.
3. Keep visitors on your web site - you can design a frame page so that offsite
links appear in the larger frame instead of taking the visitor off site. Here's a
good example: http://www.virginia-real-estate-homes.com/frameset.shtml.
This uses a small navigation frame at the top which remains the same while
the main pages from another site appear in the larger frame.
Cons
1. Difficult for search engines to index frame web sites (although there are
ways around this).
2. Not supported by all browsers. The older browsers especially don't support
frame web sites and newer browsers are more supportive of Cascading Style
Sheets (CSS).
3. Slow loading - because a frame web page consists of several web pages
(frames), it takes longer to load than a single html page.
The main purpose of a frame page is to keep some information permanently
visible (ie navigation bar) while viewing other information (main pages)
that is subject to change. This makes it easy for a visitor to navigate say
300 pages of your site. The navigation menu or advertisement remains in
front of your visitor at all times, instead of creating one on each page.
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