Do You Need Frames?

In 1999, it's almost cliché to hate frames -- but don't let that stop you!

All the reasons people had to avoid frames in 1996 are still valid today. Webmasters are even listening: many prominent sites, including Netscape and Excite, have said goodbye to frames.

Philosophical Objections

Quite simply, frames inspire loathing

Sites with a frames/no frames option find that very few users volunteer for the frames experience (only one in ten users, according to a June, 1996 Web Week article). Plug the phrase "I hate frames" into a search engine if you need further proof. Even if you're a top-notch designer with the skills to do frames right -- we've seen frames sites that we have to admit look good -- most of your users probably won't appreciate it.

Not convinced by the vox populi? Ask the experts. The best-known argument against frames comes from usability guru Jakob Nielsen's December 1996 column, Why Frames Suck (Most of the Time). Frames defy Tim Berners-Lee's original model of the "page," a single unit of information brought to you by a single unit of navigation, easily retrievable by a single address.

"With frames," Nielsen observes, "the user's view of information on the screen is now determined by a sequence of navigation actions rather than a single navigation action."

Practical Considerations

Since most people don't even know who Tim Berners-Lee is, what do these philosophical objections mean for your users? The URL in the "Address" or "Location" window refers to the first level of the frameset, not the individual frame you come to after a few clicks. Frames break URLs, which means they also complicate bookmarks, baffle search engines, and incapacitate the "Back" button.

Framesets also take forever to load and are highly inconvenient to print. Rosenfeld and Morville's Information Architecture book adds that frames' navigation bars take up too much screen space, irritating those not blessed with enormous, high-quality monitors.

These navigation problems translate to fewer return visitors and decreased word-of-mouth for your site. Within a frame-free site, it's easy for users to bookmark a specific page, email the URL to friends, or link to that page from their own homepages.

Once you introduce frames, all these things -- which are in your site's best interest -- become harder for the user. Less browser-savvy users might get frustrated, give up, and never come back. When a user wants to bookmark a page at your site, email it to a friend, or link to it from her page, that's a good thing. Don't make it harder for her to do so.