One way to increase the usability of a website is with the proper use of frames. Frames basically segment the browser into different portions and each portion is independent from the others.
Ultimately, your goal as a website developer should be to make it easier for more people to use your site, whether with using frames or not.

Here are some factors to consider:

Content is difficult or impossible to print with frames

Web browsers tend to select the frame to be sent to the printer randomly. In most cases, the user cannot print the frame that he or she wants because the computer selects the frame which is the focal point of the webpage.

On the whole, frames sites are unprintable unless a ‘Print this Page’ button is provided, linking to a PDF version of the web page. Adding such a page means two page revisions must be produced and tested every time you update.

Linking issues with frames

Using frames to display third-party content can raise issues of infringement of copyrights and trademarks. If you must use frames, display your own content unless you have written permission from third party content owners.

Bookmarking with frames difficult or impossible

Few visitors will have the skills to bookmark a particular frame when using framed websites. The basic structure of frames deviates from the normal structure of website unification.

Search engine positioning suffers with frames

Search engines encounter problems when indexing framed sites. Search engine spiders are drawn to what developers refer to as black hole pages. Many spiders simply stop indexing when the first frames tags appear. If you’re looking for a high ranking on major search engines, ditch the frames.

Over-all usability suffers with frames

Surfers often become confused with the structuring of a website using frames. Multiple scrollbars add to the problem. If a designer hides the scrollbars, some of the contents of the website may become inaccessible.

Ease in design?

One of the key advantages of using frames in website development is that it is supposed to make the job easier for the developer. Newcomers to website development frequently rely on frames to cut the downloading time of their websites, offsetting their lack of knowledge of external CSS and scripts. Experienced developers place stylesheets and scripts outside the page and they will normally be cached by the browser, requiring a single short download.

The apparent ease of use can be misleading and most of us have encountered frames sites where links and buttons open entire new pages into a single frame instead of the parent window.

Quicker downloads?

With the use of frames, some of the site content need not be downloaded every time a click is made. In some situations this can provide quicker downloads. Advocates of frames argue that the time saved in downloading an extra hundred or so lines of HTML provide a considerable reduction in page download time. Five years ago that would have been a significant consideration. With high speed internet and today’s processors those lines are downloaded faster than you can blink. Header and logo images are already cached, as are buttons and footer graphics. Any time savings is negligable at best.

It is my opinion that the disadvantages of frames far outweigh any advantages, particularly where search engine optimization is concerned. I welcome your feedback, including disagreement with my conclusions.

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