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The disadvantages of having your website in HTML frames are abundant and very problematic. Your HTML Source Describes HTML Frames as "HTML Frames disrupt the entire fundamental concept for the web" - www.yourhtmlsource.com. This seems to be pretty much a consensus, as the advantages are far outweighed by the disadvantages. In this article I will be describing the pros and cons in an easy to understand way. So here it is "The Pros and Cons of Having Your Website in HTML Frames."
Reasons to Have Your Website in HTML Frames:
- HTML Frames allow you to keep pertinent information on the viewable screen.
- HTML Frames allow for easy creation of a table of contents page to be displayed site wide.
By now you should realize that I am about to say how these are not worth putting your site in HTML frames or I would not have chosen this title. So here goes! Research shows that people may be far less likely to scroll than we may think. Therefore, it is usually better to cut back the amount of information any one page displays, and break it up among several pages. This is also a large help in regards to search engines, as they are favoring larger sites now more than ever.
As for the creation of a table of contents page to be viewed among all pages, it is just as easy to have a php site and create a bottom navigation as a php include. This way it will be easy to change; if you need to update the navigation, update the include and it will propagate throughout the entire site.
Okay, so here is a sample set of reasons not to use frames in your website.
Reasons Not to Have HTML Frames in Your Website:
- Search engines have a difficult time differentiating one page from the next.
- It is difficult to code a site in frames due to browser compatibility.
- Printing from a website in frames is a difficult task at times.
- Users trying to bookmark a specific inner page find when they access it the home page loads.
- It goes against the fundamental concept of the World Wide Web.
Search engines typically index a site by taking a snapshot of any given page on that particular site. This is difficult with a HTML framed site because there is only actually one URL connected by hypertext. This usually leads to a site that only consists of one page in the search engines eyes.
Often, the usability of the site is sacrificed for the designers needs which as far as the search engines are concerned is the exact opposite way a site should be constructed. Google™ has the standpoint of designing your website for the end user in mind.
Printing from a HTML framed site can be difficult. If you have a menu that stays in frame all the time it technically does not exist in any place at any moment, and therefore your computer usually makes do, and simply crams it in somewhere.
For any user who bookmarks an inner page they may find that when they go to access it they are brought to your homepage. This seems minor, but if your site has thousands of pages, or you update your site frequently it may be very difficult for a user to find that same page again.
The World Wide Web has accepted practices and measures. They can be viewed here: www.w3.org. By they way, if you were wondering who created the World Wide Web (not Al Gore), it was W3C. They say that any web page should be created using concrete structure e.g. Tables and Style Sheets, as opposed to floating menus and virtual pages. When Google™ wants to know what is a good site they check W3C. (The only site besides Google™ that I can find with a Page Rank of 10!)
In conclusion, if you want to have the best website possible (well ranking, navigable, good usability, printability, search ability) Structure your website to succeed and it will.
Erick Zegeer
COO
Phone: 203.907.3209
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