Frames a good idea?

[njordan100]

I have never used frame pages before and am in the process of re-vamping my
current website. The link represents the basic layout of all pages on the
site. I just need an overall rating on the frames templates in FP 2002.
What problems could I expect, first from the majority of people using IE.
Also, what affect do they have on all the different resolutions that viewers
have set for their screens.

Dream

Thanks-
Norma

 

[Mark Fitzpatrick]

Frames are something that should be avoided at all cost. They were used in
the early days of the web mostly because it prevented the down-loading of
lots of graphics over and over again for people with really slow connections
(which was everyone in those days). Nowadays that need is almost
non-existant. Frames present lots of headaches. If you are five pages into a
frames-based site and you hit the back button, chances are you won't be
taken to the last frames page you were on, but all the way back to the first
page or even the one before you entered the site (very annoying). If you
want to put your site on a search engine it won't get found right. The
search engine will link to the frames pages individually which will mess up
navigation. Example: Google scans your site. It finds your aboutme page.
When someone searches Google it shows your aboutme page as a result. When a
potential viewer goes there they only see the aboutme, they don't see any of
the other pages in the frame including the normal navigation frame that has
all the main links.

Basically, frames were a nice idea, but the issues far, far, far outweight
the benefits.

Hope this helps,
Mark Fitzpatrick
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

 

[njordan100]

Thanks, Mark-

I had an idea that all you said might be the case.

So, I am using tables and cells. In my previous post, I had intended to
have a link to the page in question, however, I must have made an error in
the link. I am trying it again. I have feedback from the artist on this
site that the text in the left, informational column, bleeds over on the
vertical lines at the right. I know when the page is viewed in the 1024x768
resolution, it is not a pretty picture. Anything below, shows up OK. I
have embedded the background, (photo, logo, background design to include the
header with text and the vertical lines) in an effort to reduce the time in
downloading. This page basically will serve the format for approximately 40
other pages within my site and I want to make sure that it is right.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

http://norma100.com/11/11dream.htm

Thank you-
Norma

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

Use a fixed width table that with two columns the match the width of your
background's two colors, then either type your text directly into these
columns or insert nested tables, then type your content into these tables.

--

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Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
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