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This lesson's introductory page has already discussed the situations in which I think frames are worth using and when they're not (of course, bear in mind this is a purely personal opinion, but I think there's some justification for it). The aim of this page is to summarise the technical points.

Use the <NOFRAMES> tag. As with the ALT attribute this is such a simple courtesy and yet it is used so little. Again, I am aware that my harping on about this kind of thing can create a negative reaction, but I'm afraid that past experience has shown me that continuous nagging is the only thing that really cements the use of tags like this. And when I say "use it", I mean really use it, productively. Don't just throw one in around a message saying "Update your browser, loser!!" or similar. Within the <NOFRAMES> tag, at least have a brief summary of the content, and preferably a link to an example of the following...

Create a "frameless" version of your site whenever possible. It's true that, if you're using frames to their full potential, it'll be difficult to produce a genuinely frameless version of the site. But there should be scope for frameless users to gain access to at least some of the information on the site. Certainly if you're using frames only for navigation, producing a frameless version should not only be compulsory, it should also be pretty straightforward.

Use target="_top" for all external links out of a frameset. Really! There is only one possible mitigating circumstance; that is, if linking to the external page is a specific part of the site, and you've got the permission of the author/owner of the other page.

Unless you've a very good reason, don't disable the user's ability to resize frames. If they're wanting to do this they've probably got a good reason and you have no right to be that precious over your screen layout!

Ensure that search engines can properly register the site content. Use page titles, <META> tags and descriptive content within <NOFRAMES> tags to help them out here.

Don't disable the SCROLLING option within a frame if there's any possibility that content may overflow. Viewing a page knowing that some of the content is forever just out of sight is extremely irritating!

Include both FRAMEBORDER=no/yes and FRAMEBORDER=0/1 to ensure that both major browsers render borders the way you want them.

Don't "overnest" frames. Three files on the screen at once is plenty, four is a lot, any more and you're overdoing it, I think. If you want to get a scrolling "frame" in an extremely limited space, consider using a text box instead (see the page on unusual uses of forms).

Specify frame sizes in relative rather than absolute values. As ever, you can't be 100% sure what screen and/or window size your readers will be using. Relative values are safer though, once again, you might have to forego some precision in layout.

That'll do for now!

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