NONE: Re: Frames or No Frames
Re: Frames or No Frames
Cliff Kurtzman (cliff.kurtzman_at_tenagra.com)
Tue, 20 Aug 1996 10:11:10 -0600
>I was wondering if anyone knows any information about the
>popularity of "frames" style web pages vs. non frames. I personally
>do not like them, but I wondered if there are any surveys done on
>the subject?
There are two issues here: #1) is how many people can actually view them;
and #2 is of those that view them, how many like them.
Analysis of the access logs of our sites which use frame based home pages
show that only about 40% of web browsers that visit our sites are even
enabled to view frames. You would be surprised how many people are still
using Netscape 1.0.
On one of our sites where we offer a link to a no frame version to people
that have frame enabled browsers but just don't like the frames, the "no
frame page for people that can load frames" received 25% of the traffic as
the frame version. That tells us a pretty large percentage would rather
not have the frames.
We think long and hard before adding frames to one of our client's sites.
Our experience is that, if implemented properly, they can enhance the site
for people that are frame enabled. However, our experience is also that
the complexities of getting the frame architecture to work properly and
intuitively more than double the time required to implement the site, and
hence the cost. Maintenance costs are also double. Of course, you still
have to develop a non-frame version too for the 60%+ that are not able or
do not want to view frames.
One good use of frames is that they offer a quick way for you to filter the
traffic to your site based on browser type. There are other features, such
as tables, that you can count on being supported by frame capable browsers.
So by making your entire page a single frame, you can route browsers that
do not support tables to the non-frame version of your site which will look
identical except not make use of tables.
--Cliff
Cliff Kurtzman
The Tenagra Corporation
http://arganet.tenagra.com/
713/480-6300
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