Bob Poulsen said:
<i>&gt; - Make sure non-frame users know they aren't being short-changed.</i>
<i>&gt; For example, we use this notice:</i>
<i>&gt;</i>
<i>&gt; "This document requires a browser with FRAMES support, such as</i>
<i>&gt; Netscape 2.0. Others browsers can see &lt;a&gt;the same pages&lt;/a&gt;</i>
<i>&gt; without the FRAMES interface."</i>
Wait just one second here. There isn't any reason to put this
type of a message in if you have designed the page well. In fact,
I'm revising my strategy about serving multiple pages to mulitple
audiences because of Frames. Why? Because Frames can automagically
segragate users into Netscape and non-Netscape (2.0 at least) just
by using frames. You put the non-frame stuff in the &lt;NOFRAMES&gt;
area. The average browser automatically uses that. The frames
capable browser automatically uses the Framed URLs listed in
the &lt;FRAME SRC=...&gt; tag. To me this is ideal. No agent strings
to test and load down a server. No forcing the user to know if
they have this capability or that one. It's great. In fact, I'm
even advocating using frames even when you don't have multiple
frames, just to segrate the users into enhanced and not-enhanced.
Personally, I haven't had the Netscape 2.0 on 95 problems that Bob
mentioned. I have noticed some addressing problems because designers
don't understand what the Base is when using URLs from different
directories.
One of the best parts about Frames is the fact that the
Frames/JavaScript combo is one of the most powerful navigation aides on
the market. I'm not just talking Frames by themselves here. Visit
www.cuesys.com to see an example. The user gets to view the structure
of the site in an expanding/collapsing menu setup and gain great
understanding of where they are/want to go from this. The cognitive
understanding that this adds is overwhelming. The user doesn't lose
this frame of reference just because they get access to specific
content either. And this all happens on the client system - no waiting
for the server to respond to one more query.
I'm not going to deny that some sites have gone frame crazy. There
should always be a limit to the frames, and except for the main
content frame, the user shouldn't have to scroll to get to
stuff. That was Netscape's failing. The images should also be
designed to fit in the area defined without poping up those onerous
scroll bars (which means you need to allow for different gutters on
various platforms). I'll agree with Sandra Wood to a certain extent.
You can define the images to be 100% instead of a fixed size. However,
this only works so far. Many images cannot handle the streaching
that happens when the image is designed for something close to
500 pixels across or less and in comes a user with a 1600x1200 screen
that maximizes the browser.
One other item of note. ALWAYS put a Javascript Back in Frame
button on all framed pages. That was another thing that Netscape
needs to fix in their next release. That was a really bad interface
design move. But you as the designer can compensate.
FYI - Just because a browser doesn't have Java capabilties, doesn't
mean it doesn't have Javascript.
My personal opinion when it comes to advertising banners at the
top/bottom of a browser that eat up so much space goes something
like - use text. 9 times out of 10 it takes up less space than
that image did and you can get a much better teaser in the same
or less space. A teaser is often better than a banner because
most banners are very poorly designed. I can count on one hand
the number of banners that I have been motivated to click on and
the only one that comes to mind at present is Intel's "Be a VRML
Volunteer". In the discussion on click thru rates, a few people
mentioned the quality of a banner in general, but no one said
specifically what makes a good / not good banner. Maybe it is
time we thought about that. What does make a good banner?
Mary E. S. Morris
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