Web Design Goodies Critique #21
Published February 8, 2001 By Joe Burns, Ph.D.
Greetings, Fellow Designers…
Lets talk frames.
I am often asked why I choose one site over another.
Usually its because I see a topic forming within the
site. I only point out five elements of a site in each
newsletter so I like those elements to be cohesive. Many
of you have written and asked why I didnt say anything
about this or that. The reason is usually because it
didnt fit into the overall point I was trying to make.
Todays site jumped out at me as an example of frames
and why I am not a great fan of them. Im not saying one
shouldnt use frames. I have just found that it is the
rare designer that incorporates frames that can use them
to a true advantage.
Now the obligatory release clause statement…
>>>>The critique below represents the opinions of Joe
Burns, Ph.D. Feel free to disagree, argue, forget, or
accept anything he writes. The purpose of the critique
is to offer examples that you may use, repair, or forget
when it comes to your own Web site. As always, remember
that there are simply no hard or fast rules to Web
design. Any choice is the correct choice as long as
that choice aids the user and adds to the sites purpose
for being.<<<<
Title: Benzpage
Author: Ben St.Aubin
http://www.1freespace.com/art/benzpage/index.html
Load Time: 15 Seconds, 57kps modem, cleared cache,
01/03/01 8:31AM.
– Actually the page never loaded fully.
A counter held it up.
My Screen Size: 1024X768
Browsers Used: Internet Explorer 5.5 and
Netscape Navigator 4.5
Concept: This is Benzpage. The site is a personal site
and as such is a grouping of all things that interest
Ben. As I have said before, I love personal pages. They
often dont have one cohesive objective, but thats OK.
No human being has one objective in life either. There
is a list a mile long down the left frame that offers
links to a mountain of data. I think it could be grouped
together a little better, but thats not the point of
todays newsletter.
Praise: Ben didnt go overboard with his color and this
looks like a page where that would be pretty easy to do.
He kept his text black and large. His background is a
cream color and shows that text well. That site is easy
to read and fairly easy to navigate. Im also a fan of
his content. Ben states right up front that this is his
page and he hopes you like it. If not, then thats OK
too. Believe me, when you put a site on the Web, every
Tom, Dick, and Harry feel it is their duty to give it a
critique whether you asked for it or not. Thats why I
ask for permission up front. The author knows Im
stopping by.
But I came here not to praise Ben, but to discuss his
frames!
I have been teaching Web design for five years now and
Ive found that the main reason an element goes on a new
designers page is that the designer thinks it looks
cool. Frames are often incorporated for this same
reason. Yes, there are times when a frameset is
successful, but, as I have always said, unless you have
a darn good reason to use frames, dont. They are always
more taxing on the server, theres a big chance at your
design being jumbled on smaller screen settings, book-
marking is a problem, and in all honesty, a basic two-
frame set up can be achieved using one page set up like
a table.
Bens (or should I write Benz) page is a panoply of
all these frame concerns.
Concern 1: Scroll bars, scroll bars, scroll bars. Ben,
you have three scroll bars on this page. Two are
vertical and one is horizontal. This is a big problem
with using frames. You must insure all elements fit so
that scroll bars are disallowed in all screen sizes.
People expect a scroll down the far right, but they
dislike that vertical scroll on the left frame. They
HATE the horizontal scroll.
Suggestion: Youll lose the horizontal scroll simply by
getting off the free server. That scroll is being
produced by the banner ad at the top. Id say to lose
it, but Ill bet you cant. If youre going to use
frames, you must, must, must, do whatever you can to
lose any horizontal and vertical scroll, except maybe
the scroll on the far right of the browser screen.
Thats is accomplished by making darn sure the elements
in the left frame window are not wider than the space
you allotted in the frame window. That is very hard to
do because your settings mean different things in
different screen settings. Smaller screen settings will
mess up a frameset real quick.
