RE: Tables vs. Frames summary?

OK, my $0.02

>A well-designed framed site with a static navigation bar and a frame for
>content that changes will load MUCH more quickly than a page that redraws
>the entire page (even if most of the images are cached). Faster loading =
>better site engineering, in my mind.

Alas - you have just hit the critical point!  The frames must be WELL
DESIGNED.  Unfortunately they are often not.

Badly designed tables look bad, but badly designed frames not only look
bad, they interfere with the user's navigating ability (they cannot
bookmark properly in most cases) and lead to potential copyright conflicts
by presenting someone else's content as your own or infringing on their . 

> Not able to Bookmark?????
> When I hit a framed page in MSIE I can Bookmark each of the html pages as
well
> as the frameset so what are you talking about???

Yes - you can! But the majority of users CANNOT!!  Newbies (and their
numbers increase each day) and some of the not-so-new DO NOT UNDERSTAND the
difference between frames/tables/straight text.  They see a SCREEN and want
to return to it.

Of course - if your site is aimed at the technologically competent (or at
least marginally knowledgeable) then it is not as much an issue.  It all
depends on marketing.

>>Design has a way of falling into place on its own, let thing
>>take their course. Thia "design in frames -> design equal
>>noframes version -> dump frames because noframes is equal
>>and has support for more people" this is a good example.

If you are talking about page design - then yes.  If you are talking about
site design, then it doesn't usually just happen - a good site requires
planning.

Unfortunately our Faculty site is a prime example of both poorly designed
frames and poor site design - but not for long <evil grin> !!  They are
finally (after giving me access to it!!

I am too embarassed to give out the address at present.


Chris Higgs <c.higgs(at)landfood.unimelb.edu.au>
Lecturer, Gilbert Chandler College, 
Institute of Land and Food Resources,  University of Melbourne
Phone 61-3-9741-8000;  Fax 61-3-9741-9396;  
Videoconference:  61-3-9216-7330, 61-3-9216-7331 (128 kbs ISDN)
http://ariel.unimelb.edu.au/~gilbert

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