rogerd - 1:54 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

Dazzy, Google spiders frames fairly well, but some SE spiders still can't get past the parent frame. Read up on "NOFRAMES" here for a way to help frames-challenged spiders still figure out your site.

Another issue is when a SE DOES index a content page - the user will then be taken to that page and won't see the frameset unless you build in javascript to rebuild the frameset. Alternatively, you can provide linkage in the content page so that the user isn't stranded and will see the site appropriately after clicking on the first link.

Today, most sites just put the header and navigation into the page itself, either using tables or CSS positioning for layout. You lose the advantage of ever-present navigation as you scroll, but the pages generally work a lot better. To avoid repeating the same code in every page (and having to change each page when navigation changes), most designers would use either server-side includes (SSI) or site templates (shared borders in FP). Either approach means you can change one file and update the entire site.