Should you use Iframes

Tempted to use them.

[etali]

I used to think that iFrames and other things like that were bad, because of compatibility / browser issues.

I've been out of the web scene for a couple of years, and decided to come back.

I've started working on a web site related to programming / game development, and I figure that most people who would visit a site like that are likely to have decent hardware and an up to date browser.

I was hoping to syndicate some content from a similar site that covers an area I don't have much expertise in myself. The thing is, they don't provide an normal feed or anything - they want me to use an iFrame.

I've checked using opera and firefox as well as IE, and they all seem to support iFrames these days, so is there any reason NOT to use them?

Thanks in advance.

[alex77]

hi etali,

with all current browsers, you shouldn't have any technical problem using iframes.

There are some downsides, though: if you're trying to place Google Ads on your syndicated content, you'll have some trouble getting the appropriate keywords because it won't consider the content displayed in the iframe. You could place some short, related sentences on your own page to fix that. Tried it, works okay.
Another thing is that you won't find the syndicated content in the SERPs, which is annoying if you rely on search engine traffic.

One issue you'll probably have to deal with is the height of the iframe. There's no way (known to me) how you can resize the iframe according to the page it displays, so if you want a tight integration without vertical scrollbars, you'll have to make the iframe as high as the highest page it'll display. Looks funny on smaller pages then.

Depending on the kind of content you're trying to syndicate, an alternative to using iframes can be a kind of scraper script. If you can use PHP, for example, you can program a script, similar to a search engine bot, that is following the links on your target page, getting the text and putting it local on your webserver.
That only works, though, if you have the permission of the site owner and if you're mainly getting text.
Do NOT get the whole thing, with design and everything, search engines react quite allergic to that (tried it, took months to repair the damage :( ). But if you're after text, with some effort you can make that work quite smoothly.

hope i could help along
alex

[Kingman]

I have had iframes on my site for a few years. I have not had any problems with them. I usually place within the first 5 - 6 pages on google for my search term and my PR has been a steady 5 for a year or so. You do have to be careful how you use them. If they are the majority of the info on the site you might have trouble.

I have not really had any compatibility issues in any of the browsers that I test in.

Kingman

[edited by: mack at 4:23 pm (utc) on June 18, 2005]
[edit reason] Url removed. See TOS [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

[Macguru]

>>so is there any reason NOT to use them?

Hi etali,

There is a major reason not to use them : Search engines. They will index the framed page all right, but what will visitors see when they open them from SE results pages? A content page without any navigation? That would lead to short visits.

Of course you can use a JS trick to redirect and fix this, but your content page will not benefit from the internal linkage some 'normal' site provides.

We use iframes when we dont want some page actual content to vary when using dynamic content on it. Example : some home page with dynamic news on it. The news will be Iframed and the robots tag on it it will NOindex, follow.

I think its good for your case too.