Guide to frames usage

Using frames: Some examples of bad frames usage

The following list is an incomplete overview of some applications of frames that serve no useful purpose, and often irritate or upset visitors. If you have any suggestions for this list, please mail me so I can add it to this list.

Framing another site: if one site includes a FRAME tag in its frameset that points to another site, then all links in that document will lead to updates in the frame. Sometimes this is done intentionally (because the author of the first site wants to claim that the other site is his), and sometimes by accident (he forgot TARGET="_top" on some link).
Preventing bookmarking, forcing people to go through the front page whenever they want to return: as it is not possible to bookmark a combination of frames, only the initial document, frames can be used to force people to come back "through the front door" at all times.
Frames to display static content: although things like a table of contents or navigation bars are handy to have on-screen at all times, things like a logo or an advertisement banner are not. Once you've seen them, they only take up screen space that could have been used for something useful.