Frames; was Re: Students use of search engines -Reply

[fmay - TCJCS Library]

On Wed, 5 Jun 1996, Elisabeth Roche wrote:

> Someone asked me last month what I thought about frames. I said, I don't
> think I like them, everything's *way too organized*.
>
> But I thought about what I had said, just what is it that is driving me
> crazy about frames?


My quarrel with them is that they clutter up the small space of the
monitor screen too much, making it hard to read things.  In addition to
programmers and librarians, the Web needs people who are familiar with
page layout and design, to make these new communication tools not only
aesthetic but effective.


> We didn't get a Sunday newspaper and that has the TV guide in it. So
> guideless I turned on the cable tv listings to see what might be on in the
> next hour.
>
> I stood speechless as I watched the frame at the top run the action ads for
> whatever show, and the endlessly scrolling, tedious, slow, list of channels
> and their current status.
>
> Look! The Jones Cable tv guide looks exactly like every page I've seen using
> frames.
>
> So, which came first, the chicken or the egg?
>
> Phooey and "off with their heads."


Amen to that!


> Elisabeth Roche ace at opus1.com
> serendipity RULES!


Diane Nahl's comments bear out my point:

> > >Next, "I don't see what I got." (They often just do not see the postings
> >on the screen--a kind of screen blindness effect.  The screens are highly
> >organized and THE MOST prominent thing is often an advertisement that
> >has, of course, nothing to do with the search, so they wonder aloud,
> >"what's this doing here?", and miss the postings.)

One reason why I like WebCrawler.

Let's hear it for "Plenty of white space!"


Regards,

Frances A. May
Ft. Worth, TX