using frames

[harden]

Sheryl wrote:
>I'm wondering if anyone can suggest
>some library sites that are using frames successfully or creatively. I'd
>also appreciate anyone's comments on the feedback they've received from
>their users in regards to frames. 

My advice is to avoid using frames unless the nature of the information 
on your page makes frames the only solution. Most framed sites do not 
need to be framed. Site navigation on its own isn't, in my view, a strong 
enough reason to use frames. We used to use frames but, along with most 
other web weavers, we now consider them rather old hat and a bit naff. 
More importantly they are inaccessible to the screenreaders used by blind 
and visually impaired people even if you use a noframes element. You 
would need to make a text alternative for that reason as well as for all 
those people still surfing with browsers that can't handle frames. There 
is also the so-called letterbox problem for people with small monitors, 
which can result in a relatively small proportion of the screen 
displaying the actual content of the page. 

If you are determined to use frames, take a look at WebElements, a superb 
chemistry site I came across recently. It isn't a library site but it 
demonstrates that frames can be used well when they suit the information 
being presented:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/A-C/chem/web-elements/web-elements-home.
html

If you want to see an exceptionally well designed library web site which 
doesn't use frames, visit Leeds City Libraries in the UK at 
http://www.leeds.gov.uk/library/library.html

An afterthought. The idea of a homepage committee involved in layout and 
design sounds fun. Remember the joke definition of a camel - a horse 
designed by a committee! :)

Best wishes,
Robert Harden

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harden at dial.pipex.com
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ac940/index.html
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