What are the potential pitfalls of using HTML Frames for templating?

Question

We could also include IFrames as well.

Answer 1

With standard frames/frameset:

1. Bookmarking can be difficult to accomplish.
2. The Back button can be broken.
3. Arrival from search engines could be into an inner frame.
4. Printing won't work the same across browsers.
5. Scrollbars could be in non-standard/unexpected places.

More here.

Answer 2

I'd like to rephrase your question: what are the advantages of using Html frames for templating? A detailed read about the subject:

http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/frames/goodorbad.html

Quote from that article:

So, in conclusion, frames violate too many accepted web standards to be a worthy information delivery system. A well-designed navigation structure using tables or layers is infinitely preferable.

Too many people use frames as a way to change their navigation bars by only modifying one page. This is much better accomplished through includes.

A well-designed framed page can still be produced, but it happens so rarely that I would advise all coders to stay away from the thought. Tests have also shown that users do not like framed navigation. It might seem sexy to the coder, but if the users don't like it then you're doing a bad job. Frames confuse and irritate people. Avoid them.

Answer 3

A long list of benefits and drawbacks are provided here. http://fuzzzyblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/disadvantages-of-using-frames.html