Website Design Discussion/help

Can we make this a thread where you can ask questions about websites design/help regarding related stuff? Are the experts willing to come in & answer questions every now & then?

Some questions I have:

I have been told frames are bad design? What's your take on this?

Also on this page: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ -- is there a program that can get the automate the picture buttons to look like that or is it something you have to do manually? Just that I've seen this kind of formatting quite often so wondering if it's a generic look you can get from some software.

Yeh you can ... you have to do it in a program called PSP or PS or any image editing ones...I like to do that kind of mesh sort of blending imagery thing. You juse use brushes or create a sort of back ground and paste an image ontop of it that is opaque or something.It is VERY easy seriously..you can learn how to do it in a tick with the right tutorial, first you have to buy the program though...

I have been told frames are bad design? What's your take on this?

From my own personal experince, IFRAMES are a No-no! Yes, they make design extremly easy and page loads a bit faster. But its not W3 Standards compliant, some web browsers do not support it and it can turn into a graphical nightmare! You should try to use a common set up throughout all your pages and make sure not to create a "table" design as this is also not W3 standard.

Hope this helps and also looking forward to see other peoples views on the matter.
Edited February 5, 2009 by Aurayu (see edit history)

PS= PhotoshopDreamweaver for you website is an excellent program, adobe products are high in quality 1. Frames is OK in a website but if you would like to have a nice professional website try having flash menus java script ect. try being creative.

I would stay away from frames... as far away as you can. I used frames a LONG LONG time ago when browser caching was awful but now with the excellent caching options there is no need to use frames anymore. Just keep with a uniform layout(or template) and you will not have any problems. The only time that frames are good are when you need to have a static navigation form or when you need a logo constantly placed on a website.You dont want to use frames on a ste where you are trying to be search engine friendly. This is because in most cases you will confuse the search engine as to what page you are going to and then your site will not look the same when they go to the link. Also, not all browsers support frames, so for example if you have visitors trying to access your site on a mobile device or tablet they will come up with a lot of errors or will not be displayed at all.