Are iframes bad to use? What are other options are there?

[bananagirl]

Is there any alternative to iFRAMES?
I heard they're not good to use, don't know why though.
How do you guys do a navigation bar that constrantly changes without an iframe? Don't you have to change each page this way if you want to edit the nav bar?

[== Morgana ==]

Iframes are not bad if they serve to your purposes.

However you need to keep in mind

1.- provide a link to non-framed between <iframe></iframe>content for those surfers whose browser doesn't support iframes

2.- add some text between such tag to help with search engine crawling.

On a side note, Google's Adsense is a javascript code intended to render an iframe advert, so...

[imnajam]

you may wish to use #include other file on server side scripting.
IFRAMES are not liked by crawler/bots.

navigational bars are usually generated from database on runtime.

[tristanperry]

I use a PHP file include for a nav. bar - iFrames are very old-school, and search engine bots don't like them at all.

[== Morgana ==]

Very old school but as I said, Google and most advertising networks display their publicity this way, using iframes disguised as javascript

[tristanperry]

True However using a CSS layout w/ includes should be the method used here, nowadays.

[8everything]

iframes are outdated, what I would use are PHP tables instead. These are easier to use, unlike iframes where you have to set the width and height to make sure scrollbars don't appear.. PHP tables automatically set the right size you need for your table once coded.

[bananagirl]

but how?
I really want to do an easily editable naviagation bar but I don't know how!
I'm having tons of trouble with the iframes, it's hard for me to apply css to them......... assistance would be MUCH appreciated..

[Faltzer]

iFrames are not recommended by me, and many web designers because search engines easily ignore iFrames. And iFrames promote the use of invalid HTML/XHTML.