What is a frameset?

A frameset is an HTML that contains the different frame elements and is used to divide the screen into multiple smaller windows. The frame element informs the browser of the division of the screen into different split windows and prohibits any content inside the body associated with a page.

A frameset is divided into rows and columns, a structure indicated by the <frameset> tag. The <frameset> tag specifies the number of columns and rows in the frameset and their pixel size. At least two columns or rows are necessary for a frameset. A special doctype—the frameset-specific doctype—is used for framesets. Like other HTML elements, the frameset supports global attributes like cols and rows. The cols attribute is used to specify the size and number of horizontal spaces, while rows specify the size and number of vertical spaces in a frameset. Nesting of a frameset inside a parent frameset is allowed.

When a frameset is displayed incorrectly or is improperly loaded, it can be very detrimental to a website. A broken frameset can occur due to non-support or improper support of frames by browsers, website typos, clicking on direct links to framed pages, or other browser troubles, either temporary or permanent, in handling frames.

The primary disadvantage of framesets is the difficulty they cause search engines in indexing pages properly. Another drawback occurs when bookmarking a webpage with framesets. Printing pages can also prove difficult for websites that use framesets.