IFRAMES are widely used in Sakai. See SAK-650 for progress on removing IFRAMEs.
On a typical page the following are IFRAMES:
Site navigation (including site tabs)(removed in 2.3)- Presence list - see SAK-9773
Each tool title bar(removed in 2.3)- Each tool itself (below the title bar)
IFRAMES are also used within some tools, e.g.:
- Chat
- Discussion (deprecated in 2.4 in favour of Forums)
News(removed in 2.4)- Web Content (which will probably always have to be an iframe)
- Worksite Info (appears on Home page)
IFRAMES can present the following usability issues:
- Multiple vertical scroll bars
- Linking and Bookmarking (difficult to link or bookmark within a tool)
- Inefficient use of space
- Printing problems
- Complicates use of back button
Comments (4)
Jan 23, 2006
Steve Lux says:
We're looking into taking out some if not all of our iFrames. They're proving to...We're looking into taking out some if not all of our iFrames. They're proving to be quirky from a UI perspective to our users and a little frustrating with how they can mangle a tool.
The multiple scroll bars have proven confusing to some. Also, sometimes the scrollbars show up when, seemingly, they don't need to be there.
That's our 2 cents from Texas State.
Jan 23, 2006
Ray Davis says:
Another usability issue: Keyboard focus and navigation become more difficult. Th...Another usability issue: Keyboard focus and navigation become more difficult.
There's been general agreement for a while that a clean-up is needed. The trouble has been finding someone to do the job. Here's a quote from last year's from Sakai Core Architecture discussions:
"On occasion, if input focus is carefully managed, iframes can be useful for embedding simple widget-like tools or views, or to provide independent scrolling handles for different aspects of the same data. They are not suitable for embedding complex interactive web applications. Indiscriminate use of fixed-size iframes is a massive usability and accessibility problem."
Apr 25, 2007
Teresa Collins (Terry) says:
Just a quick question... Do we know for sure if version 2.4 will have iFrames re...Just a quick question...
Do we know for sure if version 2.4 will have iFrames removed?
If not, will they be removed from some areas?
University of Windsor users are asking this question at every committee meeting.
Apr 26, 2007
Stephen Marquard says:
2.4 still has IFRAMES in the Charon (default) portal. However, there's a promisi...2.4 still has IFRAMES in the Charon (default) portal. However, there's a promising new iframe-free (mostly) PDA portal in 2.4/trunk which might lead to an iframe-free Charon portal in 2.5 (though that's speculation).