I have a web site that I placed on the Internet in the year 2000. It consists of HTML 4 and Frames. At this time it opens in different browsers with no problem. With the advances of CSS and newer browsers running CSS more proficiently do you think the older web sites with frames will stop working correctly? I don’t even know where to start with changing over to CSS as I have over 100 pages.

First off, congrats on having a Web site with longevity! Seems like most people were in a completely different industry eight years ago.

The key question you ask is are FRAMES deprecated in the latest version of HTML?According to the standards body that defines the HTML language (w3.org, the latest version of HTML, HTML 4.01, does include frames, without stating that it’s deprecated or obsolete. So that’s good. You should be in the clear in terms of your site working in newer browsers as things continue to evolve.

However, there’s a bigger question, which is “can you get by with an old site design”?

For most people, the answer is no, you cannot. Everything keeps changing and evolving and whether it’s your online business or just a hobby, if you want to stay relevant and attractive to your visitors, you probably need a redesign built around CSS and more modern design.

Now, having said that, realize that if you implement it properly, you should only have to go through the pain of rebuilding your site once. What makes this workable is that you have all of your Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) information in a single shared file and reference it in all your separate files.

Indeed, I have written a specific blog entry here on my site about how to link to external style sheets too, since the syntax is a wee bit tricky.

And, finally, if I may, I have a book that you might find useful, Creating Cool Web Sites with HTML, XHTML and CSS. I talk a lot about CSS and how to migrate from older HTML designs to more fancy CSS designs.

Hope that’s helpful!

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