Attack of the iFrames: Is Web 2.0 Regressing?

In the last two days I have seen two iFrame toolbar systems, Twitpwr and Diggbar, being passed off as a good idea by Mashable writer – Muhammad Saleem.

Have we gotten this shortsighted? Wasn’t it over 10 years ago that we decided using iFrames are the worst of worst in web design?

Jakob Nielsen put it best back in 1996:

The fundamental design of the Web is based on having the page as the atomic unit of information, and the notion of the page permeates all aspects of the Web. The simplicity of the original Web contributed to its ease of use and its rapid uptake.
Frames break the unified model of the Web and introduce a new way of looking at data that has not been well integrated into the other aspects of the Web. With frames, the user’s view of information on the screen is now determined by a sequence of navigation actions rather than a single navigation action.

– Read It

To me these tools are limited in use to Digg addicts and narcissistic brand promoters. I can only hope that it stops there and I don’t start having to deal with hundreds of iframe toolbars as everyone starts to adopt this practice.

Please – Just Say No.

Edited: April 3rd, 2009