5. Conclusion

5.1  Suggestions  for Web Designers

Designers have a set of objectives they need to accomplish when laying out a web page and often times user efficiency may be at the bottom of the list. In regards to frames some designer use frames as an easy way to manage a menu and the individual page with in that frameset.    So we have a few suggestions for web designers:

• If frames are necessary in the page then do not have them scroll, users do not like to scroll it is inconvenient and confusing.
• Bottom frames force the user to read through the entire page before they can get to the menu frame, the user might get frustrated and go another web page.
• Frames should be small, sometime they can dominate the web page and lose their purpose.
• Use frames sparingly, not more than one frameset.  Some pages have two or three frames. For an example see David Chan's webpage.
• Arrange menu frames to be useful not confusing, try to keep them simple in both their appearance and length (Sullivan).
• Keep the selections to a minimum, do not use too many words in a menu frame, it's   a menu not a place for a full text section. 
• The best frames are frames that do not appear to be frames

If a designer decides to apply frames to the site they should definitely not have a scrolling option.  The menu frame should be direct and not have a lot of useless explanation or text. If the user gets lost in a site, they will have a reliable way to finding the desired information. Menu frames are separate from the rest page content and will increase the user's feeling control and stability. (Lynch)   The use a darker color for the menu frame will provide a contrast instead of a border, this makes it easier for the user   to read.   

5.2 Suggestions For Future Researchers

When running the experiment, we ran in to a few obstacles.  We believe if the experiment were conducted in a more controlled environment it would have found conclusive evidence that frame location directly effects the performance time of the user. 

• The number of selection errors should be recorded to test accuracy as another variable in frame location. 
• A larger, more diverse group of participants would help find the optimal location for other cultures
• Add in "real life situations," such as scrolling and the effects on the time
• Have the participants search for  more defined information (words rather than numbers)

If we could have used these results for a preliminary experiment to revise the hypothesis and the tasks we might have had conclusive results.

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