Navigation ยท 1990s
Framesets
Web pages sliced into permanent panes.
What it was
Frames let one part of the page stay fixed while another changed, often producing nested scrollbars and strange URLs.
Quick answer
Web pages sliced into permanent panes. A short exhibit about framesets and why it mattered on the old web.
Why people remember it
- They solved navigation before better layout patterns matured.
- They also broke linking, bookmarking, and sanity.
- Frames are a fossil of early interface experimentation.
What replaced it
Usually a platform feature, a private analytics dashboard, a cleaner app pattern, or a feed. The behavior rarely disappears; it gets renamed and absorbed.