[2] At that time, Netscape proposed frames to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for inclusion in the HTML 3.0 standard.
Frames had the advantage of allowing elements to be displayed sitewide without requiring server features such as server-side includes or CGI support.
XFrames, the intended eventual replacement,[5] provided the composite URI to address a populated frameset.
[6] The iframe element remains with a number of "sandboxing" options intended for sharing content between sites.
[7] By allowing content to be loaded and navigated independently, frames offered several advantages over the plain HTML in use when they were first developed: [9] The practice of framing HTML content led to numerous criticisms, most centering on usability and accessibility concerns.
These include: Frames create both technical and user-interface difficulties for enforcement of the same-origin policy.