I hear mixed answers on this issue, so I wish to have the expert comments of some knowledgeable web designers out here too.

I hear than search engines have some trouble indexing pages on websites that incorporate frames in their design?

1. Is this a fact? If so, where does this trouble lie exactly?

2. Also, if META tags were used to enable search engines to scan for data to index, would most of the big modern search engines have problems indexing pages on websites using frames?

Learner

Learner,

I came across this site which has some good information about frames, search engines, and meta tags.
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/webmasters/frames.html
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/webmasters/meta.html

I have heard of problems in the pages being indexed. What has been suggested to me is put links to all your pages on your index page, in the no frames area.

I usually suggest that you avoid using frames whenever possible. If you can do it with side navigation bars and tables and what not, then do so.

However, I occasionally splurge and break the above rule by cheekily using Windoze OS-type DHTML drop down menus, which fit in with frames. Great fun and quite useful.... But never do it on a commercial site ;)