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August 26, 1998
The following article was originally published in the Site Builder Network Magazine "Site Lights" column. (Now MSDN Online Voices "Design Discussion" column.)
I wondered -- in a recent column -- what you thought about para-sites. You had many comments and perspectives on these creatures of the Web. Some of them were even printable.
What's a para-site? A site that provides links to other sites and content, then loads that site or content within its own frameset. Para-sites can lead to problems for some, but for others they are a solution.
It is obvious that creatures that glom onto the breadth of information and glue it together, creating a Web-formation like no other, raise quite a stir among Web aficionados.
Responses about para-sites
Some of your thoughts:
Some people think para-sites are useful under certain circumstances, such as providing services, consolidating information, or highlighting real-world Web samples for training. For instance, one reader uses E-trade 
, which hosts a section of Briefing.com so that the reader doesn't have to subscribe. It works nicely and keeps readers anchored in E-trade. E-trade is providing a service that benefits both its customers and Briefing.com. On another helpful site, conference information is linked together to make it easier for the person viewing the site. In a third case, real-world examples are shown in a para-site frame to help in online training and Web design lessons at the Web Pages That Suck site.
Another reader cites a para-site originally created for self-use as a handy way to quickly check various sites. The site's owners put it on the Internet so they could reach it at work and at home, then realized other people might like to use it. While many sites opposed to para-sites implement code to disable their frame, it still provides a handy launching tool. This reader believes that para-sites embody one of the original concepts behind the Web: linked information.
Many other readers commented that para-sites are dishonest. These readers believe that if someone else did the work, then a site is obligated to give the originators credit for their work. Sites that use frames to make their site appear to encompass information actually supplied by other servers and other information services are guilty, these readers say, of plagiarism.
For some, para-sites are merely annoying. First, because it is nearly impossible to cite URLS or add those sites to a Favorites folder when they are in a para-site. Then the entrapping, I-can't-escape feeling takes over. Other readers are frustrated by the inconvenience of having to remember to right-click and open the frame in a new window. And others May not know how to add a framed site to their Favorites. They find it easier just to shut down the browser altogether. Reports one reader, "The first time I experienced one, I thought there was something wrong with my browser, for it displayed the frame and URL of the para-site, but showed me the pages I linked to from there. Worse, it stayed with me wherever I linked to from the para-site, and there was no way to exit the para-site other than to shut down my browser."
I personally wouldn't want my site placed inside someone else's frame without my permission. Linking and referring to other people's work is what the Web is about. But in the context of a para-site, your site May be revealed, leveraged and used as someone else's work. For those who agree and want to protect their work from being sucked up by a para-site, there is a way to get rid of the para-site frame when it is loading your site.
Thanks to Paul Drumgoole from Micro Modeling Associates, Inc. here is some simple frame-breaking code to add to the top of the page that forces a "_top" load on your page:
<script language="JavaScript"> <!-- if (window != window.top) top.location.href = self.location.href //--> </script>
Or, if you just want to avoid being placed in a frame from certain sites, you can conditionally break the frame with the help of some ASP, also provided by Mr. Drumgoole:
<% If Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
= UnwantedParaSite Then %>
<script language="JavaScript">
<!--
if (window != window.top)
top.location.href = self.location.href
//-->
</script>
<% End If %>
Jon Backstrom at http://www.infoplex.com/ agrees that para-sites are annoying, but there are ways to fight back. Here is Jon's simple cure for the common para-site...
In the <BODY> tag of your page, include the following:
<BODY onload="if (parent.frames.length != 0) open (document.URL, '_top');">
Some interesting feedback was an observation as to the functionality of browser searches. Can this be considered a para-site-like behavior? I think not. Think of the search functionality built into the browsers as a tool. The browser implementation provides you with an easy way to close the Search pane in the user interface. Whereas most para-sites permanently take over screen real estate and don't allow you a way to get rid of them.
Some readers recommended that people must learn how to right-click on links and select "Open in New Window." This is an option to avoid the constricting frame of the para-site and allows for adding the link to a Favorites folder. But not everyone will remember to do this, nor will take the time.
Don't let these microbial content-sucking creatures of the Web continue to glom onto hosts without permission. Be a symbiotic portal, not a para-site. To avoid being taken advantage of without permission, use the script solutions mentioned above. But remember, this must go on all pages that you don't want to be sucked by a para-site. To avoid being the para-site, get legal permission to be a portal of someone else's content, or load all your external links full screen.
And don't be an accidental para-site by forgetting to use TARGET="_top" on your external links within a frame set.
Nadja Vol Ochs is the design consultant in Microsoft's Developer Relations Group.
A reader named Peter provided me with alternative definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary: (par-a-site). n. 1. An often harmful organism that lives on or in a different organism. 2. A person who takes advantages of the generosity of others.
A list of para-sites sent in by readers:
http://td.ele.madison.tec.wi.us/~cis/aitpfrms.htm
http://members.home.net/ck1/newslauncher/
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/begin.htm
Photo Credit: Russell Illig/PhotoDisc; Neil Beer/PhotoDisc
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