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The reason that precious-metal standards are a good thing is that both gold and silver, but especially gold, have been extracted and preserved at a rate which has pretty closely matched the growth of the world's population. One good way to visualize this is by looking at a 1-ounce gold coin; a Krugerrand or a Liberty Dollar.
Both are worth somewhere around $500-$600 right now.
In ancient Rome, for example, that ounce of gold would buy you a nice suit of clothes, a toga, and a pair of sandals or shoes. You might have some left over for lunch on the way home. Today, that Krugerrand (once converted to Federal Reserve Dollars, that is) will buy you a pretty nice suit and pair of shoes. The buying power of the gold has, essentially, remained static because the supply of gold somewhat mirrors the world's population.
In an economic sense, this not only means that inflation is almost impossible, but also that fractional-reserve banking simply wouldn't work. If the bank was required to back their transactions with gold, there's no way that the fractional-reserve system could function. The Liberty Dollar folks are a working example of this.
As an aside, I'd rather have private, weight-based currency again, as we did before 1913. The problems start when one bank (or cartel of banks, aka the Federal Reserve) gets the Gov't to grant them a monopoly. At that point, they effectively gain near-total control over a nations economic life, which means they control the nation as well. Since the Gov't granting the monopoly must, of course, use the currency of the monopolist bank, that bank or group of banks can control the Gov't through the power of the purse. In return, they allow the Gov't to spend, spend, and spend some more...they get their pound of flesh in the end, after all.
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