{"id":1872,"date":"2018-08-10T06:14:24","date_gmt":"2018-08-10T06:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imensosoftware.com\/?p=1872"},"modified":"2025-01-20T12:24:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T06:54:49","slug":"freewheeling-design-five-popular-css-frameworks-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imensosoftware.com\/blog\/freewheeling-design-five-popular-css-frameworks-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Freewheeling with Design- Five Most Popular CSS Frameworks of 2018 for You"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘What does the customer want?\u2019 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

As a developer, you wonder about, worry over, and meditate around it numerous times a day. After all, adapting any solution to a user\u2019s need is as much a part of your job as is to filter through their requirements and pinpoint their needs. <\/span><\/p>\n

CSS frameworks support you in such instances. They are efficient. Quick as well. They offer you facilities like multiple browser support, graceful degradation, pixel-perfect outlook, intuitive behaviour, etc. And, they lighten the drudge of design.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

You get the drift! They are super-helpful. <\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, When you decide to employ a framework for CSS designing, the question stares you in the face- which of the responsive CSS frameworks should help your objective? You can\u2019t blindly trust any. Even though they exist to simplify your job, the costs must be calculated beforehand. And, not just the monetary ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

Picking the Best CSS Framework- Why Is It so Critical?<\/b><\/h3>\n

These frameworks, essentially, offer a basic structure that you can use to design solutions for front-end web development<\/a><\/strong>. They are a bunch of generic functionality, a foundation of sorts that you can reuse to satisfy a specific scenario. <\/span><\/p>\n

They provide structure, ensure organisation, save time, bring about consistency.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, there are counterarguments to the case as well. For instance, a framework contains code that could be useless to you but will remain as an overhead to your application. You may find some developers complaining about how a website looks common when you use a CSS framework. Design grid is often stated as another complication since many developers prefer creating one by themselves. <\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, the answer to \u2018Why is choosing a Responsive CSS Framework such a critical task?\u2019, in a nutshell, depends on what you consider an excellent CSS tool. <\/span><\/p>\n

Since you are basing a project on this tool, it must satisfy what you expect of it. And that\u2019s why, before you can make a choice, it is paramount to assess what the framework can help you accomplish and if its functionality aligns with your needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

5 Most Popular CSS Framework- 2018\u2019s Best Picks and All That They Offer<\/b><\/h3>\n

A framework could be a single-page template or a bunch of CSS, JavaScript, server-side, and HTML programs. You\u2019ll find grids, typography, plugins, colours, custom user interfaces, etc. in most CSS frameworks. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, you can\u2019t just choose one based on the features they possess. You must also consider the language, modularity, customizability, etc. <\/span><\/p>\n

In this space, we shall discuss five CSS frameworks which stand out from the crowd of CSS frameworks, and for very specific reasons, are preferred to others.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Bootstrap<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"Bootstrap\"<\/p>\n

Initially called as Twitter Blueprint, Bootstrap is an open-source, free framework that has restricted itself to front-end web development. Mark Otto, the original co-developer, called Bootstrap a tool to document common design patterns and share them within the company. <\/span><\/p>\n

Originally released in 2011, Bootstrap has received four major updates so far. With an increasingly developing GitHub fanbase, this responsive CSS framework is also popular amongst Joomla, Drupal<\/strong><\/a> and WordPress<\/strong><\/a> users.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ease of Use <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Besides being the most popular JS, CSS, and HTML framework, Bootstrap also sports a friendly user interface. <\/span><\/p>\n

Bootstrap 3 introduces a great deal of convenience in creating responsive, mobile-first layouts. Its syntax, layout, and architecture are very intuitive. With a smooth learning curve, it is easy to adapt to Bootstrap, especially for beginners. <\/span><\/p>\n

Bootstrap 3 supported LESS. However, that ended with Bootstrap 4, which is firmly invested into SASS. The CSS Preprocessor lets you create variables, functions, mixins, etc. quickly and easily.<\/span><\/p>\n

Layout <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Bootstrap has a 12-column system of grids, components, and layouts. Its powerful enough to resolve most positioning and responsiveness-related issues. <\/span><\/p>\n

The choice between a responsive or fixed grid, fluid or fixed layout, and offsetting or nesting of columns is only a matter of minimal changes. And, you can choose to disable the automatic page responsiveness as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

The framework doesn\u2019t require media queries or extra CSS definitions. It supports column wrapping, which essentially means that every \u2018row\u2019 class can hold as many columns as needed. The style, position, spacing, and similar features can be tweaked using the Utility classes. It has built-in flexbox ordering, responsive column classes, and 5-grid breakpoints to fix the layout for different screen width on multiple devices.<\/span><\/p>\n

Customisation<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Bootstrap gives you all the needed amenities to quickly get a site up and running. To avoid the overly recognisable default Bootstrap appearance, the framework offers a wide variety of themes. You can also change the custom styling settings to alter the website looks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Community <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Among all the CSS frameworks out there, Bootstrap has the largest online community. Plus, the open-source history of this CSS framework gives it the advantage of well-organised, comprehensive documentation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Any help regarding development can be found on the official Bootstrap blog, StackOverflow, the Bootstrap channel on the IRC server, and the Bootstrap Expo. The documentation is also available in 13 languages so far, including Russian, Spanish, German, French, and Chinese, which haven\u2019t been officially provided but translated with the help of the Bootstrap community. <\/span><\/p>\n

With ready-to-use templates and live examples explaining all the components of Bootstrap in depth, you won\u2019t be lacking any development assistance because of the enormous support community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Browser Support <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Bootstrap is designed to work with the latest releases of most mobile and desktop browsers, like Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera. <\/span><\/p>\n

It also works with old versions. While that may alter the appearance of specific components, the website remains fully functional. <\/span><\/p>\n

Plus, proxy browsers, like Amazon Silk, Opera Mini, UC Mini, etc. aren\u2019t explicitly supported. That list also includes Chromium and Firefox for Linux. Although, unofficially, the framework behaves and looks just right in those browsers as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Themes, Templates, and Components <\/strong><\/h4>\n

The internet offers a great deal of free, partially paid, and entirely paid Bootstrap themes. These include SEO friendly, CSS coded themes, AngularJS admin control panel snippets, etc. Some of the recommended vendors include ThemeForest, Boot Bundle, Bootstrap Zero, and Themewagon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Problems with Bootstrap<\/b><\/h4>\n