Home | About | Contact

Some Good CSS Frameworks

---

As I stated in my last post, it's come to my attention that one of the most tedious parts of any new project, is the creation of pieces that are included in every project. For me that's usually some "template" or starting point for a design. Yes, it's true that not all designs are the same, but most leverage some common starting points.

While redesigning the Worthless Stuff site, I decided to take a larger look at some very popular CSS frameworks and see how they might help my workflow. There are plenty of posts on various blogs that boast about each and everyone of these frameworks. Keep in mind this is my opinion for the type of websites I design, however using these as a starting point can dramatically decrease the amount of time you spend creating structure, type, and layout.

Blueprint CSS

Blueprint was one of those frameworks that I've used for a very long time. I actually can't count all the websites I've designed where this was the actual starting point. As with most frameworks, the grid is a great place to start, and it comes in handy when your doing work on blogs or corporate brochure sites. If there was one thing I didn't like about it, it was the naming conventions that were needed. That however was pretty easy to get by, especially if you have any experience with CSS. There is also a ton of help in the forums and really good sample sites.

Boilerplate CSS

Boilerplate is like the slimmed down cousin to blueprint. It's not a feature rich, which makes it more appealing to the person that enjoys the craft of creating something totally unique. For the person that thinks in pixels instead of columns, then this if for you. The examples are fairly good, and the prepackaged fonts and ok, but the real drawback here is that there isn't a lot of documentation. For a person that knows CSS really well, this isn't an issue, because boilerplate itself is easy to read, but for a person just starting out, I wouldn't suggest it.

960 Grid

For the remodeling of WS, I have chosen this framework. It took some getting use to, since I was more familiar with the other two frameworks, but in the end it's easy to use. After watching some tutorial videos on the framework, I began to use it and experienced the strength the flexible grid system provides. Although I'm not an expert on the complete package, I can say from a design perspective, that the bundle that's provided is awesome out of the box. They have even created the grid so that designs who work in photoshop first, can use the grid to layout their site. A nice feature, especially for someone who doesn't like to put their design online until it's ready to roll.

YAML

Another really well thought out and well designed framework that will have you up and running in no time at all. Of all the frameworks, I think this one had the most working examples of various layouts that can be defined. There is another added bonus, and that's the fact that many Opensource CMS use YAML. If I wouldn't have fallen in love with 960 this probably would have been my next selection. Although there seems to be a bit of bloat, it's stuff that I can get rid of and create my own framework from it.

Summary

So there you have the quick and dirty list of frameworks that I thought were the most useful on a very time sensitive project. There are others I have used, like emastic and YUI, but for one reason or another didn't stick with them. To me there is no "winner" or "looser", its just a matter of preference. There are those designers that would never use a grid system, nor would they ever dream of using a framework, because it isn't "their" design. I look at the whole debate slightly different. My clients are paying me to do what's best for them, and what's best for them is designing something that's of high quality and nicely priced. If I can cut down some hours doing things I always do, then I can provide more with less budget. My experience leads me to believe that a happy customer recommends you to other happy customers. Since I'm in the business to make money, I think that's the way I'll continue to operate. Happy Customer = Happy Consultant!!

Current Projects

In Production