Most popular CSS frameworks

The visual appearance of a website is very important; they look after physical appearance of the website is known as frontend. How the website looks is the most important for a business as no customer is attracted or intrigued to enter their personal information on a shady looking website.

There are various frameworks for frontend web development for example HTML, JavaScript and CSS. They mainly focus on the physical layout and structure of the website or an application.

What is CSS and its uses?

CSS is an abbreviation of cascading style sheets. To put it in simple words CSS is a language used for the presentation of the web page or simply it is used for web Designing. It narrates how all the elements on the screen will appear and interact with each other. CSS goes hand in hand with HTML and JavaScript.

The main and primary if of CSS is to express the style of a web page. Moreover it adds to the page written in HTML. It is a supporting system for HTML when it comes to changing the style of the web page, making it more interactive and to enhance the user interface link to an excellent user experience.

1) Addition to the basic: HTML enables web developer to develop a very basic looking website. CSS provides with some added attributes to this boring looking website.

2) Web development is faster process: Developing a website with the help of CSS is a faster task as all the definitions are saved in CSS external files to making changes to the website becomes easier just by changing one file. 

3) Helps in a bigger picture: There should be uniformity on the website. All the web pages should look like with regards to color, styling, background, borders, sizing, buttons etc. Before CSS was introduced web developers used only HTML which required separate coding for all the web pages on the website. This process was eliminated after the introduction of CSS.

4) Easy maintenance and update: As mentioned above the changes to be made to the website has become easier after CSS in the similar manner the maintenance or update of the website is also easier.

5) Compatibility with various devices: It is which multiple devices. It supports older language version along with the new. CSS permission the content to be optimized for more than one type of device.

What are CSS frameworks and what are its uses? 

Framework can be defined as a set of rules which helps in dealing with particular problem or something that helps us in deciding what is to be done. Similarly CSS has various frameworks that help development process. CSS framework is known to make development and creation a simpler process.

There are various most popular CSS frameworks that can be used as per the requirement of the frontend web designer. A lot of these frameworks also provide tailor-made style sheets which makes it for the developer to build from there.

Advantages of using a CSS framework 

1) Easy to learn CSS: CSS frameworks make the learning process easier. As mentioned above there are some tailor-made stylesheets which might help the developer to take it as the base for the development. The developer good start with regards to understanding of how CSS works. It's like getting your feet wet.

2) Less coding: CSS Framework helps you reduce the amount of code that needs to be written that is you don't have to rewrite the codes with respect to common factors of the like the color, background etc.

3) Basic documentation: CSS Framework generally provides with basic documents to get you started with your work. This documentation can be of the most use when you are delivering the website to the client instead of handling it yourself.

4) Grid Presentation: For most people grid seems to be a boring thing but to be honest it's not. A grid provides you with a better readability and enhances the user experience better presentation of the information.

What to consider while choosing a CSS frameworks?

Following are some the things that needs to be considered while choosing the best CSS framework to be used by the developer: 

• Web structure and the language used
• Web structure and highlights
• The CSS required by the site being developed
• CSS is compatible on multiple devices but keeping in mind the adaptability and schedule is important while selecting the best CSS framework.

List of most popular CSS frameworks:

Following is the list of most popular CSS frameworks available for the use of the frontend developer:

1) Bootstrap

Bootstrap is the most popular css framework for web development. It seems to be the best right off the bat. It is most known for its responsiveness. It is a framework mainly for CSS and partly for JavaScript. It is one of the best CSS frameworks.

Advantages of Bootstrap:

• It is free and open source.
• The documentation provided is very helpful
• It is easy to customize
• Known for the grid system
• Free templates available 
• Supports almost all browsers and CSS compatibility

Disadvantages of Bootstrap:

• Does not comply with HTML
• The website creation will need extra work or all the websites will end up looking like the same
• If we need to change or customize the design it will require a lot of coding and the deviation will increase the work to be done during the design development.

Offical Website of Bootstrap

https://getbootstrap.com/

2) Foundation

It provides with a responsive environment for the design. It supports HTML, CSS and JavaScript for frontend development. The interface provided by it is a bit more advanced than other CSS frameworks. ADIDAS, Kawasaki website uses foundation framework.

Advantages of Foundation:

• The grids are flexible
• Provides with the feature of widgets
• The basic CSS integration can be noticed
• Makes the site more graphic without the need of making major changes in coding. Customization required is minimal.
• Readymade tables for product display

Disadvantages of Foundation:

• The popularity of Bootstrap outranks foundations
• Lack of support
• No support for issues like QA sites or troubleshooting
• It is not beginners friendly, makes it really tough to use foundation

Offical Website of Foundation

https://get.foundation/

3) UIkit

It can be defined as a set of files consisting of icons, buttons, documentations, layered design files used in the frontend web development process. It is very simple due to the features it contains like button, icons etc. UIkit enables the user to interact with the website or application. There cannot be a comparison of whethee Uikit is a better framework than others as they all are good or even great for their own purpose. Uikit is used like websites like Crunchyroll and Rover.com.

Advantages of UIkit:

• It is very easy and simple to learn
• Known for its responsiveness
• It is free to use 
• Provides with a complete graphic user interface
• It is very functional
• The community is very active
• It is very prominent to create beautiful thing with very less effort.

 Disadvantages of UIkit:

• Not very popular because of a very small community even though it is active
• The codes a bit messy for the developers
• Makes the development process slow
• The development is not available for the public

Offical Website of UIkit

https://getuikit.com/

4) Materialize

Materialize css is one of the most popular CSS frameworks used by frontend developer. This CSS framework is best known for material design users. It is very responsive just like other frameworks with modern browsers. It is also know to help in construction of eye-catching, steady an efficient web page.

Advantages of Materialize:

• The development is speedy
• Responsive with modern browsers
• It is free to use 
• Best for the android platforms
• Makes the website unique
• Helps in creation of highly interactive user interface

Disadvantages of Materialize:

• Not very popular because of a very small community 
• The CSS files are larger
• The files are heavy along with being larger
• It is very particular with regards to the UI elements on the website.

Offical Website of Materialize

https://materializecss.com/

5) Skeleton

This CSS framework is created by Dave Gamache. It is very lightweight. It provides style to basic HTML page with buttons, icons, lists tables, forms etc.

Advantages of Skeleton:

• Easy for customization
• Responsive due to its lightweight
• Best for a small project
• Minimal grip system
• It is very lightweight
• It is pure CSS

Disadvantages of Skeleton:

• It is very difficult to customize 
• The CSS files are larger
• The font size is large
• It is not as robust as other frameworks

Offical Website of Skeleton

http://getskeleton.com/

6) Pure

This CSS framework is unbelievably tiny library which can give your project the kick start it requires. It is best for fast, responsive and pretty looking websites.

Advantages of Pure:

• It is free and open source
• Responsive due to its lightweight
• Best for a small project
• It is known for its consistency 
• It is very lightweight due to how tiny it is
• It is pure CSS
• It is the most basic and minimalistic

Disadvantages of Pure:

• It is very difficult to control and is complicated
• It contains no variables
• There are numerous background elements
• Not very supportive for larger projects

Offical Website of Pure

https://purecss.io/