Finding a CSS Framework

December 19, 2013

I’m a web back-end developer, primarily. My bread and butter is PHP and C++. But I also get called on to do front-end web work as well. I’m comfortable with HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

I want to make my life easier when I do front-end work. So I’ve been investigating frameworks to help me do that. The initial list of candidates I want to research and try are: Bootstrap, Foundation, Pure, InK, Blueprint, Skeleton, Gumby, Inuit.css, HTML5 Boilerplate, Bourbon Neat, Workless, 320andUp and Semantic UI.

I’m sure there’s more! You can imagine how one’s head starts to spin after just half a dozen.

Because I want to fit my choice into rewriting and refactoring existing web applications which were originally written with in-house custom CSS and JS libraries, a non-“dictatorial” framework would be useful. That is, a “my way or the highway” design concept (like Ruby on Rails), while good for short-cutting start-up effort for new projects, is not optimal here.

As a couple of my existing web applications have some super-heavy HTML forms (200+ input elements), I think I need to favor lightweight frameworks.

As my time is in short supply (just like everyone else), a framework that is fairly simple and doesn’t require complicated development infrastructure is attractive.

I also think I want a framework that is semantic, as my design decisions for UI appearance might well need to be changed by someone with a much better eye for design. Semantic web page mark up also has other benefits.

As I work my way through examining each framework, I'll be writing more about my impression of each.