When constructing CSS on HTML responsiveness, accessibility, and structure, it takes a lot of time and effort to build and create responsive CSS frameworks. This is why CSS frameworks were created: to relieve you of the burden!
A CSS framework is a software framework designed to make HTML/CSS web design easier and more standards-compliant. Many prominent CSS frameworks are design-oriented, with parts that may be reused in the building of any website or app, as well as a grid system for creating flexible CSS layouts.
All the frameworks listed in this article are free and open source.
1. Bootstrap
Without a doubt, Bootstrap is the most widely used free and open source CSS framework. Created in 2011 by developers Mark Otto and Jacob Thornton, Bootstrap is now used by millions of websites.
Bootstrap features Sass variables and mixins, a responsive grid system, extensive prebuilt components for building layouts, and powerful plugins built on jQuery.
2. Tailwind
Tailwind is a relatively new CSS framework, designed to be different from its competitors. Instead of predesigned components, Tailwind provides low-level utility classes that let you build your own designs. I personally have used Tailwind in my projects and loved it so far.
Let’s have a quick look to some HTML used with Tailwind:
<button class="bg-blue hover:bg-blue-dark text-white font-bold py-2 px-4 rounded">
Button
</button>
As you can see, the example is using many utility classes on a button element. Those classes allow you to finely style any element: We can easily spot classes named text-white, font-bold and rounded, defining the visual aspect of the button.
3. Bulma
With 21kB minified and gzipped, Bulma isn’t the most lightweight of this list, but this open source CSS framework is so interesting that it totally deserves a mention. Bulma is built with a mobile-first approach, which makes every element optimized for vertical reading, and its grid system is fully built with Flexbox.
Achieving flexible layout with same-size columns is as simple as adding a .column class to any of your HTML elements.
Bulma is also built with Sass, which allows you to only use the features you really need in your web development tasks.
4. UI Kit
UIkit is a lightweight and responsive CSS framework for developing fast and powerful web interfaces.
Consisting of compiled CSS and JavaScript, UIKit is easy to use and provides all the needed tools for modern web design: Grid, custom icons, components, animations, and a lot more. UIKit is compatible with Less and Sass.
View Website
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5. Semantic UI
This framework stands out in many ways. It has become popular over a short period of time because of its simplicity. Semantic UI is well customized and IT doesn’t take much to comprehend. It is also easy to learn. This framework is lightweight and beginner-friendly
6. Spectre
A lightweight (~10KB gzipped) starting point for your projects, Spectre provides elegantly designed elements, as well as a flexbox-based, responsive and mobile-friendly layout.
Much smaller in size and features than fully-featured frameworks like Bootstrap, Spectre is a great choice for single-page websites and small web applications
Conclusion
As far as web development is concerned, all CSS frameworks provide different benefits and are useful in all tasks. It is recommended that you choose any CSS framework that can assist you in your project based on your ability level and the requirements of the project you are working on. This list contains all the frameworks I have used personally. If I have missed out on some great picks, feel free to comment to let everyone and me know about it. Thank you for reading!
Until next time, Abhiraj
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