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Top 5 Front-End Frameworks In 2017

2018-02-14by Tania Brooks

Creating a website from scratch is hard work. Every website needs a basic structure, and building one yourself can take days of coding, followed by weeks of refining. If you want a responsive design with all the bells and whistles in no time, you should consider using a front-end framework.

 

Front-end frameworks are powerful design tools. They empower designers and web developers by providing them with a skeleton on which to build upon. Instead of worrying about how you will divide columns up, you can start programming dynamic pages immediately.

 

1. Bootstrap

 

Bootstrap is the most popular front-end framework; it’s used by a staggering 14% of all websites today. Although, non-coding frameworks are on their way to usurp this perennial favorite, it still enjoys the limelight at the moment. Bootstrap is wonderful for first-time or beginner web developers as it has a spectacular amount of styles and classes built-in.

 

It’s constantly updated, works seamlessly with JavaScript libraries and complies with responsive design standards. If you’re looking to create a full-featured web page completed with JavaScript components, Bootstrap has you covered.

 

Experienced developers may feel hindered by Bootstrap’s size, however. For more adventurous developers, the next framework on our list may be the best bet.

 

2. Foundation

 

ZURB boasts that Foundation is “the most advanced responsive front-end framework in the world.” And, for the most part, they’re right. More experienced developers with serious CSS chops who seek to create lightweight sites should look no further.

 

Foundation is primarily composed of Sass stylesheets, which allows for faster styling and greater organization. Like Bootstrap it provides a responsive grid, UI components and the option to extend JavaScript. Again, Foundation, as compared to other available frameworks, is pretty hefty. So while it is more flexible than Bootstrap, it’s not too much lighter on file size.

 

3. Pure

 

Building extremely lightweight modules is of the utmost importance to web developers. With Pure CSS, you’re able to create buttons, forms, tables and menus without making devices do any heavy lifting. Unfortunately because Pure is only CSS, you won’t be able to use JavaScript libraries like JQuery. But, if you’re looking for a framework to create responsive CSS websites that need nimble load times, like mobile web development often requires, Pure CSS is a great front-end resource.

 

4. Skeleton

 

Skeleton is bare bones: it’s only 400 lines of code. It is an incredibly lightweight framework that provides a boilerplate for smaller web projects. This agile framework comes at a cost of features. A no-nonsense, easy-to use framework, Skeleton provides web developers with a standard responsive grid, but not much else. The framework is ideal for developers who are not in need of a robust framework, and prefer a clean, concise codebase.

 

5. Semantic UI

 

Although initially decried by developers as unintuitive and cumbersome, natural language frameworks, like Semantic UI, are steadily increasing in popularity.

 

Semantic UI is a cinch for designers to learn. There are no programmatic rules or special naming conventions to memorize. Everything is named and ordered in a natural way. It processes language naturally, so instead of employing strange shorthand, Semantic UI utilizes simple, everyday language. For example, a snippet of code from their theme sampling page reads “div class = ui three column doubling grid”. This makes the code surprisingly easy to read and understand, even for non-programmers.

 

Additionally, an array of third party libraries are fully integrated, such as Angular and Meteor, which makes Semantic UI a one stop shop for your web development needs.

 

Which framework is best for your specific needs is based on a few criteria. If you’re a very skilled CSS programmer, you may feel hindered by Bootstrap’s multitude of hard-coded features. If you’re a beginner, you may find Foundation to be too complex. Ultimately, which framework is the best fit for you will depend on your preferences. The best way to find out is to use this list of the top 5 front-end frameworks as a starting point. Take the time to download these frameworks, spend some time with them and see what sticks.

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Author

Tania Brooks

Tania Brooks is a business journalist with a focus on emerging technologies and emerging markets. She used to work as an overseas operations coordinator for Unilever. You may contact her on Twitter

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