CSS Frameworks - Can you recommend one? - Irish SEO, Marketing & Webmaster Discussion

gav240z · #1 (**permalink**) 13-05-2008, 05:17 PM

Hi Everyone,

I could have swore I posted this today, but can't see it anywhere. So here goes again.

I'm looking for a GOOD CSS framework. I've come across a few CSS Global Resets from Yahoo! and Eric Meyer but I find that they actually can slow you down more than help you out.

There is also blue print blueprintcss - Google Code which seems to be good, but seems to use a Ruby script to generate stuff for you.

I've only looked at the Wiki, but it seems quite complex.

I'm wondering what others use to achieve design consistency across many browsers / devices and also for print style sheets etc..

It would be good to have a frame work that sets good typography rules for readability, but also one that allows for flexibility in layout.

Suggestions / tips / help / websites? Anyone?

littleBird · #2 (**permalink**) 13-05-2008, 11:56 PM

Really depends on what the full scope of what you are looking for. If you want everything and the kitchen sink you could do a lot worse than check out the YahooUI. If you want something a lot simpler and more straight forward you could check out this toolBox CSS utility.

gav240z · #3 (**permalink**) 14-05-2008, 09:38 AM

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately the link in that thread seems dead.

The formatting of those links in your second post is something I've seen mentioned by Eric Meyer. You can use CSS to format outbound links and certain elements starting with a certain prefix.

I'd have to double check the compatibility of it with browser versions, but from memory its a case of IE not playing too happily with them.

littleBird · #4 (**permalink**) 14-05-2008, 09:50 AM

Which link are you referring to? hopefully these will see you sorted

If it is the toolboxCSS then follow this » Toolbox CSS

If it is the YahooUI link that is dead try this The Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI)

gav240z · #5 (**permalink**) 14-05-2008, 05:24 PM

The Yahoo! toolkit looks promising. I like the CSS reset and CSS Base. The grid is cool, but it doesn't rely on semantic naming convention. I'm going to give it a try and see how it goes anyway.

Forbairt · #6 (**permalink**) 15-05-2008, 08:21 AM

I tried out the Yahoo grid and I really didn't like it.

Naming convention being one factor ... I guess though if it works for you it works for you.

littleBird · #7 (**permalink**) 15-05-2008, 08:47 AM

Is a little bit of naming convention a small price to pay for a huge head start on manageable page layout, cross-browser issues and a host of other tried and tested usefulness?

Do you use any CSS library?

gav240z · #8 (**permalink**) 15-05-2008, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by littleBird

Is a little bit of naming convention a small price to pay for a huge head start on manageable page layout, cross-browser issues and a host of other tried and tested usefulness?

Do you use any CSS library?

Both have valid points. I personally have always hand crafted my layouts. It does mean I have to play around a fair bit with them though. So in a way the Yahoo! layout would be a godsend, but it does employ a certain amount of divitis and I wonder how easy it would be to maintain for those unfamiliar with it.

Lets say you develop a site for a client, hand it over and another web development firm takes up where you left off. How are they going to understand you nested layout? Certainly you would hopefully document it, but what are the chances of that from your experience in the industry? Not high I can say.

The good thing about the framework is that its separated into smaller parts, so you can take what you like and ignore the rest. I guess you could even take the grid itself and give it a more conventional name. Only problem is upgrading to a later version of the grid in future.

It also depends on how complex your website becomes, most basic client sites for a small business won't need to complexity of a grid based layout.

Forbairt · #9 (**permalink**) 15-05-2008, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gav240z

Only problem is upgrading to a later version of the grid in future.

Hmm... not sure if the license allows for this ... but it should be a pretty straight forward replace x with y ... z with k ... and so on .. so you'd be able to script it for any further changes in the future ... assuming they don't go adding in any extras.

I've not been using any library ... it would make sense to use one ... except I like having my id header ... id footer ... and so on. I guess none of the things I've worked on have overly complex layouts as well which helps to a certain degree.

I also found the grids to be quite complex (I think I've one site out there using them)

gav240z · #10 (**permalink**) 15-05-2008, 01:02 PM

I'm like you in that, I prefer to write my own as I have full control over it. I can also give everything its logical name and cut out the bloat.

The Yahoo! framework looks good, but I tend to think it news large news sites that implement multiple grids, with tile ads, skyscrapers, leaderboards, banners etc...

I definately think a CSS reset is a great tool and even the base css is useful to get you going.

I personally find the most annoyances with regards to list items anyway.

Margin:0;
Padding:0; usually fixes that up.

I just thought there was a possibility that someone had compiled a really nice framework that was simplistic and very reusable. It seems I haven't found what I'm looking for just yet.

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