Are CSS Frameworks Really Worth Using?

Question

Is there anything that CSS Frameworks give that its not easy to make yourself?

Answer 1

IE6 compatibility.

Answer 2

They are simply a convenience and as such are good for things like wireframing and rapid prototyping. They are probably also a good way to learn CSS layout aswell if you can familiarise yourself with the layout code.

What I don't like about CSS frameworks is that they encourage the use of non-semantic class names and are a bit heavy handed for a simpler designs. I still think it's very important to understand how CSS layout works and not to just rely on the frameworks because you'd be limiting your creativity and what you could achieve. Sometimes reading CSS files from the csszengarden site can teach you things you weren't sure of how to achieve.

For wireframing this is the most promising CSS framework I've seen: http://designinfluences.com/fluid960gs/

Answer 3

A reset stylesheet of some description is a worthwhile starting point.

For example:

http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/reset/

Answer 4

I think that all depends on your own knowledge and the project. If you have a lot of small business clients, or for other reasons makes a lot of similar designs, I think it saves some time to use css frameworks. And you save time for browser bugfixing, but you should always test anyways.

But if your CSS skills are good, you know the most common IE bugs and how to hack them, I dont see any need of using a framework in most cases.

Answer 5

given that you are already familiar with one particular framework, it's easier and quicker to do certain common grid layouts. You might want to learn and try to stick with a framework if you are doing a lot of CSS.

Blueprint CSS is the CSS framework I prefer.

Answer 6

The main use I have for CSS frameworks is that they tend to force you to think about how you're going to organise you code rather than provide you with indispensable tools for your day to day tasks.

For that reason, I'm a fan of boilerplate rather than things like blueprint as boilerplate tends to focus on how you structure your css stylesheets and imports rather than providing you with a collection of semantically confusing helper classes.

Answer 7

i think that compatibility of any kind is best achieved when we band together, whether it be using CSS or Javascript frameworks, there's bound to be more chance that bugs will get fixed and wishes will get granted. there's also the chance that similar interfaces reduce the amount of training required for new users of your site.

Answer 8

Yes, testing testing and more testing. Do you have time to test and debug your code in all browsers? If you have it's the best to write your own code. If you need quick solution you can use some framework. I wrote one post about this subject: http://www.vcarrer.com/2008/08/when-to-use-css-framework.html

Answer 9

I would never, ever use a CSS framework. They don't make anything faster or easier, increase code bloat and make debugging or testing much harder. If I do use a CSS framework to start with, it looks like this:

body {}

In what way would you ever need more than that? the baseline starting point should always be what the browser displays by default, nothing more.

Reset CSS stylesheets cause the same problems.

eg: http://withoutsubstance.blogspot.com/2008/09/why-you-should-never-ever-ever-use.html