Responsive Web Design frameworks that we like and use

Benny April 3, 2013 0 comments

Responsive web design becomes unavoidable, due to the rapid growth of tablets, smartphones and smart televisions with different screens; it’s no wonder responsive designing has gained the attention of website owners. One website that could display well on every screen is an inevitable option since it eliminates the tiresome job of creating web pages for each device independently. Responsive designing also facilitates user experience by way of ruling out links that should be selected based on the user device and its display conditions. So using Responsive web design makes your web page looks good, easy to use, whatever the device may be.

Having said that, we never fall behind the curve and our developers utilize a range of Responsive Web Designing (RWD in short) Frameworks to create user-centric websites. The following are the 4 RWD frameworks that we utilize skillfully. You might take a little while to get around these tools, but believe us it’s just awesome! Here is our responsive web design framework review.

Zurb’s Foundation 3 and now 4 (in 2013)

Foundation 3/4 is all the rage for it is an open source front end framework with extensive documentation and killer features.  It’s 12 column flexible grids, rapid prototyping, and multi-device mobility allows responsiveness to a great extent. Less though

in a number of tools, the framework certainly allows creativity than any other. The best part is it has

not changed much in terms of syntax thus reduced learning or upgrade hassles for existing coders. It’s clean codes have leveled off several implementation setbacks too.

The  one disadvantage though with Foundation 3   is the lack of support for IE7 and Foundation 4 doesn’t support IE8 which  is still a large number of screens used.

 

 

The Semantic GRID SYSTEM

Based on LESS.js this pre-processed CSS is another popular front-end tool utilized widely in designing adaptable websites.

 

You can now design fluid layouts using

LESS.js which is later compiled with CSS. Modifying gutter/ column widths, choosing the number of columns, and flipping between percentage and pixels are some key features offered by this system. The ultimatum is you can’t use CSS more efficiently than in semantic.gs.

 

 Bootstrap from Twitter

Nothing can beat Bootstrap in the numbers game as it offers a large

set of tools and options to developers. And you need not download all the elements when you download Bootstrap. If you think something won’t work for you, you can easily ignore. No cluster codes and the look and feel of the UI forms and buttons could be made perfect with minimal changes. In short, bootstrap is an intuitive framework that eases the process of web design and development.

In our experience, Bootstrap has better browser support and this could be our first choice.

Response JS

 

This is one other lightweight jQuery plug-in used to build cross-browser compatible  responsive websites. The strategy is simple. Here we focus and build websites for mobile devices first which could render optimized performance and user experience. Later this is used as a base and tweaked further for desktops and other devices.  The dynamic action hooks and HTML 5 dataset ensures responsiveness and ease in designing.

Each of the above-listed frameworks is unique and efficient in their own way. Not to mention, there are some flaws and implementation difficulties as well. Choosing the appropriate one is tricky and it solely depends on your specific requirements. Responsive designing is seeing a steady growth and so does the tools of this space. So, get set and go the responsive way!

Other reads:

Responsive web design to make your site mobile ready – Is it worth doing? (https://www.macronimous.com/blog/responsive-web-design-to-make-your-site-mobile-ready-is-it-worth-doing/)

 

Why You Need to Prioritize Responsive Design Right Now (http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2013/03/26/why-you-need-to-prioritize-responsive-design-right-now/?goback=%2Egde_4025191_member_226513082)