Should Designers use CSS Frameworks?

Let’s start with the question of why designers/developers tend to use CSS frameworks in the first place, I really don’t want to name any, If you ask me all of them are good, for sure. The Reason why they seem to be beneficial is because:

1. You could save time if you are using a familiar CSS framework.

Yes this is true, but I would stress the word "familiar" here. Or else you could just sit there figuring out how to get it done. But it does help when building multi-column layouts for sure. They already have predefined grid columns and all you need to do is just assign them to your elements.

2. You learn a lot of new stuff

This is one thing which is the major plus I see when using frameworks. As an example what I could say is that, for years I have been using the property "float:left;" to align the div vertically, but little while ago when going through a framework, I saw that they have used a different property instead, "display:inline-flex" and some used "display:flex". So that was a new light that shed upon me, so I just learned from it.

3. You will have things in a standard format

This helps in particular when you are working in a team. Suppose there are two or three designers working in a single project. So, if it’s a framework they are using, all the class names and id's used will be known to all and the latter will always find it easy to understand the logic of how you have built a particular layout. Or they will understand what a particular class does or the properties assigned to it just by seeing the name of the class. So that's helpful isn't it!

4. They help in relieving Cross browser and Device responsive Issues

This is one of the major problems many designers face when writing custom css styles for their project. When writing Custom styles, designers needs to make sure they write Responsive queries for the styles they have and will have to test them under different scenarios. This is a time taking process. CSS frameworks has ready made solutions for all these and all the responsive and cross browser Issues are already handled in them. So it saves time in that area too.

Now we will see how it has a bad influence on designers, they way I see it.

1. Relying completely on CSS Frameworks

One thing I noticed these days is that, a lot of new Gen designers completely rely on CSS frameworks, that they have so little knowledge of how they actually work or don’t bother to know about the basic principles as they all are actually taken care of. They really don’t know why a div gets vertically aligned when using a predefined class in the framework. So at times of troubleshooting an issue, it becomes hard for them to understand the problem which is causing the issue and takes a lot of time to rectify it. Even though we use frameworks, we will have to write custom styles in the projects we work on.

2. A lot of Unused Styles

A CSS framework has a lot of styles defined in it to accommodate all kinds of Interfaces, may it be UX designs, or Web design Interfaces it holds the styles to support all these Interfaces, which is a waste of resource, unless it is being used in really large project. Using a CSS framework to build a 5 page static website will be a waste of resource and lot of unwanted LOC.

3. Time Consuming

Yes, I know this contradictory to what I just mentioned above, but its true CSS frameworks can be time consuming to use "IF ITS NOT USED" for the right project. Most of the styles defined in a CSS framework is written for standard layouts and designs. If we are building a custom Out of the box Design for a project then, its always nice to write styles from scratch based on my experience. Or else we will lose a lot of time modifying the existing styles in a Framework, which of course will have a lot of linkages to other styles and we may have to go in and change them all.

4. Knowledge and Experience

Working as a UX/UI Designer for the past 14 years, one thing I know is that in this domain, you learn a new thing every day. Sometimes you learn it by reading articles or analyzing others work, and sometimes you learn when you make mistakes, and then you try to rectify it, and try not to repeat it or make a better solution in your next project. Using CSS frameworks may limit that experience, which we will experience gradually through a trial and error process, using frameworks will prevent us from evolving.

So, in general if you ask me, I will say CSS frameworks are good to have tools for sure, but they should be used in the right project and a Designer must not completely rely on it, A designer must learn from frameworks, use them as needed wisely, but must not be a slave to it. A Designer/HTML Developer must think out of the box, learn from experience, make mistakes and evolve, which would be the best way he could move in his career.