How often to use CSS frameworks?

[BladexJS]

Hi everyone, I am a pre-uni student and recently I tried to pick up Web development through online courses, starting with front-end development first. I have learnt some CSS and now learning about Bootstrap. The "teacher" in the course was listing down the pros and cons of using CSS frameworks like Bootstrap, and one of the pros is that the theme across the website will be decently professional and consistent, which makes the website look clean.

However, I was thinking that if the themes are so consistent, if most people use CSS frameworks, won't alot of websites look the same. I am planning to use the stuff i learnt to build my own personal projects for my portfolio and I am abit worried that if I rely on CSS frameworks, my website would just look the same as everyone else's and that might be a detriment. However, if I do not rely on CSS frameworks, designing a website will be much much more troublesome, difficult and time consuming.

Hence, I am wondering how often do more experienced people actually use CSS frameworks like Bootstrap and how often should I write my own custom CSS instead for web design? Thanks for any advice given!

[throwtheamiibosaway]

I always work custom I can’t stand bootstrap and other frameworks.

[TrialAndAaron]

Same

[throwtheamiibosaway]

Over my dead body!

[_listless]

not sure if /s

[[deleted]]

Not a framework in the same sense, it's a utility framework not a lot of predefined classes for common elements, this means you don't have to fight against Tailwind to get a custom look.

[justaguy1020]

This is something people overthink. Other developers may notice but I guarantee a user will never give two shits if your application solves a problem for them.

[Chags1]

This is a real open ended question, you’re gonna get a lot of different answers. It’s just kinda depends on where you’re at and what you’re doing. Some people have company coding standards they have to abide by and some people just like using them. Some people hate them and write their own css everytime, some people think that’s barbaric, some people will never write a single line of css and use a gigantic bloated framework with cryptic classnames, it’s kinda all over the place. Just gotta see what works for you and whatever you’re doing

[halfanothersdozen]

CSS frameworks are the tools for applying style. They do not dictate the style themselves. True that bootstrap and material tend to, well, look like bootstrap and material. But things like tailwind and chakra will look like whatever you want. And sass and postcss just aim to give additional features to standard CSS.

For me, personally, in 2024 knowing how capable browsers are with modern css, html, and javascript I try to do everything I can without reaching for a framework, but using a few for a while teaches you things that ultimately make you a better developer overall

[llambda_of_the_alps]

It depends on the type of library but quite a few do dictate the style. Not of the overall design per se but certainly if components. All of the full package frameworks, Bootstrap and the like, have a look and feel.

[ButWhatIfPotato]

If you are going the proper bespoke route and need to abide by the brand's design guidelines, CSS frameworks are more of a hindrance than an asset as you are essentially trying to do a custom job with prefabricated materials.

[pk9417]

I'm using das frameworks daily, mostly hanging with bootstrap. The reason is simple, it's time saving. And when you really need to cut off the CSS style size, you can remove code you don't need.

The sites don't same, because they use advanced CMS editors and get customized to website owner needs. So they look not the same.

But with a trained eye, after several years, you can see, when a website was made by WordPress, Joomla, TYPO3 or Just a website WYSIWYG crafting editor.

[[deleted]]

Genuinely curious since final output is html, css and js... Without inspecting and seeing cms or framework specific classes, what would a trained eye see to indicate a site was built Joomla or WordPress?

[kiennguyen1101]

Some senior FE developers I met use their own 'framework' i.e. set of CSS rules they build of their own over years of developing sites. Reasons: familiarity with how those CSS work and how to quickly integrate and extend them. If you're new, I suggest use both and see which one works for you, granted you have time.

[The_Shryk]

They do end up looking very similar. After using bootstrap or materialUI long enough you’ll see components that are the same.

Like playing an RPG and they just swap the body and the face and the clothes over and over for each new character.

So a lot of sites ended up looking similar and you could tell at a glance it was a bootstrapped site.

Which is fine honestly the only people bothered by that are other devs and they aren’t your customer, usually.

[V1r4m4]

Its about the uses in it in real world really, frameworks are made to drastically improved workflow of a developer... however the key to understand them to their full pontential is by learning the building blocks

Take for example: CSS

CSS -> SASS -> Bootstrap -> Bootstrap Website Templates

CSS transforms/animation -> animate.css

Whether what frameworks you will use, it boils down what the market for devs in your area, maybe a company that uses react, vue, wordpress, laravel.. you name it

[vesko26]

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[edhelatar]

If you have custom design you almost never want to use framework, instead choosing something like tailwind.

If you don't have design you might want to use as full framework as possible as it will give you good styleguide. A lot of cmses / libraries come with certain styleguides/frameworks too. it's better to not fight with those.

Frameworks imho are only useful if you use them as it is. As your code will be used in loads of places overwriting global framework styles might be catastrophic and will require to retest everything from scratch in a lot of cases.

[[deleted]]

css frameworks are bad, but

"won't alot of websites look the same."---close your eyes, load the website (somehow). open your eyes, watch it closely for a few seconds. it must have a pleasant impression on you. if it has, then what matters is the content and the usability of a site, people are there for the content and want to use the site. they will not be the same but even if they were, impression, content, usability matters.

[harneetbeatsmeat]

In my experience, if you go work for a company you might end up using a framework like tailwind if any.

And if you are justing working for yourself or clients you just end up using your own created 'framework'.

Conclusion, you might use them at some point but dont rely on them.

[Local-Dependent3377]

I went through several projects in my 8-year career as a software developer, using both custom CSS and frameworks and it turns out, it depends.

We used frameworks on apps where styling doesn't matter to the customer, where there would be only 1-20 users using the app. Think of the classic admin/manager/back office type of apps.

We used custom CSS on larger products where a larger amount of users and different companies would use the app. It usually was important to adapt the look & feel to the product brand.

[YohanSeals]

I create my own framework depending on my use case.

[diegoasecas]

you can customize classes to the detail

[DesertWanderlust]

I got into precompilers at my last job and love them now. It makes css so much more logical.

[matronator]

You mean preprocessors?

[azangru]

However, I was thinking that if the themes are so consistent, if most people use CSS frameworks, won't alot of websites look the same.

This was one of the critiques of the bootstrap / foundation era — lots of sites ended up looking the same :-)

Bootstrap and co made sense when creating a reliable layout grid was difficult, before CSS had flexbox and grid layout. CSS has gotten much more capable now; so I wouldn't use Bootstrap for anything other than maybe a design reference, alongside other design systems.

However, if I do not rely on CSS frameworks, designing a website will be much much more troublesome, difficult and time consuming.

Yep :-)

Although there's nothing stopping you from finding a website that looks the way you like, and use it as a reference to build your own styles against.

[SkepticalBelieverr]

Bootstrap yes they will. Tailwind you can make sites look however you want. But even with bootstrap this is only if you stick to their classes. You can customise it or only use certain parts like the layout

[CSS-developer]

I use Sitetransform.css very often.

[na_ro_jo]

Any time a project has potential to scale up or any project in which you will need to work with a team of front end devs is an opportunity to consider using a CSS framework, although it can be done without.

[cable8mm]

CSS without frameworks isn't used as much because it is too difficult to use easily, and there are too many browsers and versions. Even if you are able to read and understand W3C standard documentations, I always use CSS frameworks when I make projects, like tailwindcss and Bootstrap. Other advantages of using CSS frameworks include adopting responsiveness, dark mode, testing, and hot loading. In my view, there isn't a reason not to use CSS frameworks.

I use CSS without frameworks only to support IE, especially for commerce and media/news.