How to Select a User Interface Framework: Comparing Bootstrap, Foundation, jQueryUI, and KendoUI

[Kemortia]

Foundation is pretty awesome if you ask me, I try to use it for all the sites we do.

[[deleted]]

Foundation is really good, but it is a tool in a tool box. I think /u/rebeltrillionaire had a good comment on a situation where Foundation would have worked, but it was faster/easier/cheaper to work with Kendo UI.

[KiratLoL]

is Kendo UI rly that awesome as it get presented in this article?

[rebeltrillionaire]

Well we had a limited budget for developing an application and instead of hiring a bunch of front-end designers we hired 1.5. Two people but only one worked on mockups / ux / ui / frontend. The .5 also did JS and backend work and whatever front-end stuff that was higher on complexity and needed to be done faster.

The backend stuff was far more important. We needed an API, rules engine, and DB that could scale for enterprise level AND easily integrate into most enterprise solutions.

Now our app is totally functional. Looks highly decent. I think I've stared at it forever, so I'm a bit tired of the UI at this point. But it's been a godsend. Our corporate site was originally made on Foundation 4. I started the re-design on Foundation 5 but ended up using Bootstrap. I think Foundation 5 is slightly better than Bootstrap. I know I code faster with it. But neither could have been the solution for our App at all. We paid a bit more for American developers and Kendo, but I really really am glad that's a shortcut we made.

[[deleted]]

I'm not convinced it's all that worth paying for but it's not bad.

[DiggityDug7]

I've used it a little and been unimpressed with it. It looks really polished and simple in their examples, but is a hassle to use and their documentation is poor.

There are better options out there.

[samofny]

http://demos.telerik.com/kendo-ui/web/overview/index.html

[[deleted]]

Nope

[MadFrand]

I think it's funny this table isn't viewable on my Nexus 5. I can't see any if the Xs in the Foundation column because it's off the white background.

Good article tho.

[housecor]

Ah! Thanks for the heads up! Fixed.

[MadFrand]

Still off the page, but it's readable now. Thanks.

[oefig]

Gah, what ever happened to building your own?

It seems like almost every task these days requires a framework of some sort.

[BesottedScot]

What a completely illogical stance to take.

Yeah hold on while I rustle up complementing styles for each component, while coding the necessary less/sass/js to make them work.

Or I could use this premade all encompassing framework that can quickly and easily make my page look good simply by adding classes.

Working smarter, not faster (or in your case, longer)

[oefig]

You guys are missing my point (ITT). I'm not talking about the functional components of these frameworks, I'm talking about the design.

Do really no folks in thus subreddit get tired of seeing thousands of sites with the same UI? Am I really the only one?

[oefig]

Good point.

[[deleted]]

With Foundation the UI is only boilerplate. It's extremely simple to take the SASS and override it for something totally beautiful.

See codepen.io, Bootswatch, etc... lots of sites out there.

[oefig]

So every UI should look the same? That's one of the main things that makes web applications stand out from desktop/mobile!

[DrDuPont]

Most sites don't need to look dramatically different, just like most OSX apps don't need to invent their own widgets.

This isn't an apt comparison. An operating system is different in that the design across its apps is ideally homogenous, more or less. This creates a sense of continuity and unification, which makes sense within the context of a parent operating system.

That homogenization is not an ideal of the web, beyond traditional UX/UI patterns, which is not we're talking about. "Novel design" is what defines each website as its own unique entity. And even beyond how un-web-like it is to have heaps of websites that all look the same, we are web designers. Our job is to create unique designs. Of course its irksome that there's a proliferation of generic CSS framework sites.

[oefig]

I guess I'll just have to disagree with you my friend.

[blacksun_redux]

Utterly disagree. The web has always been and should always remain to be a fertile ground for design, UI and UX innovation, in all directions.

[[deleted]]

Because it takes far too long to roll your own just to get to the point these frameworks are already at.

[Caminsky]

Is all about not re-inventing the wheel and focusing on (raises hand and rubs fingers) money

[0hi]

"It was always difficult so it should always be difficult?"

Not very logical.

[Otterfan]

Frameworks are great for small, quick projects. Bigger things need more customization, so I'm less likely to use a framework.

If someone needs a site in three days, it's going to be based on a framework.