Comments
11 CommentsI have been working on a couple of side projects (no don't ask about them since they probably will never go live) as usual and when thinking of the layouts of the sites a big issue that continued to creep into my head was the CSS. This is especially on my mind with what we are doing here at Chawlk and our future sites because much of the CSS is repetitive and there really shouldn't be a need to replicate it over and over again.
Recently I came across the Blueprint CSS framework and I love what it has helped me do. It has given me a baseline starting point for a site with easy to follow conventions that help to guide the structure of my site. For example, I decided to apply the framework to Expert Idiot to being work on a new design and I was able to construct the layout in minutes with the help of Blueprint. Note that the design is without any changes in style and so you get the defaults that the Blueprint framework provides.
I am leery of frameworks used anywhere because many times people use them as a crutch to simply get things done without an understanding of how they work. If you are a CSS professional and you know the ins and outs of it then I suggest you take a look at Blueprint to see if it can help speed up the standardization of your design or at the very least help you start at point D instead of point A. If you are still a CSS rookie I advise you to keep on plugging away and testing new designs that push your CSS skills. If you being with Blueprint you risk not being able to truly customize a layout that fits your needs. I'm aware of more than on Ruby on Rails professional who doesn't really know Ruby and without Rails couldn't code the most basic of functions.
Also note that any framework is going to have its limitations, but since I love grid design this framework fits into my design philosophy perfectly. I also don't want to overload the web with grid designs as this framework might do. We should always continue to push our boundaries and try new things because there is no fun in designing if we aren't creating something new.
Here are some resources to get you started:
Mike
Written Mar. 20, 2008 / Report /
I've seen some info about Blueprint but haven't used it, maybe at one point I will. It looks to be serving your needs pretty well though.
Scrivs
Written Mar. 20, 2008 / Report /
I almost gave you some points for providing the worst generic/default comment of all-time. I will reserve these points for someone else who might top you.
Oli
Written Mar. 20, 2008 / Report /
Yeah I saw it a while back and thought it was cool but the thing that put me off was its licensing terms.
Back then I'm pretty sure it demanded visible attribution (i.e. a link in the footer) which made it much less worth the effort, especially for commercial projects where you client isn't going to be too pleased having a link at the bottom of their page for something I used.
But now they're under the MIT, the restrictions are far less imposing. The only thing required is keeping a notice in the source.
My second argument against something like this is it breeds bloat. Whereas before you would be more likely to just have a single
id(e.g.<div id="my header">header</div>), you're more likely to use combinations of classes. So more CSS and more HTML than custom-making it.And then I'm dubious about how easily this would accommodate a complex design. I've seen plenty of simplistic text-only templates using blueprint but I'm yet to see something that does have lots of graphics. I'm not saying it can't be done - just I haven't seen it.
Oli
Written Mar. 20, 2008 / Report /
Oh sorry, you wanted generic:
FIRST!!!
BinaryMoon
Written Mar. 20, 2008 / Report /
I've been creating my own css framework using blueprint as a starting point. I like the idea of blueprint but didn't like the way it did some things so I've modified it to suit my tastes and now use it on almost every site I make.
Ozone42
Written Mar. 20, 2008 / Report /
We had a post on blueprint a few months back. I've played with it, did a theme for my site in it, but have since moved on. I did like it, it was a great way to throw a clean layout together FAST. Didn't have to struggle as much making IE work right because they did most of the footwork for that already.
Scrivs
Written Mar. 20, 2008 / Report /
Exactly why I said...
The use of this framework definitely has its place and shouldn't be used as the end all be all for every design you tackle. If anything it might just be good for prototyping quickly.
dbme
Written Mar. 28, 2008 / Report /
I've been using Blueprint for a while now and I really like it. With that said, I completely agree with BinaryMoon. My sites usually start with BP at the core but get modified to be lighter. Typically this means that I just use the Grid stylesheet as a reference, using the values in the actual classes/ids in my stylesheet. In the end you lose a lot of bloat and maintain semantic integrity.
Speaking of which, that's my main beef with Blueprint. It uses classes like .column and .span-12 to markup your document. That's not semantic. It's presentational which should be reserved for the stylesheet only. Any reference to a non semantic class like those get pulled out for me, and added to the correct class.
TIP: Paste each of the files that you need into your stylesheet and OVERRIDE stuff that doesn't work for you. This way when the next release of BP comes out you can easily upgrade your styles without having to redo a bunch of stuff. By putting all the files into one stylesheet you eliminate extra requests to the server.
Scrivs
Written Mar. 28, 2008 / Report /
Our own Nathan Smith has recently come out with 960 framework so I'll have to give that a shot to see how well it work.
PxlLuv
Written Mar. 28, 2008 / Report /
I've used it a great deal for prototypes and a click through or two. Like Ozone42, I used it as a starting point for a public site and did a great deal of mods to make it more useful.
I'd say that modification was part of the intent. I did make a modified version with styles more suited for web applications... lots of boxy and chartey things.
arthus
Written May. 30, 2008 / Report /
I have a little home-built framework I wrote for all my projects. It resets everything and puts in my columns. It saves time, while also allowing me to have full creativity. None of the other frameworks out there have really caught my attention.
960 does look interesting, might give it a try.