If you’ve been exploring different ways to do web design lately, you’ve no doubt come across discussions of frameworks. A framework is kind of like coding templates to make your design go faster. There are many benefits to using a framework system and there are many (many, many, many) frameworks to choose from. And there are front-end frameworks and back-end frameworks. It seems like there is a different framework for nearly everything. So what to choose.

Each framework is based on a grid system. They are generally created by someone who has been doing web design for a while and decided to share out their own personal cheat sheets. So they set up a whole system based on a stylesheet. Just like you would link to your own stylesheet, you like to theirs.

And they have set up coding to apply to the stylesheet. So you can benefit from all the coding and structure that was set up by someone else. It’s a good place to start if you haven’t done any web design before. But, it also means, in order for your site design to work, you are relying on someone else’s code. It’s great if they did a good job, but not so great if you want more control over your design. Shortcuts are always good when you’re trying to do something labor intensive, but I still believe you need to know what you are doing. Just as with anything in the design world, you should know at least a little code, so you can customize your designs.

Instead of going into different framework systems, I’m going to link to articles about frameworks instead. I have dabbled in some frameworks systems, but I’m do independent of a designer to rely on that entirely. But educate yourself and make an educated choice when you start because choosing a framework is a commitment. Once you commit to it, it will probably be your choice for a long time.

Good luck!