Tag Archives: framework

NETTUTS 960gs CSS Framework Tutorial

Jan 19, 2009 by Matt | Posted in Design 3 Comments

NETTUTS has put together a great video tutorial on the 960gs CSS grid framework, something I have been experimenting with lately.

A Detailed Look at the 960 CSS Framework

CSS frameworks are bloated. CSS frameworks are for people who don’t know how to code. CSS is too simple to implement a framework.

If you’ve ever read a tutorial on a CSS framework, I can guarantee that many comments mimic the previous statements. My guess is that the majority of these comments are stemmed from slight ignorance. Once you take the opportunity to spend some time with 960, you’ll be amazed at how much time can potentially be saved when developing your web applications.

I think Jeffrey Way, the creator of the video, has a point when he says that a lot of the criticism of 960gs stems from “slight ignorance.” The framework most certainly is not bloated, clocking in at a mere 4kb minimized.

This video is a nice tutorial showing how to begin using the framework, some snags you may run into along the way, etc.

If you’ve been wondering what all the hullabaloo about 960gs is about, click through and watch the video. There certainly are some projects where it is definitely a good fit. It’s a nice tool to have in your arsenal.

When Should You Use a CSS Framework?

Jan 13, 2009 by Matt | Posted in Design One Comment

The web has been abuzz lately about CSS frameworks, such as 960gs and Blueprint. There have been tutorials springing up right and left, and articles discussing the merits and problems with them.

What is a CSS framework? Wikipedia defines it as:

A CSS framework is a pre-prepared library that is meant to allow for easier, more standards-compliant styling of a webpage using the Cascading Style Sheets language. Just like programming and scripting language libraries, CSS frameworks (usually packaged as external .css sheets inserted into the header) package a number of ready-made options for designing and outlaying a webpage.

There is plenty of debate over whether it’s a good idea to use frameworks or not. Many complain that they aren’t semantically correct, since they often work by using predefined classes, such as “grid_12,” to create the visual page structure. I admit to having been skeptical of them until recently, but I’m starting to see cases where they may be useful.

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jQuery vs. Prototype

Nov 20, 2007 by Matt | Posted in Software & Scripts 12 Comments

The two biggest JavaScript frameworks in use are jQuery and Prototype. Until recently, I used Prototype a bit. After having to use jQuery for a recent project, I’ve actually started to enjoy using it. It’s easy to use, and it’s lightweight. I’m probably going to re-code a bunch of things over at NTugo so I can use jQuery there instead of Prototype. It’s a lot better.

Enough of my personal experiences, here are the hard facts:

jQuery

File Size: 21KB

Code Required to Toggle a DIV:

<script type="text/javascript">
$('#mydivtrigger').click(function() {
$('#mydiv').toggle(400);
return false;
});
</script>
<a href="#" id="mydivtrigger">Toggle!</a>
<div id="mydiv">
Lorem ipsum.
</div>

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