CSS frameworks have been popular since ages and the trend continues in 2012 as well. There are plethora of CSS frameworks on web, from the popular “960 Grid framework” to “Twitter bootstrap”. This has been triggered more so with the advent of CSS preprocessing languages “SASS” and “LESS” which make maintaining these frameworks and complex stylesheets easier. A similar trend has been observed in jQuery plugins and now there are multiple options for any javascript feature you require.
Now, not all CSS frameworks are popular and not all jQuery plugins are attractive. Below is a list of CSS frameworks, jQuery plugins and their combinations which people have been tried and achieved some amazing success:
Popular CSS Frameworks: USP
- Twitter Bootstrap : Lots of inbuilt features Carousel, Popups, tabs , accordions…
- LessFramework 4 : Multiple layout Options
- Skeleton : Based on Less Framework
- Foundation : Multiple inbuilt layouts, built with SASS, Anything slider, many features forms, navigation, slider….
- 320 and Up: Responsive framework using bottom up approach
Popular jQuery plugins
- Masonry : Pinterest like block allignment.
- QuickSand: Elegant filtering of blocks with animation.
- Isotope: Responsive and elegant filtering with animation.
- Imageloaded/waitforimages: Waits for image load and execute custom javascript on call back.
- FancyBox 2 responsive: Responsive Shadowbox
- Supersized slider: Full screen background slider
- FlexSlider: Easy to use responsive slider
- Lazyload Images: Load image on demand
In case I have missed some more interesting frameworks and plugins, please share it with us using comments.
Amongst all these frameworks and plugins, the combinations which are observed in my upcoming WordPress themes include the new trend in WordPress themes : Skeleton/Less/BootStrap + Isotope. This combination is really interesting as it gives the Pinterest like layout with the filtering elegance of jQuery Quicksand. For my latest theme “WPPinterestTheme” I used Bootstrap + Masonry + WaitforImages combination and it was really easier to achieve Pinterest like look and feel for the WordPress theme. These plugins combined with CSS frameworks is now becoming a design trend as it is easier to build templates using them and they help designer to build a “WoW” feature which makes their design interesting.