Framework Battleground: Bootstrap vs Foundation Vs Semantic UI

User Interface or abbreviated as UI can defined as the connection between the user and the technological device the person is using, it can be a computer or it can even be a mobile phone. UI is simply a set of commands that is used by the user to communicate with the program on the device. The user interface of a device is one of the most important things because it helps in determining how efficiently a task can be achieved in the device by the user. While several debates have been floating around regarding the newest types of UI, this article is set to focus on the three different types of UI with special emphasis on their features and a bit of comparison between the three.

The three types of User Interface Framework to be discussed are:

• Bootstrap
• Foundation
• Semantic

A bit in-depth:

Before we proceed to make any sort of comparisons between the three of the UI, it is best to have a varied and in-depth knowledge about all the three of them, in order to understand all their features and the specifications.

Bootstrap UI:

Bootstrap is a free and open source front end web framework that is mainly used for web designing and also for several web applications. This User Interface has gained popularity in a very short period of time and has been ranked the second most-starred project with around 100,000 stars and 45,000 forks. This UI contains design templates for various kinds of typography, buttons and even other interface components like navigation and such. The design templates are mainly HTML and CSS-based and the web frameworks only concern with the front-end development.

Salient features:

The Bootstrap has upgraded to several versions since its initial release and the features of the same have gone up and improved with the latest upgrades.

Some of the main salient features of the Bootstrap UI are:

• The compatibility of the Bootstrap UI is something that has been attracting a lot of audience. The UI is compatible with the latest and the newest versions of Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and even Opera.
• The second upgraded version of the UI, or the Bootstrap 2.0 has been evident on supporting a very responsive web design which simply implies that the web pages in this version of the UI adjusts themselves dynamically.
• The third version has been considered as of the most revolutionary ones with its mobile version design.
• The Bootstrap 4.0 alpha was further upgraded and improved with addition of Sass and Flexbox support in it.

Functions:

• The Bootstrap is customisable and is made up of various types and number of stylesheets. There is also a stylesheet that is named as Bootstrap less where the web designers
• Modifications and adjustments on the Bootstrap UI is restricted up to a certain level and can be done with the help of a central configuration stylesheet.
• The upgrade of the Bootstrap to Bootstrap 2.0 has added several “customising” improvements in the documentation. The developer has the free liberty to change or adjust the features according to their will or needs.
• As of the fourth and the latest edition of the UI, it uses Sass in place of Less for the stylesheets.
• The width-layout can be changed and modified accordingly along with the pixels and resolutions.

Pros:

• A wide angular support with a great stability.
• The upcoming angular 4 is set to be launched with all the missing links.

Cons:

• The UI has been very much criticised for its lack of usability and the fact that the developer has to manually modify and customise the features of the site depending on their needs.
• The present version of the Bootstrap doesn’t have a Flexbox grid which is very much recommended for a better and responsive UI layout.

Foundation:

Foundation is yet another very popular and responsive UI with a front-end framework. This UI is the perfect amalgamation of the HTML and CSS UI along with responsive grid, templates, trendy typography, buttons and navigating features and the list goes on. The Foundation is an open source project that is looked over by ZURB.

Salient features:

This UI has been developed and designed on several browsers and specifically on various mobile devices with a very responsive framework that allows the developers to have a very rapid development.

Some of the features of the Foundation UI are:

• It has the usage of Sass mixins which helps the developers using this UI to efficiently make their layout stylish and attractive yet keeping it simple and clean.
• The second version of the UI, Foundation 2.0, it supports responsive design which is almost similar to that of the Bootstrap UI in which the web pages adjusts themselves dynamically.
• The Foundation 4.0 mainly focuses on the mobile version of the UI and enhancement of the same.

Functions:

The Foundation UI is almost similar to the Bootstrap UI with differences in bits and pieces.

• The UI has a primary and standard 940 pixel width along with a very flexible and customisable grid layout. The toolkit is very responsive and helps in adjustment of the width of the columns automatically.
• The Foundation UI contains several other components apart from the HTML elements, advanced features like navigation lists, drop-down options and pagination to name a few.

Pros and Cons:

The upsides and downsides to the Foundation UI are more or less similar to that of the Bootstrap UI.

Semantic:

Last but not the least; Semantic UI is one of the most popular and easy to use UI and development framework that helps in producing beautiful and very responsive layouts using HTML.

Features and Functions:

Some of the most important features of the Semantic UI are:

• The words and classes that fall under the Semantic UI are treated as exchangeable concepts and the developers tend to procure the same benefits like that of the BEM and SMACSS without tedium.
• The Semantic UI uses very clean and simple phrases that are called behaviors that in turn is responsible for triggering the functionality.
• The feature of performance logging helps the user to track down several bottlenecks.

Pros:

• The UI is very well credited for its flexible grid support.
• There is no need of writing your own CSS command.
• It is one of the most well documented UI which also supports a lot of components with API.

Cons:

• Doesn’t have angular support and also lacks material design support.

To sum it all up:

Now to conclude it all, it can be very well seen that each of the UI have their special features and specifications and all of them are good for a good user’s experience. If the three of the UI are compared, the Semantic UI can be a given a bit more preference but that definitely doesn’t mean that the other two of the UI are bad.