Css Frameworks That Are Gradually Replacing Bootstrap & Foundation

Though, Bootstrap and Foundation offer a high degree of competitiveness, but they are heavy weight frameworks which at some point or the other are responsive for delaying the loading time of the website. In order to improve this we now have frameworks engineered with cutting edge technology which improves the functionality and are light weight. We a designer wants to convert Photoshop to CSS than the functionality of these tools really helps them a lot.

1)ConciseCSS

ConciseCSS is another most crucial Css based framework built on SASS, Stylus and LESS. This architecture pays a golden path for maintaining the CSS. Moreover, those who do not prefer not to go for simple CSS, can also get this from them.

Likewise, ConciseCSS also gives you the leverage of base styles for crucial design elements such as tables, headings, forms, paragraph and other classes in order to make use of button style UI.

2)YUI

YUI is another open source framework based on JavaScript and CSS and needs no extra licensing fees. You can work on YUI which is available under a BSD license and developers can work on GitHub to contribute. This framework has been in the industry for a considerable period of time and hence it comprises of the API which helps them to load content using Ajax, work with DOM and inducing UI effects.

3)InK

In this continually changing technical world, InK is the kit for developing front end interfaces for providing a rich user experience to the users which works as reckoning force for business organizations. No matter what your project size is, you can count on this LESS based framework which offers responsive and fluid grid system. One thing which differentiates Ink from the others is it ability to handle layout, which induces a high degrees of flexibility in portraying your website on a different devices by looking to how your block looks within a grid.

4) Skeleton

All components that were included in the earlier version – buttons, forms and input elements – are still present, but basic typography styles are now set in rem unit.

The Skeleton is back in the market with a total make over. Despite of a lot of changed functionalities this framework is still very light weight. This refurbished system is back to the mobile first technique which makes assures that the website performs perfectly fine no matter what the screen size of the device is.

5) Furtive

Furtive is a modern Css framework which follows the Mobile-first precept for building modern web projects using the Rem unit for defining the size of the elements and the Flexbox for the grid. Furtive does not support the earlier version of the browsers as it holds bas a small amount of CSS footprint. This makes it one of the best framework for developing upcoming websites.

6) Mueller

This modular as well as the responsive grid system is created on Compass and Sass. The Grid can be created by adding classes in to the HTML elements or using the grid() function, for those who do not want to make a mess in their HTML function. For those who are looking forward to adapt the card style layout can use the Muller grid along with the Masonry JavaScript to get that effect.

7) HTML5 Boilerplate

Though it is not exactly a framework, but HTML5 Boilerplate is a template for the front-end of websites which is a prime requisite to build highly successful web applications. Apart from high design it comprises of Normalize.Cs, JQuery and Modernizer which are helpful in creating pages that can work on all browsers and can adapt to browsers and also on browsers which do not support some features. As the HTML5 boilerplate helps in the markup conversion of PSD to HTML5 design also, but sometimes the front end bootstrap framework needed for this also.

8) PowertoCSS

PowerCSS is a light framework design to render a strong front end for your websites. The names of the class used in the framework help in building the grid and apply styles in a very lucid way. It is easy to apply styles and remember them. It also gives you the opportunity if adding your own theme and also have StarterKit to get you going. While applying styles the process of PSD to CSS does not get effected just because of the powerful tool used in this layout and design.

9) Toast

Toast is a another flexible platform and allows easy configuration of the gutter, grid class names and also the column base and this is despite of the fact that the Css classes are included in the package.

This gives you the leverage of changing the number of columns as per your need. This is a very compacted framework which is flexible enough to meet all your tailored requirements.

10) Pure

This lightweight and compact framework of 4.5KB (Zipped) comprises of Css modules was built by Yahoo! It allows you to save your required pieces by compressing their sizes. This is well tailored of mobile devices and this is why it is compared with Bootstrap.

While these bootstrap frameworks also helpful in the conversion process of PSD to HTML responsive design, where the CSS and ultimate Bootstrap front end development is done extensively. The bootstrap has its own power in the area of Front end development, technology, because this is usually used by so many designers and developers who just including master professional design, frameworks, methods and innovation in the designing aspects of a website. If someone uses the above tools, then he or she will be able to achieve the stupendous, consistent, incessant and lucrative design with better conversion rate. The HTML5 bootstrap boilerplate has replaced various obsolete tools that were used in the past. This has been a great achievement for HTML5 developers who are having the in-depth knowledge of HTML5 language. This is true that with the advent of PHP7, CSS3 and HTML5 technology the user experience has been increased also.

A handy guide on building WordPress theme using Bootstrap

As one of the widely used responsive frameworks, Bootstrap has been utilized for creating fully responsive websites and applications. But that's not all. Lately, developers have been using the framework for creation of responsive WordPress themes that can suit the requirements of different websites that are powered by WordPress CMS(Content Management System). Stay on this post as you'll be walked through all the steps that are associated with development of an eye-catchy WordPress theme using the Bootstrap framework. So, let's begin our journey about exploring the creation of a WordPress theme with Bootstrap.

Knowing the prerequisites for building WordPress theme using Bootstrap

• Get WordPress installed in your system
• Download and unzip Bootstrap files/folders
• Install the Theme Test Drive plugin

Please note the third pre-requisite mentioned above is required only if you're building your WordPress theme using an already live website and hence don't want the public to view the theme while you're busy working on it.

Step 1- Within your WordPress admin panel, navigate to wp-content-> themes and open the directory which contains all the WordPress files. Here, create a new folder and name it as “wp-bootstrap”. Within this folder, paste the bootstrap folder which contains files like: css, img and js. Now, within the bootstrap folder, create a new file and name it as index.php.

Step 2- As per the second step, go ahead with copy pasting the source code fetched from the site into the index.php file(the one created in step 1 above).

Step 3- Build the main CSS page

Here, WordPress would require a specially formatted comment to be visible on top of style.css page. This comment would fetch all the meta information pertaining to the WordPress theme. Now, within the folder containing index.php page, create a new file and name it as style.css.

This simple theme was built using the example Bootstrap theme "Basic marketing site" found on the Bootstrap web site 
*/

Step 4- Upload a suitable image that would be displayed along with the WordPress theme

Here, opt for uploading the image that would be visible with the theme in WordPress admin area. You may choose an image with dimensions as 300 x 225 px or create a new one on your own.

Step 5- Login to your WordPress admin panel and go to Appearances-> Theme. Here, you'll be able to spot a new theme named as WP Bootstrap. Click on 'Active' link for this theme to make it your site's current theme.

Step 6- Transform the Bootstrap files into WordPress templates

Start off by creating empty files for header.php, sidebar.php and footer.php. Now, copy and paste all the HTML that's included at the top of every page, into header.php file. Follow the same procedure for the HTML that appears at every page's bottom and paste it into footer.php file. Next, use two tags viz: get_header() and get_footer() which will find the header.php and footer.php files and include the same to the top and bottom of page respectively.

The index.php file would now look like this:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<!-- Main Message unit for a primary marketing message or call to action -->

<div class="message-unit">

<h1>Hello, world!</h1>

<p>This is a template for a simple marketing or informational website. It includes a large callout called the hero unit and three supporting pieces of content. Use it as a starting point to create something more unique.</p>

<p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-large">Read more &raquo;</a></p>

</div>

<!-- Example row of columns -->

<div class="row">

<div class="col-xs-6 col-md-4 ">

<h2>Heading</h2>

<p>The dummy text is being used as Lorem Ipsum which is used simply for the printing of various dummy texts and typesetting industry. This is been the top standard dummy text which is ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a type of galley and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. </p>

<p><a class="btn" href="#">View details &raquo;</a></p>

</div>

</div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Step 7- Within the same folder as the header.php file, create and open the functions.php file and paste the below mentioned code in it:

<?php 

function wpbootstrap_scripts_with_jquery()
{
        // Register the script like this for a theme:
        wp_register_script( 'custom-script', get_template_directory_uri() . '/bootstrap/js/bootstrap.js', array( 'jquery' ) );
        // For either a plugin or a theme, you can then enqueue the script:
        wp_enqueue_script( 'custom-script' );
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wpbootstrap_scripts_with_jquery' );

?>

Step 8- Create the WordPress Homepage

With the basic static template being setup appropriately, go ahead with creating a WordPress homepage. For this, just go to your WordPress admin area and click Pages-> Add New. Here, provide a suitable title for the page like “Home” and finally click on HTML tab available above the default Content Editor. After this, cut the rest of markup from index.php file and paste the same into this new 'Homepage' followed by clicking the “Publish” link. The Homepage would now look like this:

Next, we'll be using the popular WordPress function called the Loop for including the Home page content(the one added in WP admin area) into the template. The structure of this loop would be like this:

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, no posts matched'); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

The index.php file with the above loop would now look like this:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, no posts matched '); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Step 9- Add the WordPress code that pulls in page's title and content

Code for title would look like the_title() and code for content would be like the_content(). The altered loop structure would now look like this:

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

<h1><?php the_title(); ?></h1>

<?php the_content(); ?>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, no posts matched '); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

Step 10- Add extra pages and navigation

In this step, you'll be required to add new pages like About, Contact and News in your WordPress admin area. Additionally, in order to replace the website's static navigation menu with the one where pages just added in the back-end are displayed, just follow a simple process. Get on with finding unordered list with the class as “nav” and delete list items. The updated markup within the div with calss “navbar” would now look like this:

<div class="navbar navbar-inverse">

<div class="navbar-inner">

<div class="container">

<a class="btn btn-navbar" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".nav-collapse">

<span class="icon-bar"></span>

<span class="icon-bar"></span>

<span class="icon-bar"></span>

</a>

<a class="brand" href="#">Project name</a>

<div class="nav-collapse collapse">

<ul class="nav">

</ul>

</div><!--/.nav-collapse -->

</div>

</div>

</div>

Next, just add the below code into the empty unordered list with the “nav” class:

<ul class="nav">

<?php wp_list_pages(array('title_li' => '')); ?>

</ul>

In the above code, wp_list_pages() will create a list item along with a link for each web page.

Step 11- Create templates for posts and pages

For creating the pages template, just save the index.php file as page.php file. Firstly, change the text “Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.” to “Sorry, this page does not exist.”. Next, create a two column layout by adding some Bootstrap markup as shown below:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div class="row">

<div class="col-md-8">

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

<h1><?php the_title(); ?></h1>

<?php the_content(); ?>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, this page does not exist.'); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

</div>

<div class="col-xs-6 col-md-4">

</div>

</div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

In the above code, the “col-md-8” class is for the page content and “col-xs-6 col-md-4” class is for the sidebar content.

Next, go to your page.php file and add get_sidebar() in the “col-xs-6 col-md-4 ” div as shown below:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div class="row">

<div class="col-md-8">

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

<h1><?php the_title(); ?></h1>

<?php the_content(); ?>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, this page does not exist.'); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

</div>

<div class="col-xs-6 col-md-4">

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>

</div>

</div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Now, in order to create the template for a single post, just save your page.php file as single.php file. After adding the hr tag and content page, the single.php template will look like this:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div class="row">

<div class="col-md-8">

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

<h1><?php the_title(); ?></h1>

<p><em><?php the_time('l, F jS, Y'); ?></em></p>

<?php the_content(); ?>

<hr>

<?php comments_template(); ?>

<?php endwhile; else: ?>

<p><?php _e('Sorry, this page does not exist.'); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

</div>

<div class="col-xs-6 col-md-4">

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>

</div>

</div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Step 12- Adding finishing touch to the responsive WordPress theme

In order to have the name of page or post in the title and name of the website, just use the WordPress tag called wp_title() which must be customized in the below mentioned format:

wp_title('|',1,'right');

Finally, get on with widget theme by simply adding the below code to the theme's functions.php file:

<?php

function wp-bootstrap_scripts_with_jquery()

{

// Register the script like this for a theme:

wp_register_script( 'script', get_template_directory_uri() . '/bootstrap/js/bootstrap.js', array( 'jquery' ) );

// For either a plugin or a theme, you can then enqueue the script:

wp_enqueue_script( 'custom-script' );

}

add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wp-bootstrap_scripts_with_jquery' );

if ( function_exists('register_sidebar') )

{

'name' => __('Widget Name Here'),

'description' => __('Widget Description Here'),

'id' => 'widget-id',

'before_widget' => '<div id="%1$s" class="%2$s">',

'after_widget' => '</div>',

'before_title' => '<h3>',

'after_title' => '</h3>'

));

}

?>

After this, simply go back to the sidebar.php file and replace the static content with the text shown below:

<?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar() ) : ?>
<?php endif; ?>

With that you're theme is ready for a quick download!

Conclusion

So, that was an elaboration on building a fully-functional WordPress theme using the Bootstrap framework. Hope you'd have followed the steps covered in this tutorial. If you've found some issues, do let me know using the below comments section.

Hopefully, you had enjoyed this post but some times while moving from the static files which are specially in Photoshop and to move from PSD to WordPress Conversion also matters with bootstrap technology which helps to maintain a best criteria for Bootstrap themes.