
Ask HN: Best minimal CSS Framework for side project - lormayna
Hi,
I&#x27;m starting a small side project to learn web development and have fun.
Could you suggest a good CSS Framework for it?
My candidates are: 
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;picnicss&#x2F;picnic (it seems the most simple)
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;jgthms&#x2F;bulma&#x2F; (very easy, but very minimal)
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;milligram.github.io&#x2F; (more complete)<p>Fot javascript I want to use Vue.js because it&#x27;s easy, clean and I can control it. 
Using Flask (Python) for backend.
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franciscop
Hi lormayna, I'm the creator of Picnic CSS, thanks for considering it! If you
don't mind me asking, why did you consider using Picnic and why wouldn't you
choose using it? I'm trying to improve it constantly and I'd really appreciate
your opinion from the point of view of "learning web development" (:

If you have any question you can just reach me here or on github

~~~
lormayna
I like PicnicCSS because it's simple, it's clean and it's nice. It has almost
all the components that I need for my ideas.

~~~
franciscop
Awesome, what components is it missing? If they make sense within Picnic's
goals I might add them (:

~~~
lormayna
A modal for example

~~~
franciscop
Oh but there _are_ modals:
[http://picnicss.com/documentation#modal](http://picnicss.com/documentation#modal)

Edit: although the html is quite ugly, sometimes I wonder if I should just add
some bits of js

~~~
lormayna
A footer components would be great :)

~~~
franciscop
Completely agree, I tried in the past but it felt too invasive. Maybe a few
tamplates which include nav/footer layouts would be nice

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andrei-m-visan
I use Pure CSS from Yahoo. It is very light and easy to use.
[http://purecss.io](http://purecss.io)

~~~
sheraz
Seconded. I've been using this for about 18 months on various projects. Really
like it.

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petepete
Skeleton, perhaps.

[http://getskeleton.com/](http://getskeleton.com/)

~~~
flxn
I really like Skeleton because it's so simple. Sadly it looks like the author
has abandoned the project but there are some forks on Github.

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rajacombinator
IMO if this is a side project to learn web development, your best bet is to
pick one of the nice looking examples given in this thread, and then don't use
it, just imitate the style.

Why? Because if you use a framework rather than learning CSS, you will just
waste time learning that framework's quirks which will not transfer over to
anything. Most of the desirable features of these frameworks can easily be
replicated with flexboxes anyway. Your own effort may not come out quite as
smooth looking but you will learn a lot more along the way.

I say this not as a CSS expert, but a guy in a similar situation who wasted a
lot of time fiddling around with Bootstrap only to end up ditching it almost
100% in favor of custom CSS.

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mping
[http://iamsurface.com](http://iamsurface.com) pure css material, not updated
in a while but looks great and has modals with pure css
[https://imperavi.com/kube/css/](https://imperavi.com/kube/css/) almost not
minimal but pretty cool
[http://jxnblk.com/gravitons/](http://jxnblk.com/gravitons/) really minimal

------
smonff
[http://knacss.com/](http://knacss.com/) is very interesting but the
documentation is French only :(

~~~
S4M
It's neat indeed, but I don't see the difference between the normal grid and
the responsive grid at the bottom of the page you linked.

~~~
smonff
Look the difference
[https://lut.im/RCbxJiKqPR/Vsz5iYdI0EYaYRfE.png](https://lut.im/RCbxJiKqPR/Vsz5iYdI0EYaYRfE.png)

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thrilleratplay
I use [http://www.basscss.com/](http://www.basscss.com/). Version 8 was just
released which was restructured into standalone modules. Use what you need.

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vincent_s
Not really "minimal" but it's very easy to get started with and has everything
you need: [http://semantic-ui.com/](http://semantic-ui.com/)

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rgovind
Tangentially related, I want to draw a (potentially non-responsive) layout and
then have CSS generated for me. I am hoping my development time will be
faster. Is there a good website for this?

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cabbeer
On a slight tangent, does anyone know what the best minimal grid is? I'm
looking some something I can can use when prototyping.

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threesixandnine
[http://mincss.com/](http://mincss.com/)

