{"id":851,"date":"2020-01-10T17:10:54","date_gmt":"2020-01-10T22:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tech.creed3.com\/?p=851"},"modified":"2020-01-10T17:10:54","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T22:10:54","slug":"css-libraries-frameworks-and-tools-oh-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tech.creed3.com\/?p=851","title":{"rendered":"CSS Libraries, Frameworks and Tools, OH MY!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0 0 4px 4px;\" alt=\"\" src=\"images\/CSS3.png\" width=\"130\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">I subscribe to many developer focused email newsletters. &nbsp;I really need to in order to attempt to stay up on the latest advancements in web site development. &nbsp;Of course unless you have absolutely nothing else to do with your time, keeping pace with all the latest advancements is just not possible.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>It was one of these many newsletters that contained a link to a Speckyboy blog post titled <a href=\"https:\/\/speckyboy.com\/css-libraries-frameworks-tools-2020\/?ref=webdesignernews.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Our 50 Favorite CSS Libraries, Frameworks and Tools from 2019<\/a>. &nbsp;Please don&#8217;t misunderstand, this is not at all a slam on Speckyboy. &nbsp;I read their posts frequently. &nbsp;This whole thought was simply inspired by that title.<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/p>\n<ul>The Problem<\/ul>\n<p><\/strong><br \/>\nThat title really sums up the problem with modern day web development. &nbsp;There are <em>really<\/em> 50 CSS Libraries, Frameworks and Tools? &nbsp;Actually over 50 since this is a list of their favorites. &nbsp;That number doesn&#8217;t consider Javascript Libraries and Frameworks. &nbsp;It&#8217;s reaching the point where depending on which developer you ask, you could today almost expect to get a different answer regarding which framework is their favorite. &nbsp;Has anyone considered this is broaching insanity?<\/p>\n<p>Of course many will disagree and that&#8217;s fine. &nbsp;Sure all of those frameworks allow you to get a web site finished and launched in just a few hours. &nbsp;And oh boy is it loaded with bells and whistles and eye candy galore. &nbsp;Now I like a nice looking web site as much as the next browser. &nbsp;But at what cost?<\/p>\n<p>How many developers today can build a site without a framework or library? &nbsp;Take them all away and now build that site! &nbsp;Seriously. &nbsp;If you can&#8217;t, you need to go back to the beginning and relearn your job. &nbsp;Because those frameworks and libraries have made you a lazy developer. &nbsp;Sorry if you don&#8217;t like that. &nbsp;Sorry that flies in the face of rapid development. &nbsp;But it&#8217;s true.<\/p>\n<p>Another problem is the cost on the internet infrastructure, the user&#8217;s computer and their time. &nbsp;For example. &nbsp;I use Firefox primarily and you should too. &nbsp;Firefox allows me to use certain extensions to add some extra functionality to my browsing experience. &nbsp;One of the few extensions I use is <a href=\"https:\/\/noscript.net\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">NoScript<\/a>. &nbsp;It will block running Javascripts unless you approve them. &nbsp;Not only does this allow you to not be tracked and possibly have your privacy compromised, but it gives you a list of all the scripts your browser is being forced to download to display a web site. &nbsp;In some cases the number of required scripts is out of control, dozens. &nbsp;And this isn&#8217;t tracking the CSS side of things. &nbsp;No wonder some pages are taking a very long time to display. &nbsp;Too bad if one of those scripts resides on a server that is experiencing network issues. &nbsp;In that case that site just might not load. &nbsp;It&#8217;s not the site&#8217;s server, but one of the many other servers that are required to server files just to view a single web page. &nbsp;Now have several tabs open in your browser and without 8 GB in RAM in your computer you might just see your browser crash. &nbsp;Not the browser&#8217;s fault. &nbsp;Or your computer. &nbsp;There&#8217;s no RAM left from all of the web sites loading insane amounts of scripts and libraries and frameworks. &nbsp;Okay, yes, that won&#8217;t happen a lot with a mere 4GB of RAM but it sure could with 2 GB.<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/p>\n<ul>A Solution<\/ul>\n<p><\/strong><br \/>\nThe solution is don&#8217;t use them. &nbsp;Those libraries and frameworks are jammed with code to perform all sorts of different things, many, if not most, you aren&#8217;t using on a web site. &nbsp;So why use that library or framework? &nbsp;Don&#8217;t force the user to load all that code that will never be used. &nbsp;Like it or not, this is lazy folks.<\/p>\n<p>If you can understand the code, find the section you really want to use and develop your own code that is similar that will accomplish the same task. &nbsp;In other words, build your own mini framework. &nbsp;Now it&#8217;s possible you&#8217;ll need to do this for each site you build. &nbsp;No problem. &nbsp;Maintain your own library of various functions in code for the various things you want that site to offer. &nbsp;Pick and choose from your vast library of code only what is needed for the site you&#8217;re developing and bam! &nbsp;A mini framework specially built by you for the site you&#8217;re working on. &nbsp;I do it all the time. &nbsp;Even in the case of a Word Press site, I will develop my own themes from a basic theme I have, and only has what is necessary. &nbsp;Those sites always load faster. &nbsp;This in return makes the search engines like your site better too, because it&#8217;s fast.<\/p>\n<p>It takes a little longer, but everyone will be better off for putting a little more effort into your sites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I subscribe to many developer focused email newsletters. &nbsp;I really need to in order to attempt to stay up on the latest advancements in web site development. &nbsp;Of course unless you have absolutely nothing else to do with your time, keeping pace with all the latest advancements is just not possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,16,30],"tags":[37,73,72,74],"class_list":["post-851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-css","category-technology","category-web-development","tag-css","tag-frameworks","tag-javascript","tag-libraries"],"views":1725,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tech.creed3.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tech.creed3.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tech.creed3.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tech.creed3.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tech.creed3.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tech.creed3.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tech.creed3.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tech.creed3.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tech.creed3.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}