The Little Book of HTML/CSS Frameworks

Chapter 1. The Little Book of HTML/CSS Frameworks

Key Concepts

Before we dive into frameworks, let’s first go over a few general ideas. We don’t have to agree on everything; all we want is to prevent misunderstandings over the course of this book.

First, there are a handful of terms that may be used differently in other contexts:

External (also known as public or open)

Anything that comes from outside ourselves or our organization and is out of our control. In web development, social site widgets or frameworks are often external.

Internal (or in-house)

Anything that originates from within our organization and is within our control. In web development, site designs, or site style sheets, are often internal.

Pattern

A classical design pattern. In web development, the individual elements of a document or app are patterns, but so are document types like a three-column article page.

Cost

A measure of any negative consequence. Typically expenditures of work, time, or money, but possibly negative changes in, for example, perception, satisfaction, or reputation. In web development, for instance, any element added to a page has a cost in terms of reduced page performance.

Tailoring

The producing and adjusting to precise dimensions and needs. In web development, tailored code is all code that’s needed—or going to be needed—by a project, but not more.

Second, some assumptions:

• Code has a cost. For example, there is the cost of development, performance, maintenance, documentation, process, ...