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A grid system, or a CSS framework, is mostly used by web developers who are new to responsive design. Besides these ‘newbies’, there are also more experienced web developers who use grid systems or CSS frameworks because they want to save time, don’t want to write the same codes from scratch time after time, or don’t want the cross-browser/-device concerns and just want to be sure the website displays great on all computers and devices.

As you probably noticed in the previous paragraph, there are many terminologies used to describe frameworks and grids that can be used to easily create a responsive website. The most terms to describe these frameworks and grids are: Grid system, CSS grid, CSS framework, front end framework, UI framework, and responsive framework. At first hand, they all might sound the same, but if you do some investigation, you’ll find out that frameworks can be divided into two categories, the grid systems and the complete CSS frameworks.

What is a grid system?

The fact that the word grid system doesn’t include the word ‘framework’, doesn’t mean that it isn’t a framework. A grid system, or CSS grid, offers you a stylesheet that has a structured horizontal- and vertical column structure. This means that a grid system enables you to easily create a column structure in your HTML. All you have to do is make sure you use the corresponding CSS grid classes in your HTML. All columns will be displayed in the right place, and the layout will automatically be responsive too, so you don’t have to worry that your layout will break on tablets or mobile devices.

What is a CSS framework?

CSS frameworks always include a grid system. What separates CSS frameworks from CSS grid systems, is that CSS frameworks also come with configurable UI components, plugins, themes, typography, form controls, et cetera. You might even call a CSS framework an UI framework, because a CSS framework that comes with all these extra’s, allows you to build a basic website without the need of designing it first. All you need is available in the CSS framework, well in most of them.

What is the best responsive CSS framework or grid system?

Nowadays, there are a lot of grid systems and CSS frameworks that you can use freely to build your responsive website. My first thought was to collect them all, and create a big list containing all of them. That however wouldn’t do you any good because you still wouldn’t know which one is good and which isn't. Therefor I've asked 41 web-developers what they think is the best responsive CSS framework, and why they picked that framework. I did this by asking the developers the following question:



What is in your opinion the best responsive CSS framework?