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DZone (/) > Web Dev Zone (/web-development-programming-tutorials-tools-news) > Top 18 Free CSS3
Resources to Build Fast, Lightweight Websites

Top 18 Free CSS3 Resources to Build

Fast, Lightweight Websites
(/users/3445485/arnab-roy.html) by Arnab Roy (/users/3445485/arnab-roy.html) · Oct. 16,

18 · Web Dev Zone (/web-development-programming-tutorials-tools-news) · Opinion

 Like (8)  Comment (0)  Save  Tweet

Nowadays, when it comes to web design, clients expect a product that is

perfect in every manner whether we refer to design, usability,
responsiveness, or speed. Many new features came into the world of
developers with the introduction to CSS3 to aid them with web designing.
Free CSS3-based libraries were also introduced, allowing developers to write
less code to get a finished product that satisfied all the needs of their clients.
In this article, we shall discuss 18 free CSS3 resources that revolutionized the
world of web design and front-end development. 

1. Bootstrap
Twitter Bootstrap is used by almost 4% of websites on the entire internet and
among 25% of the top ranked websites. It is the perfect solution if you want to
create responsive web pages. With its built-in grid system and lots of other UI
components, it is the most reliable CSS3 framework that is worth using.

2. Foundation
Foundation is a mobile-first framework. Although its functionality is the
same as Bootstrap there are some minor differences Used by 5% among the
 same as Bootstrap, there are some minor differences. Used by 5% among the
10,000 top ranked
(/) websites, it provides a base
 for creating a responsive
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website with more advanced components like a flex grid and typography.
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3. UIKit
With little planning or use of resources, users can create dynamic, responsive
websites using UIKit. This framework offers a lot of interactive components
by using CSS3, Less.js, and Sass that make web design easier and fun.

4. LESS (Leaner Style Sheets)

Alexis Sellier designed LESS, a dynamic language that can be compiled into
CSS and rendered to a server as well as on the client-side. It is popular among
developers because it requires fewer lines of codes and has a block
formatting syntax just like CSS.

5. SCSS (Sassy CSS)

It is a superset of CSS3 which introduced fewer lines of codes and a heavier
use of mixins. Applications developed using SCSS have reusable components
which are faster to load and are thus popular among applications that
involve advanced JavaScript frameworks.

6. Toast
Toast is another CSS3 framework that's ideal for creating responsive web
pages. Just like Bootstrap, a 12-column responsive grid is used whereby
efficient usage of box-sizing, borders, and paddings can be dynamically
added to the grid.

7. Ingrid
This is a fluid CSS layout system that is lightweight and comes with the
objective of reducing classes that are applied to individual components. This
feature makes it more intuitive and fun to create responsive layouts.

8. Bulma
Built with Sass and integrating Flex, Bulma is an open source framework.
Also, the user base is small, it is easier to use it, especially for applications
developed to be cross browser compatible
 developed to be cross-browser compatible.
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9. Semantic UI
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This framework was developed with the objective of providing developers
with a shared resource. Apart from providing a CSS library, it also provides
modularized components that can be customized according to the
developer’s choice before implementing it in their project.

10. Mini.css
Mini.css is more like a micro-framework. It involves compressing a very large
CSS file into a file as small as 7KB. In the advanced age of interconnected
devices, the requirement of a light and fast website with rich UI elements is
high. This is where Mini.css comes into play.

11. Material
Material is a combination of Google’s Material Design along with Bootstrap.
Using it, developers can create responsive web pages. Used by over 500,000
developers and coming with a mobile-first approach, the framework is rich
and brings new and interactive components that make responsive web
design easier.

12. Atomic Bulldog Grid

This framework uses an SCSS-based methodology that provides a fallback
procedure wherever Flex is not working properly. Integrating with Node KSS,
it generates a style guide library that makes styling a webpage easier and
faster.

13. Skeleton
For building a quality website, you need a library that is light but rich in
components. Skeleton comes as a solution with only 400 lines of codes.
Within that, it has media queries, grids, typography, and all other features
required to create a quality website.

14. Base
A simple but robust framework, Base is built with lightweight and minimal
 lines of code. It gave developers an opportunity to easily create cross-browser
(/)
compatible responsive websites.  (/users/login.html)  (/search)
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15. Spectre
Available on GitHub (https://github.com/picturepan2/spectre), and less than
10Kb in size, Spectre.css provides a responsive and mobile friendly layout
that is based on flexbox, which allows developers to design mobile friendly
responsive websites.

16. Simple Grid CSS

It is not a framework but a CSS stylesheet that provides an option to create a
grid layout wherever the use of Bootstrap is not possible due to restrictions,
limitations, or other issues.

17. Picnic CSS

This is may be the lightest CSS framework available with a size of the only
3KB. But don’t go for its size. It has all the materials available for creating a
fully functional website.

18. Flat Remix CSS Library

Coming with a set of inbuilt elements, this library provides the option for fast
web development without any complications. It also follows an approach to
modern design techniques like sharp borders or high contrasts.

In the above article, we have only scratched the surface. There are hundreds
of free CSS frameworks, with new ones being added every day to help web
developers. So, go on, use any of them to create your website, or merge them
to create a new framework that follows all the latest trends. Do let us know if
you have any other free CSS framework in mind!

Topics: CSS3, CSS FRAMEWORKS, BOOTSTRAP, CSS LIBRARIES, WEB DEV

Published at DZone with permission of Arnab Roy. See the original article here. 
(https://www.lambdatest.com/blog/top-18-free-css3-resources-to-build-fast-lightweight-
websites/)
Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own
 Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.
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