With the increasing trend for frameworks, including frameworks like Ruby on Rails and JavaScript frameworks such as Prototype and jQuery - we have also seen the advent of CSS frameworks.

Yahoo where the first on the band wagon with the release of YUI Grids CSS which offers an easy to use interface that doesn’t need to be downloaded onto your computer.

You simply use drop down input boxes to choose how many columns and rows you want in your layout, then view the code, copy and paste into your own project.

Google also offer a CSS framework called Blueprint. This program needs to be downloaded onto your computer. There is a tutorial and sample website built with Blueprint to have a look at. The beauty of Blueprint is the code produced validates to W3C standards.

Another CSS framework is WYMstyle which again needs to be downloaded. This open-source project enables designers to speed up the development process whilst offering a modular solution to CSS creation.

Another solution for CSS creation is Elements CSS framework. This framework needs to be downlaoded as with many of the other framewroks.

From personal experience I have used the YUI CSS Grids framework, simply because it doesn’t need to be downloaded. It can be used from the webpage. Then the code can be pasted into your own project.

As a web designer, from a practical point of view a CSS framework can certainly save some time - but I personally prefer producing my CSS from scratch. The advantage of manually coding a website is the ability to get a ‘feel’ for the code, and thus solve issues along the way. Mechanically produced code simply can’t achieve that same ‘feel’.

My view is using a CSS framework is fine if you are in a desperate hurry to get a design out there, but from an everyday point of view I prefer to create my own template CSS files which can serve practically the same purpose, and have the advantage of fitting within my design style.

For beginners I feel learning the basics in notepad is the best solution, but for those who are a bit more impatient and want to get stuck in straight away, a CSS framework may well offer that solution.

There has been discussion as to whether CSS framework layouts are over-’divified’, but this thought seems to bring up an equal amount of opinions on either side of the fence. As a simple solution, that validates, a CSS framework seems to do exactly what it’s asked to do.