OK, I’ve been working with Foundation since Joe Workman introduce it as a “design your own theme with stacks” only option for Rapidweaver. It wasn’t easy as he presented it but I manage to learn and work with it very fine now.
The web is going other direction with Wordpress and Squarespace fighting to be the corporate Standard and online web creation as Wix and Webflow are bragging to be the best of their kind.
I prefer my Mac OS app in my Application folder and my resources in my Document folder. So Instead of Sparkle (the new iWeb alternative) I am supporting Rapidweaver since day 1. Even though Realmac has been unstable with projects that suddenly help all of us be more productive and without explanation are suspended and no longer supported for us (practically insulting for supporters that bought without thinking apps like Ember, Clear and others…) Please God don’t let them get rid of Squash yet! I’m trying to stay with Rapidweaver as my default web developer app.
I’ve been reading that people preferred Bootstrap over Foundation and that scares me to where I should go for my next important upgrade. Should I go with Foundation 6 even he stills working on bugs lately or i should go with Foundry 2 because is based on the popular Bootstrap framework?
What is your profesional advice on this? It’s very important for me because of the great amount of stacks I owned and use. Thanks in advance.
First of all, you can not go wrong with either Framework. I had the same question, and I opted to go with Foundry. Not because of Bootstrap, but I for me it sounded more easy and I have not looked back. Looking at your experience with Foundation, I think you should keep it. I assume you are already part of the Foundation family - stay with it. If you really want to get another experience - look at Source from @habitualshaker as a second choice…
I switched to Source because it was easier for me to get my head around. For me its fantastic, but Iam not a developer, just maintain a few sites for friends. So I suppose it depends on your needs. Foundation is good, took me a while to learn, but as I don’t develop, I would forget how the stacks worked and have to look up how to do this and that again, which became annoying, so I switched.
Source is newer than Foundation, is free to play with, and will take your 3rd party stacks. Perhaps give it a spin and feel it out!
Stay calm, Albert. There will always be new trends in web development. That should not confuse you. Use whatever works best for you.
I started with pre-made themes, then switched to Foundry, then to Foundation. I achieved a fair amount of proficiency with Foundation, but I needed to use a lot of BWD’s stacks. That prompted me to check out the very lightweight Source framework from @habitualshaker as a base for BWD’s stacks. Now, I use Source exclusively and I can not believe how flexible and simple it is. I can build almost anything I need with just Source-specific stacks, relying less on BWD’s and other 3rd party stacks.
If you don’t want to switch to Source for whatever reason, at least do yourself a favor and check out the newest ‘CSS Grid Enabler’ which gives an enormous power of Source’s ‘Grid’ and ‘GridPlus’ stacks to users of any framework. You won’t regret…
Between the two I’d lean towards Foundation 6 over Foundry.
I have Foundation 1 and same as you struggled with it a bit, then again this is not my livelihood and if I had more time to wrap my head round things I might have gotten there quicker.
I don’t have it yet but Foundation 6 looks like it has a little bit of a learning curve with the swatch system but it looks not too steep. I think the built in A11Y compliant components are also a very attractive feature, as with the form components and newer layout options. The code is apparently also cleaner too.
Joe is a very active developer and has also taken over as lead for Foundation’s open source side (can’t remember the exact title), so he’s very much directly involved with Foundation and it’s future.
Once I have a bit of spare cash I’ll probably get Foundation 6, just not possible just now.
Nothing against Adam or Foundry, I don’t have it, so can’t comment on it properly.
Also it’s going to sound like a sale’s pitch from yet another person here but recently got the Source framework and enjoying using it too. It’s nice that it’s not too overwhelming in the number of stacks but also has a learning curve.
I don’t know Foundry, but have Foundation 1 and Source. Source is brilliant and a lot of fun, but you will probably need additional stacks at some point. Foundation has everything apart from eCommerce and CMS/blog.
I’m struggling to see how Foundation 6 would benefit me.
I think it’s a bit odd that there’s no financial incentive to plump for one over the other, but the margins make it next to impossible to make that work I suppose.
I made the decision to go from Foundation 1 to Foundation 6. Foundation 6 gives you the tools to make the most advanced websites where you are limited by others for “ease of use” sake. The code is clean and light. I’ve built things in Foundation 6 that other developers sell as stacks. With swatches the power of Foundation is realized. I think for people that are trying to take their sites further its worth a look.
I stayed with Foundry.
Why? I work with templates that can be adapted to your own needs.
I like the templates of egoMade: https://egomade.com
I’m working with Foundation too. There are good templates too: https://www.webdeersign.com
You can take both!
Look at finished websites. Made with Foundation and Foundry.
What about Source? And …
The question of which framework should not be asked
Just try it. Make your own experiences.
(Sorry, I know it costs all the money.)
thanks all of you for the help and info. I think asking about with framework works better is needed when your money is at stake and clients are in need. I bought Foundation 6 because as one of you suggested I was already used to that framework. I was thinking on Foundry because of a reason I don’t understand all the samples made with Foundry have this unique look of well made and professionalism that Foundation doesn’t have. see these side to side comparison: Foundry / Foundation what it is I honestly doesn’t know and what I dislike is that I need to make it look like that with more tweaking on Foundation. Again I already invested my money on Foundation and I will keep it up with it but If F6 doesn’t blow my mind with the results I would go other Framework and start from scratch.
I started with Foundation, it was for me the best tool to built my websites. Then Joe released F6, which is very different because it introduces a new concept with styles. For me the learning curve is high. Joe only offers videos for explanation. I’m an old-school learner, I prefer a documentation and a RW-project where I can learn in the speed I am able to and learn the things, that I really need. I’m disappointed, that five months after the release these in my opinion import things are not available.
Adam released Foundry 2, and he offers a brilliant documentation on his website. Every stack is explained very clear, he offers a video, but also explains every parameter of the stacks. I love that! Most things you can realize with F6 you can do also with Foundry 2.
For the moment I prefer Foundry 2, because it offers the much better documentation and also very stylish sites.
Yes! I bought F6 and I’m kind of lost with the styles and all. It’s kind of difficult to learn how to make it work. I ask him stuff over Twitter and he most of the time help me right away. So for me, support has been great. The learning curve is what I am kind of disappointed about. I was so good with F1 that now I need to start all over again. Next year I will definitely will try Foundry2 to see if let me work better. Thanks
Foundation 6 definitely has a completely new workflow for building websites. And with anything new, there is a learning curve. I don’t think there is a big one though. On the hangout last Friday, it came to light that I never really explained the reasoning behind the new workflow. All of my video just dive in an show you how-to. I will definitely be making a video that dives into the why of F6. Like many others have said. Once you realized why F6 is built this way, you will not want to use anything else. I still stand my comments that F6 is defining how we will build websites for the next 5 years.
I want to thank you for all your help and attention. Without that I probably will be scare of F6. I will try again and hopefully as you said it will be the standard from now on
I am no professional when it comes to web design, so I rely on the third party developers at RealMac. I have always been intimidated by Foundation, for whatever reason, so when I lost almost all my stacks after purchasing a new MacBook Pro, I decided to try Foundry and I just love it. The things is, both Foundation and Foundry allow for the use of other third party stacks and plug-ins. I use Total CMS inside Foundry. Hey both the guys are the best at their game.
Joe, I am starting to use F6 and am impressed by the Swatches in Site Styles, and much more. What I would like to see is an instruction sheet of what order to watch the videos in. There is a lot to absorb and so am starting slowly with a sandbox. I have tons of your stuff and have watched many hours of videos and WeaverSpace Conferences…but now feel like I need a re-start on F6…and some guidance in how to approach the learning. You have lots of it…but I’m looking for some structure. Thx for all that you do!
