# Foundry / Foundation / UIKit / Bootsnap / Blueball Freestack: Which Framework to choose? **URL:** \ **Category:** RapidWeaver Classic\ **Created:** [July 20, 2016, 8:37am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646 "2016-07-20T08:37:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Flash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f475e1/32.png) [@Flash](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Flash)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/63 "2016-08-12T01:43:57Z")
Perhaps making a list ? Non-negotiable’s vs Would be niceables. The consensus seems to favor Foundry for ease and pleasure of use. It favors Foundation for the variety of tools. Do you need the all the capabilities today? Foundry will grow, maybe by the time you need it, it will be available? Which support community do you prefer? Naughty or nice? Just my observations and 2¢ ---
**Author:** ![iankh](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/iankh/32/4894_2.png) [@iankh](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/iankh)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/64 "2016-08-12T02:11:58Z")
That’s a very valuable 2¢. So which is the naughty support community and which is the nice? curiosity you know. One thing I will want is to eventually us a CMS. ---
**Author:** ![Flash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f475e1/32.png) [@Flash](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Flash)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:20am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/65 "2016-08-12T02:20:19Z")
My answer would be personal opinion best kept to myself. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Flash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f475e1/32.png) [@Flash](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Flash)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/66 "2016-08-12T02:33:17Z")
I don’t think it matters which platform you use in regards to the CMS. The question is what CMS do you want to use? I am a fan of Armadillo just because it does what it is designed to do simple quick and with very few steps per post. It also has the more familiar UI compared to Wordpress which is who your competition is likely to be using. Armadillo works on all of them so I personally remove the CMS from the equation. ---
**Author:** ![zeebe](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/zeebe/32/22007_2.png) [@zeebe](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/zeebe)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/67 "2016-08-12T02:36:01Z")
If CMS is something you are looking at, the nice thing about Foundation and Joe’s TotalCMS and EasyCMS is they integrate SO nicely together. Don’t get me wrong, you can use Armadillo and PulseCMS with Foundation as well. Do not let that make you say no to Foundation, I just wanted to let you know that there is a very tight integration with Total and Easy CMS. FYI ---
**Author:** ![MimUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/54ee81/32.png) [@MimUK](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/MimUK)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 6:11am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/68 "2016-08-12T06:11:42Z")
As someone who owns both Foundation and Foundry, they are great frameworks and Joe’s Foundation has been around a while now and is quite established. I would be mindful though that Foundation is built on a previous version of the Foundation framework and its likely that Joe will release a new version (based on the 6 framework) soon and although no details have been given yet. I don’t envisage this will be provided to all V5 customers without some sort of upgrade fee. So be mindful of this. Foundry is already built upon the latest version of Bootstrap I believe. ---
**Author:** ![iankh](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/iankh/32/4894_2.png) [@iankh](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/iankh)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/69 "2016-08-14T15:21:04Z")
Thanks everyone for excellent input and feedback. To close the loop on this, I decided to go ahead with Foundry and have plunged myself into learning it. Later down the road, I may explore Foundation, but for now, what with trying to learn RW again Foundry, my plate is quite full. ---
**Author:** ![georgep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@georgep](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/georgep)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/70 "2016-08-15T20:07:02Z")
I use both Foundation and Freestacks and frankly find Freestacks much easier to use and more resilient. It seems to work better with less compatibility issues and you can do most things. Another issue for us was that Freestacks did not try and style form fields we were embedding within our sites. Foundation wanted to do it all its own way which for our purposes did not work well (if you are ok with basic stack like forms - you will be fine with Foundation). We still use Foundation for some projects but probably use Frestacks more. I do hope Charlie keeps Freestacks alive is a great product. hats to all the guys for bringing such choice. have also recently added UIKIT and been v impressed with it too - though early days. George ---
**Author:** ![Lucas](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/lucas/32/1745_2.png) [@Lucas](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Lucas)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/71 "2016-08-16T18:35:57Z")
Thanks @georgep (and so many others in this thread) for mentioning [UIkit](http://archetypon.net/uikit/), if you need any help just let me know 🕶 ---
**Author:** ![joeworkman](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/joeworkman/32/23780_2.png) [@joeworkman](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/joeworkman)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/72 "2016-08-16T20:29:01Z")
> [@iankh](#): > > Still trying to make up my mind and after lord knows how many hours of watching videos (and Joe Workman’s beard progress) LOL!!! I have decided to try and let me beard grow longer as a test. I am not sure how long I will last though. I like it short. ---
**Author:** ![Gabrielle](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/gabrielle/32/183_2.png) [@Gabrielle](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Gabrielle)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/73 "2016-09-08T14:46:08Z")
Phew Michael I’m glad you said that Freestacks is still being supported and updated, I had a slight panic when I saw a comment higher up in the thread about it! I love the look of Foundation but I struggle with new softwares so not sure I can cope with learning a whole new one from scratch! ---
**Author:** ![phloque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/848f3c/32.png) [@phloque](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/phloque)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/74 "2016-09-11T22:55:35Z")
I know this thread is getting a bit old, but I thought I’d throw in my 2 bob’s worth now that I’m a big newbie fan of Foundry. If you felt you needed to choose between Foundry and Foundation, I suggest you compare the Elixir Graphics site and Joe Workman’s. Not saying one is better than the other, but they do show quite different approaches to the look of a website and the user experience. Bye for now ---
**Author:** ![joeworkman](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/joeworkman/32/23780_2.png) [@joeworkman](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/joeworkman)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/75 "2016-09-12T01:06:57Z")
Ha! Touché… Yes. My website is a little outdated. I just spend too much time developing awesome new game changing products. I have been planning on redoing my site for almost 2 years now. But then Total CMS happened and took over 18 months of my life. However, my Foundation stacks has its own dedicated site that it much more modern. Its obviously built with Foundation [https://foundation.joeworkman.net](https://foundation.joeworkman.net) Redoing my site is no small task. With over 120+ products its not a small undertaking. Funny enough my current site is actually an Elixir theme! Oh yeah, its built with RapidWeaver too… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jochenabitz](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/jochenabitz/32/27126_2.png) [@jochenabitz](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/jochenabitz)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/76 "2016-09-12T05:27:49Z")
If you like the meal of a cook and buys the kitchen utensils he uses then you can get a little bit disappointed that the meal will not taste the same at your home. If you think great websites need specific tools, you are on the wrong track. my 2 c ---
**Author:** ![jutty0069](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/jutty0069/32/517_2.png) [@jutty0069](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/jutty0069)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 5:56am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/77 "2016-09-12T05:56:46Z")
Perhaps it would be better to compare sites users of Foundry and Foundation have created. ---
**Author:** ![manofdogz](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/manofdogz/32/26314_2.png) [@manofdogz](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/manofdogz)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/78 "2016-09-12T17:42:12Z")
Spot on - I like the guitarist Steve Lukather’s take on this subject when people ask him about his gear: “I’m afraid with any gear you won’t sound like me, really even if you DID have the exact gear you wouldn’t. People think it’s the amp and guitar that get the sound… Well, it is not. It HELPS to have great gear but we all sound the same thru any gear. I have played thru EVH’s amps, I played Jeff Becks Strats… I still sound like me playing thru their gear! Hahaha, that’s the way it is. Just groove and sound like yourself and have FUN!!!” ---
**Author:** ![phloque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/848f3c/32.png) [@phloque](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/phloque)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/79 "2016-09-13T23:44:10Z")
Not that I think this thread warrants more airtime. After all, my posit was just an observation about why **I** chose a particular theme, a tack on to an already long discussion about Foundry or Foundation. But I would like to say this. The developer of Foundry says much about “look and feel” and simplicity. “Look and feel” and simplicity are important to me. And tools such as Foundry’s Card Deck, Cards and Style Guide make it so easy to do what I want to do “look and feel” wise. And simplicity of achieving what for me are very powerful functions is built in. I do know that I am quite capable of baking a lousy cake or playing a lousy tune on the very best of equipment. I also know that I am equally capable of building a lousy site on Foundry - or on any other theme for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![zeebe](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/zeebe/32/22007_2.png) [@zeebe](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/zeebe)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/80 "2016-09-14T01:10:55Z")
I don’t think anyone was criticizing you on your choice. Everyone is different when it comes to what they like and how they create stuff. I think the big thing that got people is the comparison of sites. Which, as Joe pointed out, one is made with RapidWeaver, the other is not. Joe believes that if he makes something for a product, he should promote that product by using it. ---
**Author:** ![jutty0069](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/jutty0069/32/517_2.png) [@jutty0069](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/jutty0069)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 8:49am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/81 "2016-09-14T08:49:31Z")
They are both made with Rapidweaver ---
**Author:** ![kryten](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/kryten/32/5313_2.png) [@kryten](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/kryten)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 9:03am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646/82 "2016-09-14T09:03:19Z")
@jutty0069 @zeebe @phloque For what my opinion is worth (not much!) it makes no difference. Both frameworks/offerings are capable of enabling the person to make wonderful things more easily than **ever** before and the RW ecosystem is all the richer for having both of them - and others - to give the user choice. Now, a much MUCH more pertinent and important question needs to be answered here. Who would win in a fight between Gandalf and Dumbledore? Thats what we really want to know 😉 [Previous page](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646.md?page=3) [Next page](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/foundry-foundation-uikit-bootsnap-blueball-freestack-which-framework-to-choose/8646.md?page=5)