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CSS VS Semantic UI

Compare CSS VS Semantic UI and see what are their differences

CSS logo CSS

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a simple mechanism for adding style (e.g.

Semantic UI logo Semantic UI

A UI Component library implemented using a set of specifications designed around natural language
  • CSS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-06-12

We recommend LibHunt CSS for discovery and comparisons of trending CSS projects.

  • Semantic UI Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-10-20

CSS features and specs

  • Separation of Concerns
    CSS allows developers to separate content from design by keeping style definitions in separate files from HTML. This separation makes it easier to maintain and update code.
  • Consistent Design
    By using CSS, developers can ensure consistent styling across multiple web pages by reusing styles, which improves user experience and development efficiency.
  • Responsive Design
    CSS enables developers to create responsive web designs that adapt to different screen sizes and devices using media queries and flexible layouts.
  • Efficient Performance
    CSS can improve page load times because styles are cached separately and only need to be downloaded once, reducing the amount of duplicate code.
  • Compatibility with Multiple Browsers
    CSS is supported by all modern browsers, which allows web pages to function and appear as intended across different platforms.
  • Flexibility and Creativity
    CSS provides developers with a wide range of styling options, including animations and transformations, enabling creative and interactive web designs.

Possible disadvantages of CSS

  • Cross-Browser Inconsistencies
    Despite standardization efforts, CSS can render differently across browsers, leading to challenges in achieving consistent appearance and functionality.
  • Complexity with Scaling
    As projects grow, CSS code can become complex and difficult to maintain unless properly organized, leading to specificity issues and bloated files.
  • Limited Functionality
    CSS cannot perform dynamic or logic-based actions on its own, which limits its functionality compared to scripting languages, making it reliant on JavaScript for interactivity.
  • Overhead of Frameworks
    While CSS frameworks (e.g., Bootstrap) offer pre-built styles, they can add unnecessary overhead or restrict custom design choices if not used carefully.
  • Learning Curve
    Although CSS is a foundational technology, mastering CSS, including its advanced features and responsive design principles, can have a steep learning curve.

Semantic UI features and specs

  • Intuitive Class Names
    Semantic UI uses human-readable class names that describe their purpose, making it easy to understand and write code without consulting documentation frequently.
  • Customizability
    Semantic UI allows for deep customizability with its theming, letting developers adjust the default designs to match specific project requirements.
  • Comprehensive Components
    Semantic UI provides a wide range of pre-built components like buttons, forms, and modals, which can significantly speed up development time.
  • Flexibility
    The framework offers flexibility in terms of its modular structure, enabling developers to import only the components they need.
  • Detailed Documentation
    Semantic UI has detailed and well-organized documentation, which helps developers quickly resolve issues and understand how to use various features.

Possible disadvantages of Semantic UI

  • Large File Size
    The framework's comprehensive nature can lead to larger file sizes, which might affect the load times of web applications.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its intuitive naming conventions, the breadth of components and features can result in a steep learning curve for new developers.
  • Community Support
    Unlike more popular frameworks like Bootstrap, Semantic UI has a smaller community, which can mean fewer third-party plugins and community support.
  • Incomplete Integration
    Some integrations with newer JavaScript frameworks such as React or Vue might require extra effort or third-party libraries, given that Semantic UI is not natively designed for them.
  • Infrequent Updates
    The development and updates to Semantic UI have been less frequent compared to other UI frameworks, potentially leading to compatibility and security issues.

CSS videos

Learn CSS in 20 Minutes

More videos:

  • Review - HTML CSS Review
  • Tutorial - CSS Tutorial - Zero to Hero (Complete Course)

Semantic UI videos

Semantic UI In 60 Minutes

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CSS and Semantic UI)
Design Tools
6 6%
94% 94
CSS Framework
7 7%
93% 93
Programming Language
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare CSS and Semantic UI

CSS Reviews

We have no reviews of CSS yet.
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Semantic UI Reviews

22 Best Bootstrap Alternatives & What Each Is Best For
I chose Semantic UI because of its intuitive and accessible approach to design. Its use of human-friendly HTML sets it apart from many other frameworks, making it a more natural choice for developers prioritizing user-friendly designs. From my perspective, Semantic UI is the best tool for creating websites and applications that are easy for both developers and end users to...
Source: thectoclub.com
10 Best Free React UI Libraries in 2023
The styling of Semantic UI React is based on the Semantic UI theme and it's also free from jQuery. Apart from that, there are other useful features like augmentation, shorthand props, auto controlled state, etc.
11 Best Material UI Alternatives
Semantic UI supports theming and customization, allowing developers to customize the appearance of their UI components to align with their project’s branding. With its intuitive syntax and detailed documentation, Semantic UI is a valuable tool for designing and developing modern web interfaces.
Source: www.uxpin.com
Top 10 Best CSS Frameworks for Front-End Developers in 2022
If you’re just starting out with CSS and UI, go for Tacit, Pure, or Skeleton. However, to build more complex elements, you’ll need a more inclusive framework like Foundation, Tailwind, or Bootstrap. You can get an easy learning curve through Bulma or Semantic UI.
Source: hackr.io
15 Best CSS Frameworks: Professional Bootstrap and Foundation Alternatives
If you exclude the fact that Semantic UI doesn’t have the utility classes Bootstrap offers, it is a comprehensive CSS framework that you should try. The best Semantic feature allows you to write HTML code without using BEM methodologies.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Semantic UI seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 19 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

CSS mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of CSS yet. Tracking of CSS recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Semantic UI mentions (19)

  • 100+ Must-Have Web Development Resources
    Semantic UI: A fully semantic front-end development framework. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Ant Design – the second most popular React UI framework
    Semantic UI[1] was one I used to use, both the plain CSS one as well as the React version of the library. Version 3.0 is coming (eventually), which has left it a bit outdated for a while, but it's still a solid UI library imho. I have been switching away to Tailwind. [1]: https://semantic-ui.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Ask HN: I'm bad at design, which stops me from finishing side projects. Advice?
    What stack are you using? I personally recommend utilizing readily available components: https://ui.shadcn.com/ https://mui.com/ https://semantic-ui.com/ etc.. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • I hate CSS: how can I build UIs?
    Are you cool with JS frameworks? If so, you can use a higher level of abstraction that takes care of the CSS for you. If you just want to mock something up, you can use a pre-built UI system / component framework and just put together UIs declaratively, without having to worry about the underlying CSS or HTML at all. Examples include https://mui.com/ and https://chakra-ui.com/ and https://ant.design/ Really easy... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Software Design Document - Lite
    Honestly you should build a webpage and use a UI library if you want markdown with some extra pop. Check out semantic ui. Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing CSS and Semantic UI, you can also consider the following products

PHP - A popular general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to web development

Bootstrap - Simple and flexible HTML, CSS, and JS for popular UI components and interactions

Python - Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.

Materialize CSS - A modern responsive front-end framework based on Material Design

Java - A concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, language specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible

UIKit - A lightweight and modular front-end framework for developing fast and powerful web interfaces