Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Pattern Lab VS Flexbox Grid

Compare Pattern Lab VS Flexbox Grid and see what are their differences

Pattern Lab logo Pattern Lab

Create atomic design systems with Pattern Lab.

Flexbox Grid logo Flexbox Grid

Grid based on CSS3 flexbox
  • Pattern Lab Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-20
  • Flexbox Grid Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-21

Pattern Lab features and specs

  • Component-Driven Development
    Pattern Lab encourages a modular approach by allowing developers to create reusable components, which promotes consistency and efficiency in developing user interfaces.
  • Atomic Design
    It is built on the Atomic Design methodology, which helps in designing systems by breaking down interfaces into basic building blocks, leading to more manageable and scalable design systems.
  • Live Style Guide
    Pattern Lab generates a live style guide that updates in real time as components are developed, making it easy for designers and developers to stay in sync with the design system.
  • Platform Agnostic
    Pattern Lab can be integrated with various development stacks and workflows, making it flexible and adaptable to a wide range of projects.
  • Enhanced Collaboration
    By facilitating a shared language and set of tools between designers and developers, Pattern Lab improves collaboration and reduces communication barriers.

Possible disadvantages of Pattern Lab

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For teams that are new to the Atomic Design methodology or to Pattern Lab itself, there can be a significant learning curve required to get up to speed.
  • Initial Setup Complexity
    Setting up a project can be complex, especially for beginners, as it requires understanding both the tool and the underlying design principles thoroughly.
  • Limited Customization
    Although flexible, Pattern Lab does have limitations in terms of customizations, which may not be suitable for very specific or unique project requirements.
  • Performance Overheads
    As projects grow in size and complexity, managing and compiling a large number of components can lead to performance overheads, affecting build times.
  • Maintenance Burden
    Keeping the Pattern Lab and its components in sync with the ongoing changes in projects can become a maintenance burden over time, requiring dedicated resources.

Flexbox Grid features and specs

  • Responsive Design
    Flexbox Grid is designed to create complex layouts that adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes, facilitating responsive web design.
  • Simplified Alignment
    The use of Flexbox makes it easier to align and distribute space among items in a container without using floats or positioning.
  • Consistency
    Flexbox Grid provides a consistent layout structure, making it easier to maintain and scale web projects without layout issues.
  • Cross-Browser Compatibility
    Flexbox is supported by most modern browsers, ensuring that Flexbox Grid layouts work across various platforms.
  • Flexible Layouts
    Flexbox Grid allows for flexible and dynamic grid layouts that can be easily adjusted with CSS properties.

Possible disadvantages of Flexbox Grid

  • Learning Curve
    Flexbox Grid requires understanding Flexbox principles, which can be challenging for beginners who are not familiar with CSS Flexbox.
  • Limited Older Browser Support
    Older browsers may not fully support Flexbox properties, potentially creating issues in layout rendering.
  • Performance Overhead
    Using a grid framework can introduce additional performance overhead compared to custom CSS solutions tailored to specific needs.
  • Dependency
    Relying on a grid system like Flexbox Grid means adding a dependency to your project, possibly increasing maintenance concerns.

Pattern Lab videos

Introduction to Pattern Lab

More videos:

  • Review - Using Pattern Lab to Design More Efficiently

Flexbox Grid videos

No Flexbox Grid videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Pattern Lab and Flexbox Grid)
Design Tools
55 55%
45% 45
CSS Framework
29 29%
71% 71
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Website Builder
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Pattern Lab and Flexbox Grid. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Pattern Lab and Flexbox Grid

Pattern Lab Reviews

We have no reviews of Pattern Lab yet.
Be the first one to post

Flexbox Grid Reviews

Top 5 Bootstrap Alternatives
The Flexbox Grid, as the name suggests, is a grid system based on the CSS Flexbox properties. However, unlike the CSS technique, all the complexity is nicely abstracted away so that you focus only on placing elements the way you want. The best part is that all the code and class names mimic what you’d want in Bootstrap 4, which means switching between these two tools...
Source: geekflare.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Flexbox Grid might be a bit more popular than Pattern Lab. We know about 7 links to it since March 2021 and only 6 links to Pattern Lab. 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.

Pattern Lab mentions (6)

  • Unlocking the frontend – a call for standardizing component APIs pt.2
    While this helped ease integration work, in parallel to that we also started exploring more systematic approaches on the frontend side itself. With the advent of Brad Frost Atomic Design, and tools like Pattern Lab, we started using a more component-centric approach. This included colocating all styling (CSS), behavior (JavaScript) and semantic structure (HTML) for a component, and way better encapsulation as a... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Atomic Design: A Methodology for Building Design Systems
    In order to apply this methodology in your work, you can use a tool called Pattern Lab, created by Brad Frost and Dave Olsen. Pattern Lab is a tool to create atomic design systems. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Integrating Accessibility In The Web Development Process
    Something that would really help to work with tested components and stay consistent with the code and guarantee code quality would be a component library created with Storybook or Pattern Lab, for example. Developers who have a high level of knowledge of how to write accessible code can create components and test them before implementing them. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
  • How do you make the styling of the site flexible to fast change, but not tedious to actually go in and change every single detail?
    You can read more about Atomic Design Systems and how it scales. I've used Patternlab and I find it awesome. Source: over 3 years ago
  • fractal.build as an atomic design tool
    Fractal seemed easier, at least to me, to understand and maintain, than PatternLab, which I failed to install due a bug in the current installer (and when I managed to install the grunt version, I was already told that there is fractal as a possible alternative). - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
View more

Flexbox Grid mentions (7)

  • I'm currently in the interview process for a Jr. Full Stack Developer position, and I was given this take-home test that has me on the verge of pulling my hair out.
    Not that everyone is the same but here's what I would do. 1) Start with how the data is organized by using Postman to fetch the JSON because they will give me an idea of the kind of data and how I should interact 2) Then proceed to the things I don't know well. In my case, Tabindexes: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Global_attributes/tabindex Aria-labels:... Source: about 2 years ago
  • Why is tailwind so hyped?
    May you provide a specific scenario? A decade old 960gs provide a custom grid that could be easily tuned to any "proportion of the screen". Random super minimalistic http://flexboxgrid.com/ from the 10 seconds google search had a flex-basis param that could tune grid on the fly. Every other modern "flex css grid framework" has mediaqueries and basic components slapped on top. Barebones grid and flexbox provide... Source: over 2 years ago
  • Tailwind is now the most popular CSS framework in NPM
    Here is a great CSS library that is just the column system. http://flexboxgrid.com/ It has the same naming as bootstrap. I personally just use flex and grid since it so powerful I have no need for a grid system. I just use grid template columns and then flex for pretty much everything else. Tis is why I love Tailwind CSS. It so much more powerful it has all the break points for you and then just lets you get to... Source: over 2 years ago
  • Massive use of div containers in Yelp.com: is that really necessary?
    If it helps this is my go-to flex grid system when I start a new project. I usually build the big blocks using the utility classes provided by flexboxgrid (which is percentage-based), and then go in each component and fine tune each one. I also extended it a little bit to cover some uses cases that I felt it missed. Source: over 2 years ago
  • How to use this bootstrap grid alternative?
    Did you check out it's documentation? http://flexboxgrid.com/. Source: almost 4 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Pattern Lab and Flexbox Grid, you can also consider the following products

Storybook - Storybook is an open source tool for developing UI components in isolation for React, Vue, and Angular. It makes building stunning UIs organized and efficient.

FlexboxPatterns - Build awesome user interfaces with CSS flexbox

Swanky Docs - A simple, flexible and powerful ecosystem for creating beautiful documentation.

Simple Grid - Responsive & lightweight CSS grid for your website.

vov.css - A small class-based animation library consisting of small but useful animations.

Lucas Gruwez - 🏊 + ⛵️ + 👨‍💻 | 🇦🇺 ↔️ 🇧🇪