Show HN: FoundationMade – Marketplace for Foundation Themes | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: FoundationMade – Marketplace for Foundation Themes

foundationmade.com

39 pointsscottyd19 comments

Before Foundation 4 I was a heavy Bootstrap user. But after seeing how the update to the framework made it so much more powerful, I started digging into Foundation.

After some playing around with it, I felt it would be a great base for themes and things like that, since it's grid is, in my opinion, one of the best out there. I also liked that it has no opinion on how buttons should look specifically, like Bootstrap seems to.

With the power and ability to use SCSS mixins to create all of the elements for themes, I thought it would be the perfect match. I also think there is a divide among developers on whether to use Foundation or Bootstrap, so I thought providing a marketplace for Foundation themes would be the obvious next step.

Hey scottyd, can you please explain to me what some of these powerful features Foundation 4 offers that Bootstrap don't? I'm looking for an excuse to switch to Foundation myself =P

Thanks./

The things I personally like about Foundation 4 as opposed to Bootstrap (at least in it's current state), are one; it's mobile-first. So it will always be responsive. I've always been interested in supporting as many browsers/screen-sizes as possible, and Bootstrap doesn't push that right now, although in Bootstrap 3 I suppose they will also be mobile-first.

I also really appreciate the mixins, which I feel not only make it possible to create more semantic classes, but also you can easily customize the base Foundation styles with exactly how you want it to look (e.g. Remove a border from a button if you don't want it). As far as I'm aware, it's not possible to do things of that nature with Bootstrap. Bootstrap offers some LESS variables, but the majority of that is for changing colors and small things of that nature.

If you take a look at the Foundation documents, the majority of the pages have a bottom area that describes the use of SCSS mixins. I think they probably do a better job at describing the ways you can use it than I can.

Also, I loved Bootstrap at first. As a developer, it helped introduce me to some design elements like things like the grid and the overall appearance of their elements. I think that's great. But now that I feel more comfortable with design, I think Foundation gets out of your way a lot more when you're looking to do more design work yourself.

Bootstrap is good if you are happy with its default design and do not want to customize it much.

If all you need is a good starting grid and some useful javascript libraries to work with, I would suggest that you take a look at Foundation. It gives you a good starting point and doesn't get in your way after that.

At Resumonk (http://www.resumonk.com), we started off with Bootstrap and then moved to Foundation because of the flexibility that it provided. Now we've just updated Resumonk from Foundation 2.x to Foundation 4. The upgrade went very smoothly and we also plan to write a blog post about it soon.

I LOVE Foundation. One of the big bonuses is SASS (not that LESS is awful, mind you.) Speaking of buttons, have you played with this project:

http://jaredhardy.com/sassy-buttons/

Or do you know other button projects or style elements that can more easily be combined into Foundation? I'm always on the hunt for this kind of thing because, frankly, my design abilities are on par with a 3-yr old.

I have actually never seen those buttons before but they look nice. When I get a chance I'll have to play around with incorporating it into a Foundation project.

Unfortunately I don't know too many style elements that are made for use with Foundation yet. I'd imagine most SCSS/SASS stylesheets would work well with it though. Perhaps my next project will be to compile a list of free resources for use specifically with Foundation, similar to what Bootsnipp has for Bootstrap resources: bootsnipp.com/resource.

I'd certainly like to see Foundation's ecosystem to grow to the size of Bootstrap's.

Neat idea but I think your Launch & Found Theme (https://www.foundationmade.com/themes/item/FMyyfMtM) looks a bit too similar to this Embark theme (https://wrapbootstrap.com/theme/embark-early-access-and-invi...).

The big reason I've been using Bootstrap for client websites recently has been the wrapbootstrap store. I'd been looking for something equivalent with Foundation, but haven't found one. This looks like it. I hope it takes off! I might submit a theme too if I get some time.

I'm glad to hear that. I think the ecosystem around Bootstrap has been wonderful and a lot of themes on wrapbootstrap are very nice. I'm hoping that FoundationMade can offer the same type of selection for people who prefer Foundation.

I don't really understand why these frameworks need themes.

IMO, they should be used as a hidden framework instead of driving the visuals. Essentially, they should just be a grid system.

Some people would prefer to use a theme that has a familiar backing to them. I think a lot of themes boil down to mostly using the grid system of the framework, but its nice to at least have familiar/standard grid to work off of once you've purchased a theme. Some people also prefer the visuals of some of these frameworks so allowing them to use the framework of their preference when you choose to sell a theme is a good reason to use something like this. Other elements and JavaScript elements like the modals and things are a nice bonus you get from theming a well-built framework like Foundation.

I've been waiting for a Foundation-specific marketplace to launch some themes.

Excited to get started! Looks great!

This looks great! I hope this takes off. I've been waiting for a Foundation marketplace such as this.

Thanks! It sounds like we share the same hopes! :)

I don't see any themes?

Right now there's only one. I spent most of my time getting a marketplace built, and I put a single theme there for now. I've contacted a few theme developers and they are working on getting Foundation-based themes ready to submit. Hopefully in the next few days/weeks we'll have a much larger offering.

I've also started out offering a much higher commission rate for the first bunch of approved themes so that will hopefully increase the growth rate of the site.

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