Learning a UI framework is like riding a mechanical bull. I started off slow and easy with a false sense of security in creating my first simple HTML page, then WHAM! I’m face down, bruised, bleeding in the dirt trying to figure out Semantic UI. Maybe that was overly dramatic but at the moment I’m struggling to truly reflect on my overall experience using Semantic UI because it is incomplete.
Now I can sit here and paint a beautiful picture of how Semantic UI is an impressive framework that helps create beautiful and responsive webpages with ease using natural language. I can speak about how the framework is broken down into five categories and every component has types, states and variations allowing for flexibility. The utilization of real words versus abbreviations makes it easier to understand your code. Don’t understand something? No worries! The Semantic UI website makes it easy to research what elements are, how they work and provides a copy of code for the different components making learning this framework pain-free.
Pain-free…one can dream! I am no longer under the illusion that “ease of use” means simplicity in learning how to implement this framework. A significant amount of time is required when learning Semantic UI because of its many components and even then you might only have scratched the surface of your understanding. Although the Semantic UI website is a great resource, it’s overwhelming for a beginner trying to learn it all in such a short amount of time. In our “Your Choice” assignment, I grew frustrated trying to figure out how my elements need to be nested, whether I should put elements in containers, is it a header or part of a menu, and why can’t I change my font color in this menu. A large amount of my time went into troubleshooting why my webpage didn’t look how I intended it too. But that’s no fault of the framework, just my needing more practice.
Even with all my hair pulling moments, Semantic UI and UI frameworks are a worthwhile endeavor because I do believe it will make it easier and quicker to create modern and responsive webpages when I have finally mastered it. There’s a steep learning curve when learning UI frameworks. You really have to get in there and just try it out. Although this approach is time-consuming, frustrating, and met with much failed attempts, the little successes of implementing a dropdown menu, icon, or adding an image with text keeps me motivated to keep failing forward.