Dev shop Zurb, which makes the Foundation web framework, has just released Foundation 4. The new version brings a host of new tricks and treats for developers and designers, all intended to bring mobile to the forefront.
The framework, said Zurb reps, has been rewritten to work with mobile-first approaches to product design and development — and the mobile-first trend is, indeed, shaping up to be a defining aspect of modern applications.
“Foundation 4 empowers a designer to reverse their thinking — design for the mobile experience before you design for the desktop,” read a Zurb statement on today’s news.
“One big hurdle for designers and developers is trying to figure out a solid starting place for their mobile designs — for them, Foundation is an excellent starting place and a great way to dive head-first into the world of designing for all types of mobile devices.”
Zurb reps said Foundation 4 brings “smarter, more semantic coding” to the table as well as placeholder classes and “mix-ins.”
“The more-streamlined code will allow designers to focus primarily on the HTML, which speeds up coding and time between iterations,” the statement said. “In addition, the JavaScript has been refined. We’ve opted to go with Zepto, a lighter and faster version of jQuery, to ensure that pages load quickly and efficiently given our mobile focus.”
Here’s a sneak peek:
Foundation 4 is available now to download. You can dive right in or browse around the documentation first.
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