How to create breakpoints in Framer

October 8, 2023
Written by Chris

Breakpoints in web design are a crucial aspect. They are responsible for better user experience across all devices and screen sizes.

If you’re new to Framer, you can explore Framer and all its features in our detailed guide.

How do you add breakpoints to a Framer website?

Fortunately, Framer does not require a deep technical knowledge of CSS and media queries, so setting up breakpoints for desktop, tablet, and phone is quite easy:

  1. Open your Framer template.
  2. Click on “Breakpoint +”.
  3. Click on “Tablet” and “Phone“.
  4. You now have breakpoints for desktop, tablet, and phone.
Picture above: The blue banner above the viewport is the current breakpoint. Clicking the “Breakpoint +” lets you add phone and tablet breakpoints.
Picture above: In this template, we have successfully added breakpoints for tablets and phones.

Let’s talk about inheritance

Inheritance is an important topic when we talk about breakpoints in Framer.

Editing the first main breakpoint (often desktop breakpoint) will affect other breakpoints. This is called inheritance because smaller breakpoints inherit the layout from the main breakpoint.

This ensures you don’t have to do everything twice or thrice. Changes done by the main breakpoint can be overridden.

If the desktop breakpoint has a fixed width, but the tablet should have a fit content width, you can override the desktop by changing the tablet breakpoint.

Mobile-first design

When starting out with web development, you may have heard the term mobile-first design.

Mobile-first design is the approach to a web application or website that designers should design for mobile first.

From a historical point of view, web developers and web designers have developed and designed websites for desktops (which is where we work), but since the majority of readers are on mobile devices, this approach is somewhat outdated.

When designing for mobile first, you ensure that:

  • All elements that fit on the smallest screen must fit on larger screens.
  • Prioritize only essential elements are present since the screen limits the viewport.

FAQ about breakpoints in Framer

What is the default Framer breakpoint?

Every new Framer template starts with the default desktop breakpoint. This is 1200 pixels wide. This can be edited to fit your needs.

Many designers change the default breakpoint to 1440 pixels, which is a wider breakpoint than the default one.

How do I make my Framer template more responsive?

You can create a more responsive template by adding breakpoints to your Framer template. This is an easy way to increase your template user experience. Follow the instructions in this article to make your template more responsive.

If you are into AI, Framer AI lets you build fully responsive websites, so you don’t have to worry about responsiveness on mobile devices.

What are breakpoints?

In short, breakpoints are defined as points at which a website’s content and design will adapt in a way that provides the best user experience.

In other words, breakpoints are a range of predetermined screen sizes with specific layout requirements.

If you’ve ever viewed a blog on a mobile and switched to the desktop version (e.g., Selfdeployed.com), you can see that even if the screen size has changed, many common items are shared between the mobile and desktop versions.