Yeah, that can be annoying to look at 5 or 6 classes-- it's certainly not semantic and it can be quite a pile. I use foundation and I feel like the class names are more aesthetically pleasing, but that's a really minor concern :D
But practically I find that it's less difficult to make layout changes this way-- I can just cut sections and paste them somewhere else and I don't have to look elsewhere for their actual layout rules. I find it much more difficult to untangle the grid system when I can look at the classes directly on the elements.
I say this having had to do it even for my own code quite a bit... I just find it a little more difficult to think out when I don't have the columns listed on the elements themselves.
But practically I find that it's less difficult to make layout changes this way-- I can just cut sections and paste them somewhere else and I don't have to look elsewhere for their actual layout rules. I find it much more difficult to untangle the grid system when I can look at the classes directly on the elements.
I say this having had to do it even for my own code quite a bit... I just find it a little more difficult to think out when I don't have the columns listed on the elements themselves.