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Yes, you should learn CSS. Whether or not you should roll your own bespoke CSS/JS for interface components depends on the project. You will learn a lot more abo

Yes, you should learn CSS. Whether or not you should roll your own bespoke CSS/JS for interface components depends on the project. You will learn a lot more about CSS if you do it yourself. However, I encourage most folks to just use Bootstrap (or Foundation). They're not hard to learn, handle a lot of browser issues for you, are easily customizable, and are very well documented. If someone ever tells you that Bootstrap is "bloated" or that they "don't like its design choices", they've probably never seen http://getbootstrap.com/customize/ http://getbootstrap.com/customize/. As a developer, I strongly prefer picking up projects that just use an established framework. No, it's not hard to go through someone's crappy CSS/JS components, but it's just another thing to think about. Let someone else write the JS for dropdown interactions and just build your app.

jasim 10y ago
If you're starting from a vector design (designed in Sketch for example) and need to convert it into a design, would you recommend using Bootstrap's components and overriding them, or is it easier to roll everything yourself?
- csharpminor 10y ago
  This depends on how closely your designer's ideas can be mapped to existing Bootstrap components. If it's a very conceptual project (maybe an infographic or product advertisement) it may be better to start from scratch. Most of the time though, I try to limit the extent of my designer's vocabulary by having them use a sketch template and see how far they get. There are iOS, Android, and even a Bootstrap template that they can start with: https://www.sketchappsources.com/free-source/349-bootstrap-3-vector-ui-kit.html https://www.sketchappsources.com/free-source/349-bootstrap-3... All of those usually resolve into components that can be mapped to something in Bootstrap or Foundation. If your designer can't solve an interface problem with something from those templates, that's often a sign that there's a bigger problem in your app's structure.

jasim 10y ago

If you're starting from a vector design (designed in Sketch for example) and need to convert it into a design, would you recommend using Bootstrap's components and overriding them, or is it easier to roll everything yourself?

csharpminor 10y ago
This depends on how closely your designer's ideas can be mapped to existing Bootstrap components. If it's a very conceptual project (maybe an infographic or product advertisement) it may be better to start from scratch. Most of the time though, I try to limit the extent of my designer's vocabulary by having them use a sketch template and see how far they get. There are iOS, Android, and even a Bootstrap template that they can start with: https://www.sketchappsources.com/free-source/349-bootstrap-3-vector-ui-kit.html https://www.sketchappsources.com/free-source/349-bootstrap-3... All of those usually resolve into components that can be mapped to something in Bootstrap or Foundation. If your designer can't solve an interface problem with something from those templates, that's often a sign that there's a bigger problem in your app's structure.