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I've been using bootstrap 3 for most of my public projects for a few years and bootstrap 4 for some internal projects. I make it a point to try new & popular CS

I've been using bootstrap 3 for most of my public projects for a few years and bootstrap 4 for some internal projects. I make it a point to try new & popular CSS frameworks every few months and ultimately thank God for bootstrap. It has stood the test of time for all these years. Things that I like about bootstrap are : stability, performance, easy custom builds, community support (almost every problem has been addressed on Stackoverflow), ecosystem (themes, extensions, tools). The design out of the box might look cookie cutter, but if you know basic CSS, it is very easy to customize it with minimal effort. Just lookup examples on codepen/stackoverflow. Some people complain about bloat but this is amazing : https://getbootstrap.com/docs/3.3/customize/ https://getbootstrap.com/docs/3.3/customize/ . I have public facing websites with thousands of visitors per day. The performance rating is better than 90% of the websites. Truly want to thank @mdo @fat @cvrebert and the rest of the team for this amazing project.

mdo 9y ago
<3
puranjay 9y ago
I'm not a programmer nor have I ever taken any HTML/CSS classes. The last time I learned HTML/CSS was back in 2000 when WebMonkey was still popular. Thanks to Bootstrap, I've managed to build some very professional looking websites, coded entirely from scratch, all with my existing HTML/CSS knowledge. Just a phenomenally useful framework for non-coders like myself.
- CM30 9y ago
  It's also phenomenally useful for non designers too. I mean okay, is it the most pretty framework? Of course not. But it's got a consistent look and feel to all components, and that look is a mile above anything I could design from scratch. So in the same way you use it to build professional looking websites with limited HTML/CSS knowledge, I use it to build sites with very limited design knowledge and no sense of aesthetics.
  - gedrap 9y ago
    Absolutely. I'm a backend/infrastructure guy and spent a lot of time creating internal tools with web interfaces over the past 3 years. Thanks to Bootstrap, they look decent, modern, took very little time and people were happy to use them. Sure, not the most original designs, but that's light years ahead of crappy interfaces I'd have produced otherwise. Some engineers like to complain about 'yet another bootstrap template' a lot, and I can understand that it gets a bit dull and boring, but that's much better than the alternatives.
philliphaydon 9y ago
I had been using bootstrap for a while until I found http://bulma.io http://bulma.io now I can't stand bootstrap. Still bootstrap has been amazing over the years.
- koverda 9y ago
  Why do you prefer bulma?
  - petepete 9y ago
    Bulma, and others like it (Milligram is my favourite) have enough functionality to get going: responsive layout/grid, typography, form styling) but they don't have a huge, heavy set of components and requirements like Bootstrap. I think people really au fait with CSS prefer to add only what they need rather than serve Bootstrap entirely.
    - SippinLean 9y ago
      > but they don't have a huge, heavy set of components and requirements like Bootstrap That's a drawback. For BS3 or 4 I can just comment out what I don't need. If I do need many of the components and JS modules that Bootstrap provides OOTB, I have to write them myself. I'm using a CSS framework to avoid doing that.
    - allover 9y ago
      > but they don't have a huge, heavy set of components and requirements like Bootstrap. But that's all optional, Bootstrap is modular [1] [2] [3]. [1] https://getbootstrap.com/docs/3.3/customize/ https://getbootstrap.com/docs/3.3/customize/ [2] https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap-sass/blob/master/assets/stylesheets/_bootstrap.scss https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap-sass/blob/master/assets/st... [3] https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/blob/v3-dev/less/bootstrap.less https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/blob/v3-dev/less/bootstrap...
  - JTenerife 9y ago
    I've just started using Bulma with Angular. I don't need or want any javascript, but a pure CSS framework, which Bulma is. Edit: And can be easily customized.
kostarelo 9y ago
It is bloat. Until you meet a CSS preprocessor. https://github.com/kbariotis/kostasbariotis.com/blob/master/src/sass/boot.scss https://github.com/kbariotis/kostasbariotis.com/blob/master/... I can just include what I need and override what I want.
- thinkxl 9y ago
  This.
- tracker1 9y ago
  Agreed, it's been my preferred way to use BS for a long while, first with less, then scss... You can leave a lot behind, and with react/angular there are ui components that don't require all of jQuery.
geekamongus 9y ago
For me, the bloat isn't as big a problem as the fact the 3.x is unmaintained and has at least one known security vulnerability. https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/20184#issuecomment-244818062 https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/20184#issuecomment-...
- heartbreak 9y ago
  That’s as much a vulnerability as <script> letting me pipe user input to it. Should I? Of course not. Can I? Yes. Is it a flawed feature for this reason? No.
- ceejayoz 9y ago
  Calling that a security vulnerability is quite the stretch.
  - geekamongus 9y ago
    I am not sure how an XSS vulnerability is considered a stretch. Perhaps the likelihood of it is low. Is that what you meant? That still doesn't address the overall point, which is that Bootstrap 3 is no longer maintained, according to its project Owner, and this or any future vulnerabilities may or may not be patched. That seems like a significant risk to me.
    - ceejayoz 9y ago
      It's not an XSS vulnerability in Bootstrap for the same reasons <div class="row"> UNESCAPED USER INPUT </div> or <img src="UNESCAPED USER INPUT"> aren't - escaping user input is up to the developer, not Bootstrap. Being essentially a static HTML/CSS framework with a bit of well-tested optional JS, Bootstrap's attack surface is minimal, making future vulnerabilities a pretty unlikely situation. A quick perusal of Github's issues search for "security" finds nothing significant in the past.
      - geekamongus 9y ago
        I will echo this person: "This was found in an application where data-target was based on user input and only passed through standard HTML entities encoding. There is no reason why data-target should interpret HTML so while not impacting many applications it should be fixed in my opinion." https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/20184#issuecomment-229337015 https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/20184#issuecomment-...
thinkxl 9y ago
Accessibility is another benefit from using Bootstrap. From someone who "hated" bootstrap in the past, this feature is the most significant for me.

mdo 9y ago

puranjay 9y ago

I'm not a programmer nor have I ever taken any HTML/CSS classes. The last time I learned HTML/CSS was back in 2000 when WebMonkey was still popular. Thanks to Bootstrap, I've managed to build some very professional looking websites, coded entirely from scratch, all with my existing HTML/CSS knowledge. Just a phenomenally useful framework for non-coders like myself.

CM30 9y ago
It's also phenomenally useful for non designers too. I mean okay, is it the most pretty framework? Of course not. But it's got a consistent look and feel to all components, and that look is a mile above anything I could design from scratch. So in the same way you use it to build professional looking websites with limited HTML/CSS knowledge, I use it to build sites with very limited design knowledge and no sense of aesthetics.
- gedrap 9y ago
  Absolutely. I'm a backend/infrastructure guy and spent a lot of time creating internal tools with web interfaces over the past 3 years. Thanks to Bootstrap, they look decent, modern, took very little time and people were happy to use them. Sure, not the most original designs, but that's light years ahead of crappy interfaces I'd have produced otherwise. Some engineers like to complain about 'yet another bootstrap template' a lot, and I can understand that it gets a bit dull and boring, but that's much better than the alternatives.

philliphaydon 9y ago

I had been using bootstrap for a while until I found http://bulma.io http://bulma.io now I can't stand bootstrap. Still bootstrap has been amazing over the years.

koverda 9y ago
Why do you prefer bulma?
- petepete 9y ago
  Bulma, and others like it (Milligram is my favourite) have enough functionality to get going: responsive layout/grid, typography, form styling) but they don't have a huge, heavy set of components and requirements like Bootstrap. I think people really au fait with CSS prefer to add only what they need rather than serve Bootstrap entirely.
  - SippinLean 9y ago
    > but they don't have a huge, heavy set of components and requirements like Bootstrap That's a drawback. For BS3 or 4 I can just comment out what I don't need. If I do need many of the components and JS modules that Bootstrap provides OOTB, I have to write them myself. I'm using a CSS framework to avoid doing that.
  - allover 9y ago
    > but they don't have a huge, heavy set of components and requirements like Bootstrap. But that's all optional, Bootstrap is modular [1] [2] [3]. [1] https://getbootstrap.com/docs/3.3/customize/ https://getbootstrap.com/docs/3.3/customize/ [2] https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap-sass/blob/master/assets/stylesheets/_bootstrap.scss https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap-sass/blob/master/assets/st... [3] https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/blob/v3-dev/less/bootstrap.less https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/blob/v3-dev/less/bootstrap...
- JTenerife 9y ago
  I've just started using Bulma with Angular. I don't need or want any javascript, but a pure CSS framework, which Bulma is. Edit: And can be easily customized.

kostarelo 9y ago

It is bloat. Until you meet a CSS preprocessor. https://github.com/kbariotis/kostasbariotis.com/blob/master/src/sass/boot.scss https://github.com/kbariotis/kostasbariotis.com/blob/master/... I can just include what I need and override what I want.

thinkxl 9y ago
This.
tracker1 9y ago
Agreed, it's been my preferred way to use BS for a long while, first with less, then scss... You can leave a lot behind, and with react/angular there are ui components that don't require all of jQuery.

geekamongus 9y ago

For me, the bloat isn't as big a problem as the fact the 3.x is unmaintained and has at least one known security vulnerability. https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/20184#issuecomment-244818062 https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/20184#issuecomment-...

heartbreak 9y ago
That’s as much a vulnerability as <script> letting me pipe user input to it. Should I? Of course not. Can I? Yes. Is it a flawed feature for this reason? No.
ceejayoz 9y ago
Calling that a security vulnerability is quite the stretch.
- geekamongus 9y ago
  I am not sure how an XSS vulnerability is considered a stretch. Perhaps the likelihood of it is low. Is that what you meant? That still doesn't address the overall point, which is that Bootstrap 3 is no longer maintained, according to its project Owner, and this or any future vulnerabilities may or may not be patched. That seems like a significant risk to me.
  - ceejayoz 9y ago
    It's not an XSS vulnerability in Bootstrap for the same reasons <div class="row"> UNESCAPED USER INPUT </div> or <img src="UNESCAPED USER INPUT"> aren't - escaping user input is up to the developer, not Bootstrap. Being essentially a static HTML/CSS framework with a bit of well-tested optional JS, Bootstrap's attack surface is minimal, making future vulnerabilities a pretty unlikely situation. A quick perusal of Github's issues search for "security" finds nothing significant in the past.
    - geekamongus 9y ago
      I will echo this person: "This was found in an application where data-target was based on user input and only passed through standard HTML entities encoding. There is no reason why data-target should interpret HTML so while not impacting many applications it should be fixed in my opinion." https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/20184#issuecomment-229337015 https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/20184#issuecomment-...

thinkxl 9y ago

Accessibility is another benefit from using Bootstrap. From someone who "hated" bootstrap in the past, this feature is the most significant for me.