Is it time to let go of Bootstrap?

For the longest time I spent way too much time using what seemed to be the trends, and the latest and greatest out there. I spent too much time preaching that Bootstrap should not be used because I’ve seen so many people say it shouldn’t be used. On and on with every new web development trend or technology.

I’ve learned a couple things - stop doing it. Anyone that says you can’t develop a good application because you use bootstrap, jQuery, or some other framework/tool doesn’t know web development the way they think they do. There is so much more to web development than what we think of, and not every company is like what company you work at.

Where I work, 90% of all our applications we start and finish are done in Bootstrap and jQuery. And most of them are absolutely great applications. Why? Because they can be. It also is because of the clients we get. We develop applications that MUST be turned out very quickly. We can’t afford to create our own design system or our own component library that can be customized, work reliably, and more from scratch.

My point from this is for the new people in the industry who see posts like this and see people say “nope don’t use it anymore.” I say this - use what you and your company can use to succeed. If your company can’t afford to go off and create their own design system, or to use the latest and greatest tech, then don’t do it. It’s not even all about using the right tool for the job. It’s about using the right tool for the job that can also get your project done on time, under budget, and makes your client happy.

Bootstrap is still my goto because I know it fairly well. I think BS gets a bad rep because it's so easy to use the defaults and put up an unstyled website that looks like every other BS website, but if you spend a bit of time changing the defaults and writing some of your own CSS you can easily get a fully responsive website that is 100% unique.
I know there is a lot of new hotness around Tailwind but at this moment I don't see the point in investing the time to learn something new when BS still works fine for me.

Unrelated side rant:
Bulma is a bit of a nonstarter for me because it's not accessible .

I agree with you @lukeshiru :-)

There are better alternatives out there, like Tailwind and Material. The purpose of Bootstrap today in 2021 is drastically reduced, but we must admit that, it still acts as a entry point for many people ,AFAIK Even I started my journey with Bootstrap and then started learning Tailwind, which hepled in my case.

I also use a "no-class" CSS framework called "SpectreCSS" :-)

Happy that you've responded!

Am I the only one who is deeply unsatisfied with the React Bootstrap framework? It just feels like I have to write a lot of boilerplate.

Before React, I used to enjoy Bootstrap. :/

I tried bootstrap many years ago, When I saw 3 nested divs for just centering a div in container, I stopped trying it.

The only reason I know a little bit of bootstrap is because almost all the templates I used to download for a quick freelance project, were built with bootstrap. I can't even stand tailwind. I have used it but it's much easier and faster to just write css with some sass mixins.

But then, I am not really a designer.

Don't use it in 2021 there is no point.

I agree with @chadsmith71
I and my team have turned out absolutely stunning projects using some of the most dis-repped technologies on the planet today. Bootstrap, jQuery, ASP.NET and I mean WebForms too as well as MVC. I've been doing that with my team's for close on 20 years. Some of these technologies entered later and some earlier.
As an old coot, let me tell you that if anyone says these make the sites/apps look conformist and clones of the ones made by newbies, mean that you haven't customized the design enough or that you have third rate Frontend developers who don't know their Grid and Flex well enough.
jQuery is an awesome tool and combined with knockoutjs, breezejs will blow anything you throw at it out of the arena.
Devs have absolutely no business :

1. Reselecting selected elements again and again because that is how they do it on SO( which I respect)
2. Using multiple jQuery versions in the same project. Absolutely incompetence.
3. Horrible code structures that begin with a multiple selector and then explicitly Using a for I loop to reselect the same elements over and over again. I'd fire them from my company till they can prove to me that they understand, really understand jQuerys concept or polymorphic return objects.

Taking a wholistic view, all these common mistakes that I see devs making are driven by incompetence, haste, ignorance and the lust for those shiny newer toys that donot focus on the simple deliverables. They try to solve a problem that is simply not so.
Bootstrap has power and flexibility to support technology as old as time it self. The venerable and much reviled IE. In addition to others like Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera and some 3rd rate Android browsers.

I think the whole attitude thing is more like learning to ride a bicycle with your favourite parent who have taught many of the neighborhood kids on the same bicycle too.
The young teen now feels cocky enough to call out the old parents on their uniform consistent training methods that donot factor in the latest complicated training videos.
All this bottled up rage just means the new dev knows less of the proven, reliable old and speaks more of the unmastered, undigested new and latest fad on the market.

Tailwind has been an excellent option for me even if it does require a bit more writing but bootstrap is a great place to start at if you need to. Bootstrap still offers an extensive css system that is easy to work with.
I would also like to suggest the SemanticCSS community fork version. It's alternative that i've been enjoying as well.

Subject: " Is it time to let go of Bootstrap? "
Closing Paragraph: " Should we use Bootstrap still in 2021? Of course, It is best in class for rapid web-design [..] If you want a quick site for a Boot camp you arrange next week, go for Bootstrap, It's faster to build, gives responsiveness. "

This is clickbait at its worst.

I always thought that Tailwind and Bootstrap were basically the same thing except that Bootstrap ships with some basic components.

In the Tailwind documentation they say:

You can also use Tailwind’s @apply feature to create CSS abstractions around common utility patterns.

<button class="py-2 px-4 font-semibold rounded-lg shadow-md text-white bg-green-500 hover:bg-green-700">
  Click me
</button>

<!-- Extracting classes using @apply -->
<button class="btn btn-green">
  Button
</button>

<style>
  .btn {
    @apply py-2 px-4 font-semibold rounded-lg shadow-md;
  }
  .btn-green {
    @apply text-white bg-green-500 hover:bg-green-700;
  }
</style>

.
tailwindcss.com/docs/utility-first...

It's a duck. Maybe it got a new paintjob, but it's still a duck.

after along research for the good choice, finaly i decide to use tailwind. tailwind more flexible and strong enough to beat bootstrap. Tailwind offer more than framework do, there some feature i love like custom theme, minimize, etc. i think the bootstrap must do their best to following the trend, and the flexibility.

how about you @codereaper08

i have a mini-sass-library of my own that I use it after config to generate many styles needed for every project ..
so it allowed me somehow, to abandon most of the bootstrap's utility classes ...
BUT, bootstrap has some extended versions for most js frameworks that still take the heavy lifting ...
Example : bootstrap-vue.org/

Great article Vishwa.R. I have been developing Angular projects for almost 4 years and have been using bootstrap css since, not really taking in other option so will definitely be checking these out and learning more about them!

I've no longer using Bootstrap since 2016 after doing a project and got nice cash.
It is popular but not so intuitive.

Finally in 2021 Tailwind makes sense, only the setup is bit complicated and it takes different way than any traditional CSS fws out there

Bootstrap is not bad, it's good fast development tools. and it's good for people who worked in backend and not accustomed to native CSS. styling in native CSS has more pain for some developer.