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Discussion on: Startups can still feel good about choosing Bootstrap in 2021

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kgilpin profile image
Kevin Gilpin

Bootstrap, like Rails and Java, is unfashionable but battle-hardened.

Allow me an anecdote. In the early 00s, I was a software dev in Boston. The housing market was HOT. Software developers were buying run down houses, writing code all day, and then trying to renovate their lemon houses at night, in hopes of flipping them for big $$$$. How did that work out? They spent a year living with leaky ceilings and asbestos dust, then hiring contractors to finish the job as their girlfriends walked out the door.

What’s the point? You can’t do it all. Figure out where you will innovate, and use the boring, obvious choice for everything else.

Viva Rails, viva Bootstrap, viva SQL, viva Toyota Camry. Viva Stuff That Works.

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Andrei Dascalu

Always, but with the caveat that you shouldn't back yourself in a corner. As "Pragmatic" Dave says, when faced with a choice, use the one that's easier to change later on.

Bootstrap is a no brainer. It's easy to get it up and running, it works, but it's also easy to migrate away from should you need to.

Any monolithic framework isn't. As it encompasses a number of backend + frontend functionalities, Rails isn't easy to migrate away from, particularly with the over reliance on gems that may (or may not) become unsupported as time goes by.

Get it up and running without reinventing the wheel is critical in those first steps towards an MVP, but later on every project will confront the demons it created, usually in terms of security and maintainability.

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appmapruby profile image
AppMap Ruby • Edited

To your point about Bootstrap being easy to migrate away from -- it certainly is. My team encourages people who feel so motivated to write Bootstrap out if they can provide a better way, with a reference implementation in the code and solid docs in a styles.md file that travels with the repo. At this point, the biggest thing we have replaced is the layout system. We use a purpose-built modification of flexbox for page layout.

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AppMap Ruby

Indeed! These choices appear difficult at first but one or two steps in often bring the realization that you don't actually want to do it all. Save that valuable time. Make a habit of force concentration. Viva Stuff That Works! (this might be a sticker)

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mjlinane profile image
MJ Linane

This is a beautiful comment. Also, 👋 from MA.