What is Bootstrap in Coding: How to Use it Effectively
Tech buzzwords are everywhere. Now, if you work in technology, you probably already have the answer to this question: “What is Bootstrap?” But most people still need to keep up with the constantly evolving industry language.
Which brings us back to: “What is Bootstrap?” It is a set of open-source frontend development tools that rev up the process of making fully responsive websites. It offers reusable HTML, Javascript, or CSS codes that would have taken you hours to write, freeing up your time to focus on designing websites. And here’s the clincher: You can download it free from GitHub.
A Brief History of Bootstrap
Before we get further into what Bootstrap is, a quick look at its history is relevant. Former Twitter employees Jacob Thornton and Mark Otto came up with this highly compatible web development toolkit in 2011. In its early stages, Bootstrap was called Twitter Blueprint. Almost 12 years back, developers and designers joined forces to use this free style guide to develop fully responsive web pages in the first-ever Hack Week held by Twitter. After twenty versions and four major rewrites, we now have Bootstrap 5, which includes custom design form controls that were missing from older versions.
How Does Bootstrapping Work in 2022?
The latest rewrite of Bootstrap (version 5.2) has introduced a popper upgrade from version 1.x to 2.x, a far more efficient positioning engine for all your website placements. Poppers are JS components that enable you to position contextual elements in web pages, such as dropdowns or tooltips.
Bootstrap’s core is a web page’s architecture and design. This layout component, called the Container, is an information capsule of a web page’s elements. Bootstrap components have three parts:
- An HTML structure
- A CSS declaration
- An optional JavaScript code
What is Bootstrap Used for?
The key use is the simplification of website development with Bootstrap through the reusable codes for colors, font sizes, premium themes, typography, navigation, forms, and other template elements. Simply insert the code and customize Bootstrap’s predefined grid system. Bootstrap’s high compatibility lets all modern web browsers display aesthetic elements uniformly. The toolkit includes codes for page headings, highlighting, prominent pull quotes, and light- and dark-colored tables. Bootstrap’s extensive customization gives web developers substantial creative freedom.
Why is Bootstrap So Popular?
What makes Bootstrap a go-to for web designers? Let’s find out.
1. Responsive Grid
Bootstrap hits the bull’s eye with its uber-responsive grid system. No more coding the grid from scratch. Here it is predefined with containers ready to take in all your content. Furthermore, you can create custom breakpoints by simply clicking on one of the predefined breaks.
2. Responsive Images
Bootstrap has a native code for resizing and reshaping images according to the current screen size. All you have to do is add the respective class and the associated CSS code gets the work done. For instance, add img.responsive class to the desired pixels to match images with your current screen size. For round images, add img-rounded, and you’re set.
3. Components
The host of responsive designs and elements in Bootstrap blend seamlessly with any template of your choice. In other words, ready-made functionality saves you ample coding time. This pumps up your creative potential as you get to work with:
- Navbar toggle
- Progress bar
- Dropdowns
- Thumbnails
4. Javascript
Bootstrap not only simplifies the coding counterpart of webpage development but also makes interactivity easy. The toolkit allows you to play with over a dozen Javascript plugins such as image carousels, model popups, and automatic navigation updates for scrolling.
5. Documentation
Bootstrap’s extensive documentation allows even basic beginners to implement the code samples. There is a complete explanation of all the elements of written code.
6. Customization
When it comes to reusable CSS codes, Bootstrap comes with a huge file size slowing down your application by a couple of notches. It compensates for this downside with its extensive customizability. To save the additional loading time of your website, you can download the specific functionalities relevant to your website and check off the remaining from the ‘Customize and Download’ page.
7. Community
The array of developers and designers currently hooked to this toolkit is enormous, further cultivating Bootstrap’s fertile codebase. Instant modifications and collaborations surrounding the source code are also possible with Bootstrap’s dedicated slack rooms.
8. External Templates
Website development is now a lot easier thanks to the templates available. Also, there are websites that sell custom Bootstrap templates.
Downsides of Bootstrap
It isn’t just all upsides with Bootstrap. As with most things, there is room for improvement. Consider these:
- Large files slow website loading.
- Customization is difficult, and the HTML output is often bloated
- Overdependence is an issue: Reusing code often means not writing any.
- It is unsuitable for small websites. Bootstrap’s bloated features make it not always worth the space and time. CMSs are better, in this case.
Bootstrap is a young developer’s friend and an indication of the growth in the programming industry, which will transform careers by honing the ever-evolving coding skillsets. Emeritus offers the best coding courses that recognize the merging of business and technology and prepare you for market changes.
By Bishwadeep Mitra
Write to us at content@emeritus.org
