More than 25% of websites use Bootstrap because it helps developers to design an interactive and responsive website easily. Bootstrap is a term that every web designer is aware of. In the upcoming article, we will discover what exactly Bootstrap is and its numerous benefits.

What is Bootstrap in Web Development?

Bootstrap is an open-source web development framework that consists of various reusable codes to design many objects. It is mainly written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It helps you in designing responsive and mobile-first websites without spending time writing the complete code from scratch.

Bootstrap provides you with many predefined forms, buttons, navigation, typography, tables, modals, image carousels, etc. It is supported by most browsers and fits all screen sizes. Therefore, Whether you open the page on your mobile or PC, the layout will remain intact irrespective of the web browser.

Bootstrap comes in two versions: Precompiled and source code based. You can download it from the official website of Bootstrap and install it with a package manager.

Benefits of Using Bootstrap

Bootstrap provides a wide range of ready-made functionalities that you can use to make your web application more interactive and responsive. You can add buttons, drop-downs, forms, tables, etc. Below we mention some of the major benefits of using Bootstrap in your web design.

#1. Rich Library

One of the biggest reasons why developers use Bootstrap in web development is that it is loaded with numerous predefined templates to ease out work and save time. You can easily add a button or navigation bar or a table. Furthermore, you can customize these items as per your necessity. Therefore, it is the best solution for every web designer.

#2. Responsive Grid System

Bootstrap offers a responsive Grid system which means it has a predefined grid system in which you are required to insert the desired content. It will automatically adjust itself with the screen size and devices. Also, you can custom-design breakpoints. Therefore, most designers adopt Bootstrap to ease their work.

#3. Mobile-First

The concept of Mobile-First signifies that the design is optimized for mobile devices first. Although the design is equally suitable for a desktop screen, Bootstrap ensures that it first fits the small screen and then goes for a larger display size. It is because of the fact that nowadays, because of Internet accessibility, everyone can open their website via mobiles.

#4. Save Time and Efforts

One of the biggest reasons why developers prefer Bootstrap is that it has a library of predefined templates. You can choose any structure or element as per your requirement. This significantly reduces the effort of website developers. They do not need to code the website from scratch.

Downloading Bootstrap provides you with a set of ready-made themes and website structures. However, it is recommended that you should be careful while using these predefined objects because almost everyone uses them. So, using Bootstrap may degrade the uniqueness of your website.

#5. Modified as Per Requirement

You can customize the predefined CSS of the bootstrap as per your necessity. Moreover, you can concatenate two different objects to complement the features of one with another. Bootstrap also allows you to eliminate all the unnecessary portions of the design to increase speed and simplicity.

Therefore, Bootstrap comes with predefined templates but also offers flexibility to experiment with new designs without coding the entire page.

#6. Supportability

Another remarkable attribute to use Bootstrap in web development is that it is widely supportable with all the latest browsers, devices, and their versions. Thus, whether you open the webpage designed with Bootstrap on your PC or mobile, it hardly makes any difference. The speed and integrity of the content will remain the same. The same goes for browsers.

Bootstrap does not support proxy browsers and older browsers. It means you can access a bootstrap-designed page on outdated browsers.

#.7 Enhanced Front-End and Back-End Coordination

While designing the website with Bootstrap, no need to worry about the Front-end and back-end clash. It is designed considering the key concept that sometimes the design suitable according to the back-end developers may not be feasible for the front-end. Its classes meet the goals of both teams. Therefore, it helps you to sustain the consistency of the design.

#8. Huge Community to Support

If you encounter a complex issue related to Bootstrap, you can easily get a solution to your problem because it has a huge community to support you making the use of Bootstrap easy and efficient. You can check various forums where other people facing the same issue posted their questions and get answered.

Also, you can get various useful resources on the official website of Bootstrap. It provides you with comprehensive documentation to use all the features of Bootstrap. Therefore, it will make it easier to use Bootstrap for web development.

Limitations of Bootstrap

Like any other thing, if Bootstrap has pros, it also has some cons that you must understand before starting to implement this open-source framework. Below we mention some major drawbacks of Bootstrap.

• As Bootstrap offers a predefined library consisting of various CSS elements, it keeps you away from actually learning how to code on your own for difficult CSS items. Thus, it is recommended that if you are a beginner who wants to get a good grip on every aspect of coding, you should not use Bootstrap. Once you learn, you can use it to ease your work.
• Sometimes, the files of Bootstrap may be too large and can make the size of your code slightly bulkier. It will lead to increased loading time of your webpage. However, with the Bootstrap customization functionality, you can eliminate all the unnecessary parts of your coding.

How to Use Bootstrap in Web Development?

You have learned what Bootstrap is and the benefits and limitations of using this in your coding. Now, it is time to learn how you can implement this in your website design and reduce extra efforts. There are two ways you can use the Bootstrap in your website.

#1. Load Bootstrap through CDN

In this approach, you insert it via a CDN. One of the most popular CDN for Bootstrap is StackPath. Bootstrap can be loaded in the header and footer sections of your webpage as it contains mainly stylesheets and scripts.

#2. Download Bootstrap

Another way to implement Bootstrap is by downloading the file and hosting it. Download the file from the official website ‘getbootstrap.com’. After that, unzip the file and copy it to the index.html. Then you can easily load Bootstrap by adding the following link in your header section.

<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”bootstrap/css/bootstrap.min.css”>

The link may differ depending on the version of Bootstrap you are using. However, the link will be similar.

Conclusion

Bootstrap is undoubtedly a useful tool that makes the daunting task easy and simplified. It has a wide range of predefined templates that you can use to design a website. You can use various CSS elements like navigation, buttons, forms, tables, image carousels, etc. It offers many benefits like a rich library, customisation, mobile-first, responsive grid system, huge community to support, etc. You can use Bootstrap on your website in either of the two ways. You can download the Bootstrap file and paste it to the index.html directly. Otherwise, you can load it in the header or footer section via a CDN.

Frequently Asked Questions