Bootstrap is the most popular and the most effective CSS framework currently available on the internet. In addition to being completely free and open source to all developers, it makes creating web layouts very easy, often with great looking results. You are supplied with an awesome set of widgets in the familiar Bootstrap style. The theme framework is also a constantly evolution project, where developers and designers alike can provide suggestions, make corrections, and even design their own custom Bootstrap templates from scratch. Last of all, this incredible bundle of CSS joy can be used without any special licenses or payment of any kind. In fact, Twitter have gone so far as to release Bootstrap under the MIT license and set its developers free of any obligations they had to continue developing it under the company banner.
Bootstrap’s Early Days
While Bootstrap has become a core feature on the internet, the original idea and the basic building blocks of the front-end framework was first developed by two developers from Twitter: Mark Otto and Jacob Thornton. Its first name was Twitter Blueprint, and its purpose was to give Twitter’s internal tools a consistent look right across the board, something that the company had been struggling with for quite some time. A small internal group quickly picked up the reigns, and the project was renamed from Blueprint to Bootstrap. Come August 19, 2011, the project was released as an open-source project. Not many months later, Bootstrap 2 was released at the end of January 2012. This added the now-familiar 12-column layout to Bootstrap, and was the first attempt at supporting responsive designs for smartphones and tablets. Another year later, this time in August 2013, Bootstrap 3 was released, aiming to get developers and designers to create sites for mobile devises first. Version 4 of Bootstrap started development in April of 2015.
Bootstrap can be set up with a single click to download the CSS, Javascript and font files. It only needs to be added to your project, and you can quickly get started putting together your new website design. Even better, with the vast number of Bootstrap templates now available, you don’t have to worry about formatting common design elements, or setting up JavaScript notification scripts; the themes and templates come with such features baked-in. Here are some helpful tips for you to know:
1. Bootstrap is Responsive & Mobile Friendly
Bootstrap happens to have been built for mobile devices from the ground up. “Mobile First” is a term that tells us we should create sites with mobile devices in mind right from day one; not as an afterthought way down the development and design template. Thanks to Bootstrap’s mobile-friendliness, your website will look great on every device, where laptop, desktop PC, iPhone or iPad. It also means that you can rely on any themes you see to have been built with mobile in mind from the start.
2. Beautiful Forms
Forms are a pain for many developers, and yet they’re absolutely vital to any website if you’re going to get any conversions. Bootstrap comes with many form control designs and layouts making it as easy as could be to quickly put together forms that look great – and convert even better.
3. Winning Modal Popups
Bootstrap’s modal popups are a fantastic JavaScript plugin that can quickly display vital information to the end-user. Not only can they display information, the modal windows give you multiple opportunities to get information from your website’s users, all bundled up into a lightweight package for instant use.
4. Alerts, Buttons, and User Interface Wins
Once again leaving you with more time to develop, and less time worrying about making buttons look great, Bootstrap provides various controls that pop out to website visitors. Alerts are a fact of life on the internet, and the ones you find on here are hard to beat.
5. Bootstrap Themes Take Design Further
It’s easy to start recognising when a site has been built with Bootstrap. Thanks to the design ingenuity of Bootstrap template designers, this should no longer be a worry. Extra components, button designs, and unique JavaScript plugin integrations mean that you can end up with an incredibly professional-looking design for a very small initial price. An undeniably big win.
Bootstrap – Way To Go!
You should use Bootstrap if you want a great general-purpose site design. This is one of the easiest and convenient methods to get your design up and running. You don’t even need to have any real design skills! You can just keep look at the examples, and then start piecing together the design elements as you develop. It’s a highly recommended way to create websites. Give the new Bootstrap a go; you’ll be very happy that you did!
