Why I don't use Bootstrap anymore.
Tags: css, bootstrap, html, webdev
Published: 2019-12-20 03:23:46



For many web developers, Bootstrap is the way to go when you have to create a Website or App. But in the five years I have making websites, I have found things that made me change my decision of using Bootstrap at all, and I've changed the way I create websites almost completely.

Hi! My name is Codedgar and today I wanted to talk of why I don't use Bootstrap anymore. Since it's a question that students, coworkers, and people, in general, have been asking me a lot recently: Why I don't use Bootstrap?

Let's start with my history (I'm gonna be short, promise C: ) When I started working on frontend web development, the first thing I crossed upon was Bootstrap. And with that, I thought I had frontend developing mastered, it was easy, fast to use and it has a lot of components! Nice!

But as my work progressed and the websites became more and more custom, I started to find Bootstrap a little bit unuseful, and that's when I came to a conclusion as to why I would not be using Bootstrap in my new works.

For easier understanding, I have divided this post in the reasons of why I don't use it, enjoy:

1- Weight
2- Components and Utilities
3- Styling


## 1- Weight:

_"Weight? But Bootstrap is less than 500KB"_. Yes, I'm aware of that. But let's take on consideration how much of Bootstrap we actually use. And using Bootstrap means that you have to use also jQuery, so if you were to create a landing page with Bootstrap, you would have to use jQuery, Bootstrap CSS, and Bootstrap JS. All of these resources will not be used even in half if you use Bootstrap. And that brings me to my next problem.

## 2- Components:

_"Lack of?"_ Nope, not at all, is actually the opposite. Bootstrap has so many components and utilities, that you are almost certain to never use even half of them. And you may argue that with NodeJS you can compile and use only the CSS that the website uses, but with plain HTML for a server with Cpanel, this is not possible (At least that I know). So there's this vast quantity of components that you will maybe not use and they will be there anyway.

This is not a problem just of Bootstrap, but of many frameworks I've seen, like Materialize or UiKit, where there are components that most people wouldn't use and there are classes that can be broken down into only one style, like:

.modal-top-left{top:5%;left:5%}

And so on for modal-top-right, modal-bottom-left, modal-bottom-right. If you wanted to change the position of the modal you could totally do it with only one class, adding these classes is just dumb.


## 3- Styling:

While Bootstrap is easy to use, it's not so easy to customize as you might think. Some components will require you to use !important several times, which is not ideal when creating CSS. And having to override the default styles of Bootstrap is just like having to create your own CSS from start.

## What do I use then?

Most people at this point just say _" So what? You make CSS from start and don't use any framework?"_ And well, I don't create my CSS from scratch, and I do use a framework, but only for managing the columns of the website. The framework I use is called Flexbox Grid and it justs comes with columns and rows, nothing more. And it only weights 1.9KB! So, on a website with 1 homepage and 4 subpages, the total CSS (including Flexbox Grid) is only 5KB. For me, that's amazingly fast!


## And should I use Bootstrap?

Well, there's something I can't deny and it's that if you need to develop something incredibly fast you can use Bootstrap. And if you are thinking if you should, or should not use Bootstrap, ask yourself:

1- Will I use several components of Bootstrap?
2- Am I in a rush to develop this frontend?
3- Is the design important for this?

If your answers are: Yes, yes, and no; Go ahead and use Bootstrap without shame.

### Extra: Do I hate Bootstrap?

Of course not. I think that is amazing to develop websites quicker and easier, but I just would not be using it anymore because I prefer to make my own components and craft almost everything by hand. I know that Bootstrap will live along a still be used by a lot of people, and that's totally fine :)

What do you think? Do you use Bootstrap?