Ask HN: Is Bootstrap still used in new projects? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is Bootstrap still used in new projects?

11 pointsgeorgel17 comments

I've been a heavy user of Bootstrap since the beginning a decade or so ago, and I still use it to spin up my hobby projects. Have people moved on to other frameworks or is it still heavily used?

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Tailwind has some nice ideas, but boy oh boy is that ecosystem a mess of tool chaining. The barriers to entry are low (e.g. "just npm install [thing]" then init), but maintaining, updating, and dealing with conflicts between all these tools is an absolute nightmare and getting worse rapidly (and, no, the "Play CDN" version of Tailwinds doesn't mitigate anything because it isn't supported in production).

Bootstrap for all its critics, is just "reference the library, reference your theme, and you're done." You want to upgrade? You can just have individual pages referencing different versions at the same time, without npm reconfiguration.

> You want to upgrade? You can just have individual pages referencing different versions at the same time

Not sure if I’ve just never seen it done well but this sounds like nightmare fuel

What issues do you have with the Tailwind toolchain? I've had a dissimilar experience with Tailwind using the executable CLI. Just create a config file, tell it what directories to monitor and the output of the resulting CSS.

>You want to upgrade? You can just have individual pages referencing different versions at the same time, without npm reconfiguration.

You could use two different versions of the executable CLI and output two different versions of the resulting CSS when migrating portions of the application to a different version.

Been using Tailwind for years and it's smooth as anything, basically set and forget in every project for me. Would hate to work on projects without it at this point.

I'd say to try and put hype about technology into its proper perspective.

Just because Tailwind has some hype and momentum right now doesn't mean that the entire industry has changed overnight, or that Tailwind is the best choice for every single project. Bootstrap isn't my favorite, but still works great and is a logical choice to use in a lot of situations.

Yeah, it's still popular, especially for smaller projects.

Why are you asking though?

It's just Tailwind is very popular these days. I don't like it personally and it's not directly comparable to bootstrap, but depending on your needs you might want to give that a go if you're looking to learn something new. If not, stick with bootstrap. Nothing wrong with it at all.

Biggest mistake in my career was trying to follow trends instead of pushing more with what already served me well. If bootstrap serves you well, only change when you find a better servant.

If you want to sell anything, bootstrap throws massive "amateur hour" vibes compared to tailwind (I say this as someone that grew up on bootstrap)

Yep. Yesterday I started a new project using bootstrap 5.

Yes because it makes it easy to build good looking UIs.

You can move on to something like Tailwind but then your html will look messed up. You'll also have to pay for the Tailwind UI component library if you want to build faster. That's something you get for free with Bootstrap.

I don't see why anyone would stop using Bootstrap anytime soon.

I use Bootstrap on almost all of my websites

Bootstrap is great, but sometimes a project starts getting bigger than the prototype stage and requires custom styling and edge-case stuff that Bootstrap alone can't cater for. By all means, use it, but don't rely on it when you start doing custom stuff.

Depending on your needs, lesscss (https://lesscss.org/) is also a great alternative.

I still see it used in govt projects. I mean this year. Folks care about stability, not eye candy.

Why fix what's not broken?

Alternatively some seem to go with the “if it’s not broken fix it til it is” approach

Antd is my go-to solution for anything React-based.

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