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Comment by nicholassmith | Hacker News Reader

I think people should configure Bootstrap and use different colours, and approach it not as a strict guideline but as a good starting point with useful widgets to play with. I am, however, completely happy with people using Bootstrap unconfigured, it looks good and for the most part is normally used in a really clean way. A lot of iOS apps look like the stock components, and that's fine as those components are nice and clean.

There often seems to be a bit of push back about websites looking the same, especially with Bootstrap sites, but we don't expect (and often don't want) applications running myriads of different UI styles on our desktops. Maybe it's just a sign of the times.

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Totally agree. Sometimes I think bootstrap is moving us toward a more consistent UI across the web which means users benefit by not having to learn yet another set of interface metaphors. A fresh set of colors can keep things interesting, but people shouldn't be discouraged from using stock bootstrap.

I visually recognise websites I visit, app-like stuff especially.

Everyone using bootstrap has made the internet a mostly unrecognizable hogwash of same-looking stuff that I have a hard time telling apart, let alone any sort of lasting impression being left.

Think about it, even Bootstrap's page itself doesn't look like a default Boostrap template.

If the page has made no impression, doesn't that speak more about the content than the presentation? I agree on the visual aspects of being able to determine a page, but Bootstrap just provides a clean way to display some content, I'm alright with that.

And no, Bootstraps page doesn't look like a default template, but they don't say 'you must customise it', it's left up to the developer/designer/implementor.

I think that was OP's point though. Bootstrap is a framework, so please use it as a framework, not as a finished solution.

And I don't think lasting impressions are determined that much by content. I recognize pages by a sort of screenshot in my mind, it's a bit like recognizing faces. Happens too quickly for the content to come into play.

It's a finished solution and a framework, it can be picked on what you need from it. Not being trying obtuse, I just see a lot of criticism levelled at Bootstrap for creating similar looking pages, but for most of those pages they're primarily focussed around displaying content in a nice way (documentation for example).

That. Bootstap's site doesn't look like the default. Especially with the inclusion of colored images, that banner now and several other elements that most "built with bootstrap" sites lack.

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