Bootstrap is one of the popular web development frameworks for frontend development that was first developed by the Bootstrap Core Team 10 years ago on August 19, 2011. In the initial stage of web development, HTML, CSS and Javascript were mostly used because during that period responsive web pages were not necessary. In the early days, the screen resolutions required were limited and most of the design will suit well with the monitor. Previously, fixed-width layouts or liquid width layouts were the two commonly used approaches dealing with screen sizes.
The aim of the Bootstrap framework is to design and customize responsive mobile-first sites easily and quickly. Now, what is a responsive webpage? Making a webpage responsive means, the ability for a webpage to automatically adjust the layout and appearance depending on the viewer’s screen properties. The bootstrap framework is a collection of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code, and this has become a popular front-end open-source toolkit with Sass variables and mixins, extensive prebuilt components, a responsive grid system, and powerful JavaScript plugins.
When considering the history of Bootstrap, the original version was named Twitter Blueprint and was developed by Mark Otto and Jacob Thornton at Twitter as a internal tool. After many updates with new features, the recently launched stable release is Bootstrap 5.0.2. The new features added in the recent release include an enhanced grid system, adding a custom set of SVG icons, improved customizing docs, RTL support, updated forms, adding CSS custom properties, and more.
How to use Bootstrap? Bootstrap is a free and open-source tool that is hosted on Github, that is available in the precompiled form or as a source code. The three methods for adding Bootstrap into any project are:
- Using a free open-source CDN
- Downloading Bootstrap files locally to your project folder
- Using package managers such as npm and RubyGems
The Bootstrap framework will provide various advantages like free to download and use, easy to learn & adapt, adaptability on different devices and browsers, time-saving coding process, customisable framework, responsive grid system, etc… When considering the drawback of bootstrap, it is not ideal for websites that require fast loading.
