I love Bootstrap. No matter which web frontend framework I try, I always end up returning to it.
There’s a lot of things I like about it:
- Safe defaults; including a nice grid where you can lay your content and be sure it looks good in every device.
- Mobile-friendly and cross-browser; your app will look exactly the same no matter where you look at it.
- Easily themable; just customize a few SCSS variables here and there, rebuild the CSS, and you can have dramatically different look & feels.
- Only use what you need; just include the CSS if nothing else, or also add the JavaScript if you need some special behaviour.
- Extensive library of built-in components; whatever you need to draw on your browser, you just have it right there. Write the HTML, apply the CSS, eventually some JavaScript if really needed, and you’re good to go.
- No magic; to call this a framework is a stretch, because it technically isn’t one. It is a set of CSS and JavaScript that works with a particular set of HTML tags, nothing else. New team members can immediately pick up what’s going on (provided they have some knowledge about the saint trinity of web development, HTML, CSS, and JS.)
- Particularly well-suited for server-side rendering; which in my opinion is how complex web apps should work. Leave the browser to render HTML and manage history, no need to use JavaScript for that.
- Great documentation; not perfect, but it’s damn close to perfect. It’s well organized and easy to follow. The examples are relevant and it’s very easy to have a Bootstrap project up and running in almost no time.
Bootstrap is boring technology and I like that.