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Ask HN: Should I learn Bootstrap 3 or 4 at this moment?

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Re: Ask HN: Should I learn Bootstrap 3 or 4 at this moment?

#61

Post by KayL »

nkkollaw wrote: post #55
KayL wrote: post #49

To answer this question, I'm more interested in how do you learn it first. All these frameworks are just COPY & PASTE the pre-made code. For example, you wanna button in that style: http://v4-alpha.getbootstrap.com/components/buttons/ Copy that code and paste into your HTML. Whatever v3 or v4 are the same way. If your learning way is memorizing the code without checking the document each time, then I'd say v3.

Copying and pasting wouldn't work, because many times you need to customize things. Also, what a nightmare would be to look it up every time you need to use a component! Of course learning it means to learn components by heart, just like you don't look up built-in functions every time when you use a programming language.

Is it just me? I don't recite the built-in functions (intentionally) before I code. I will look into doc when I want to find a shortcut. It's very efficiently.

Take Bootstrap as an example, I open the following doc: http://v4-alpha.getbootstrap.com/components/alerts/

If I want a Modal, I will check Modal doc (accurately, I jump to CODE PATTERN and copy it, not starting to read doc explanation.) and use it. After few times, you will memorize the basic by heart. (understands the basic, then you can create your snippets or something. Myself, I still open the doc to see the visual examples. Anyway, I coded with a lot of frameworks in different projects at the same time, not just bound to Bootstrap. You need to find your best workflow yourself)

EDITED: "customize things" seems not suitable to the questioner at the moment. If he understands basic CSS, he may not ask this question. :)

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn Bootstrap 3 or 4 at this moment?

#62

Post by nkkollaw »

oelmekki wrote: post #60
nkkollaw wrote: post #58

I'll actually answer your question. I've been using Bootstrap 4, since it's already stable and will come out in a few months anyway, so I won't have to upgrade anytime soon. If you use libraries that depend on Bootstrap, you might want to check compatibility. I was using Bootswatch and the developer didn't upgrade the code to Bootstrap 4 until a few weeks ago. Other than that, I see no reason not to use the latest ve…

There's also an other reason to go with the "almost released" one when starting a new project: bootstrap has been historically painful to migrate. Upgrading major bootstrap version means changing class names in whole codebase (like the classes for grid system), changing html code for some components which have been updated, and having to remove other components altogether and go with your own sauce because components…

Definitely.

The other day I was looking at Bootstrap 3 documentation by mistake instead of Bootstrap 4 and it was completely different, with some components missing altogether.

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn Bootstrap 3 or 4 at this moment?

#63

Post by nkkollaw »

KayL wrote: post #61
nkkollaw wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Copying and pasting wouldn't work, because many times you need to customize things. Also, what a nightmare would be to look it up every time you need to use a component! Of course learning it means to learn components by heart, just like you don't look up built-in functions every time when you use a programming language.

Is it just me? I don't recite the built-in functions (intentionally) before I code. I will look into doc when I want to find a shortcut. It's very efficiently. Take Bootstrap as an example, I open the following doc: http://v4-alpha.getbootstrap.com/components/alerts/ If I want a Modal, I will check Modal doc (accurately, I jump to CODE PATTERN and copy it, not starting to read doc explanation.) and use it. After few…

I don't know if it's just you, but if I had to do that I would take about 10 times a long as I take right now to build something.

It's much easier to memorize them in my opinion.

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn Bootstrap 3 or 4 at this moment?

#64

Post by nkkollaw »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #59

On a serious note, I believe the befitting proverbial advice is, "Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime." You said "learning", so I'd still suggest learning the actual CSS. Of course, when you become a bit comfortable with it, you'd have already learned Bootstrap. Here is how I'd for; - Use Bootstrap 4 or even 3 to learn your CSS. Use it, go through the so…

How do you know he doesn't know CSS already?

Why preaching about learning CSS while he's just asking about Bootstrap 3 vs. Bootstrap 4?

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn Bootstrap 3 or 4 at this moment?

#65

Post by Brajeshwar »

nkkollaw wrote: post #64
Brajeshwar wrote: post #59

On a serious note, I believe the befitting proverbial advice is, "Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime." You said "learning", so I'd still suggest learning the actual CSS. Of course, when you become a bit comfortable with it, you'd have already learned Bootstrap. Here is how I'd for; - Use Bootstrap 4 or even 3 to learn your CSS. Use it, go through the so…

How do you know he doesn't know CSS already? Why preaching about learning CSS while he's just asking about Bootstrap 3 vs. Bootstrap 4?

Ah! My bad. My assumption is that if someone is asking if s/he should learn Bootstrap 3 or 4, s/he might still be trying to figure out what to learn to get to the next step in HTML/CSS/JS development.

If s/he is already proficient with CSS, s/he might not be asking that question.

I might have extrapolated this thing a bit, haven't I!

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn Bootstrap 3 or 4 at this moment?

#66

Post by dumindunuwan »

you can learn it within 1-2 hours, start with B4. If you want to lean more check the source code if it's css. Also check http://semantic-ui.com/ , it has more widgets and styles. follow UI/UX trends to see how things can be organize in different ways, Pinterest might help you to find/follow more designs.

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn Bootstrap 3 or 4 at this moment?

#67

Post by nkkollaw »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #65
nkkollaw wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know he doesn't know CSS already? Why preaching about learning CSS while he's just asking about Bootstrap 3 vs. Bootstrap 4?

Ah! My bad. My assumption is that if someone is asking if s/he should learn Bootstrap 3 or 4, s/he might still be trying to figure out what to learn to get to the next step in HTML/CSS/JS development. If s/he is already proficient with CSS, s/he might not be asking that question. I might have extrapolated this thing a bit, haven't I!

I don't know, I know CSS extremely well, but I use Bootstrap on a daily basis.

You save a lot of time, other coders can potentially be able to see what you did in your code right away and work on the project without a problem, there are hundreds of themes available, etc. etc.

I'm paid to build useful features, not reinvent the wheel.

:-)

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn Bootstrap 3 or 4 at this moment?

#68

Post by KayL »

nkkollaw wrote: post #63
KayL wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it just me? I don't recite the built-in functions (intentionally) before I code. I will look into doc when I want to find a shortcut. It's very efficiently. Take Bootstrap as an example, I open the following doc: http://v4-alpha.getbootstrap.com/components/alerts/ If I want a Modal, I will check Modal doc (accurately, I jump to CODE PATTERN and copy it, not starting to read doc explanation.) and use it. After few…

I don't know if it's just you, but if I had to do that I would take about 10 times a long as I take right now to build something. It's much easier to memorize them in my opinion.

What things do you actual memorize? All structures code and classes and JS methods & events?

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn Bootstrap 3 or 4 at this moment?

#69

Post by weavie »

pedalpete wrote: post #2

Learning Bootstrap 3 or 4 should take you very little time, I would suggest you don't learn either of them, but instead take the time to learn CSS (I am of course assuming you are not already a CSS wiz). You can look at the source of Bootstrap to see how they accomplished certain things if you'd like, but if you're doing anything more than prototyping (and even then), I feel there is very little benefit to using Boot…

I think it would depend on how much time you are willing to put in and how far you want to go.

If you are primarily a back end developer and you just want to quickly throw down a few prototype pages. If you will never really need more than that, just spending a couple of hours learning bootstrap will be a much better use of time than spending a few weeks learning all the intricacies of css.

I spent years fighting with css. It was such a relief when Bootstrap and friends came out and just removed a whole layer of complexity from my occasional forays into the front end.

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