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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?

#2

Post by pedalpete »

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 Bootstrap these days.

Once I was told to ignore Bootstrap and just create my css myself (using Sass or CSS Modules) I find I'm making the same recommendations to others. It doesn't take long and you'll have a much better idea of what is happening on your page.

Your html and css should end up being much smaller as well.

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

#5

Post by ams6110 »

It doesn't matter. Because no matter what tech you use in the web app space, it will all be obsolete in a year or two. Your apps will never be done, because the sand will shift underneath them. You'll need to continually update them to keep them working, or abandon them.

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

#8

Post by peller »

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…

As a backend dev, I wish somebody had told me this exact advice earlier on in my career. CSS does have a fair amount of silly legacy shit, but it's really not all that bad once you dive in.

Another good project's source code to learn from is Skeleton. (more simple than bootstrap)

CSS version: https://github.com/dhg/Skeleton

Sass version: https://github.com/WhatsNewSaes/Skeleton-Sass

Edit: For more of a tutorial approach, check out http://learn.shayhowe.com/html-css/

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

#9

Post by mightybyte »

It depends on what you want to optimize for. If you're starting a startup and you anticipate having a dedicated design team, I think you're better off making your markup match your domain and hand-rolling the CSS instead of using a framework like Bootstrap. This is the ideal approach IMO because it lets you much more effectively keep the styling out of the markup and in the stylesheets. CSS frameworks by definition require you to put styling in your markup.

But if you're just trying to bang out a small project quickly and have it look nice without needing to muck with CSS too much, then a framework can be very useful. These days I prefer Semantic UI over Bootstrap:

http://semantic-ui.com/

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

#10

Post by webbrahmin »

sathomasga wrote: post #6

FWIW I'd never use either on a production site. But for a quick-and-dirty internal site or to just play around with, I can't think of any reason not to use 4.

Please elaborate why you don't use them on a production site. It will be really helpful.
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