Frontend : Bootstrap vs TailwindCSS - Which is your favourite and why ?

[JeevanisM]

Hi all,

just another topic over the beer. I started using Bootstrap from the version 3 but really loved it. BS 5 seems really powerful but I cannot ignore flashy trend of  TailwindCSS. I tried to learn it on a new project but I am not able to make any progress so far. Every one saying TailwindCSS is super easy and whatnot.  What are your thoughts on these ?  which one you like and why ? 

[zoeck]

I've been using Bootstrap 4 all the time, but I didn't want to take the step to version 5. I'm making my first, successful steps with Tailwind and I'm currently very satisfied. But you have to learn a lot of new things, because it's still a bit more complicated than Bootstrap, but you also have a lot more freedom.

I also use Htmx and Alpine.JS with TailwindCSS ? 

many nice new things ? 

[millipedia]

I'm with you in that I like the look of Tailwind but I've never quite found the right project to justify using it.

These days I rarely use a framework at all. Support for flexbox and grid has meant that a lot of the advantages of using a framework don't apply any more. Browsers are a lot more consistent these days as well, so there's not as much need for polyfills and resets and vendor specific tweaks that might have been baked in to a framework.

My starting point for a project is a single CSS file that has some minimal styles and utilities in that I'm pretty sure I'll always need. Originally that was based on Wing css but I've tweaked and added to it over the years.

I then have other css files for components that I've used over the years - so if I need an off screen menu for example I have one that I can reuse and adapt.

The same applies to javascript; In the old days (a couple of years ago anyway) I would have just included jQuery by default in a project but now I just have a few native javascript functions I can include when I need to.

Most of the work we do is pretty bespoke stuff so this works better for us. I imagine that if you were doing lots of sites that were fairly similar then a framework might be useful.

One situation we would use a framework for is when we need to do an admin interface (we a did a great project that had a SMS bot the client could manage for example). For that we've used ModularAdmin which is based on Bootstrap 4 (and which hasn't been updated for a few years so probably not that useful a link).

Now I'm essentially a solo dev, so bespoke code is easy to manage. If you're part of a larger team (or looking for a job) then I bet having decent documentation and consistency is much more important so learning a framework is probably a smart move.

[pwired]

How many times this subject already ? Anyways I tried Bootstrap - UIKit and funky Tailwind but guess what,
I returned back to pocketgrid because it can't be beated in usage and speed:
https://arnaudleray.github.io/pocketgrid/faq/
https://arnaudleray.github.io/pocketgrid/

 

[psy]

@millipedia

On 10/6/2021 at 8:17 PM, millipedia said:

These days I rarely use a framework at all.

So with you on that! Took time to actually learn CSS, and while it's constantly changing, decided to to lose the "Sara Lee" approach - layer upon layer upon layer. Spent far too much time overriding framework defaults instead of actually doing stuff. Now I use SCSS to combine global resets, default classes, colours etc then add small per template or component stylesheets. Same for any per template JS.

In the supply-chain world this is referred to as "just in time" vs "just in case"

[Kiwi Chris]

I've been using Bootstrap since 3.x compiling my own customised version from less with 3.x and then SCSS with 4.x  I'm yet to jump to 5.x

I've taken a look at Tailwind a couple of times, and the good thing is it seems to produce very small CSS, but the process of getting set up to compile a minimised version seems to be more complex and requires more tools than with Bootstrap. That's a one off I guess, and once you're set up then presumably it's straightforward.

I do like Bootstrap's components. I'm a developer, not a designer, and when a client asks me "What can you make my website look like?" it's really handy to be able to say, "Here are a set of components you can pick from. I can change the colour, size and position any way you like."

That's way easier than trying to explain the intricacies of CSS and that technically, I could probably make their website look like just about anything from dog's vomit to the crown jewels.

 

[Jonathan Lahijani]

The folks at YOOtheme revealed a little more about UIkit 4 recently:
https://yootheme.com/blog/2021/10/28/uikit-3.8-reworked-focus-style

I liked this part the most:

Quote

... we are currently working on the best strategies for UIkit in a CMS or page builder context, for example in regards to loading times.

[pwired]

Let's not forget Bulma and Spectre, both powerful alternatives