Twitter Bootstrap Expo(expo.getbootstrap.com) |
Twitter Bootstrap Expo(expo.getbootstrap.com) |
If so, I think something like Susy (http://susy.oddbird.net) is far superior. It's more powerful, and also won't pollute your markup with classes like "col-md-6".
Bootstrap:
1. <link rel="stylesheet" href="<bootstrap-cdn>">
2. Use it
1. Install Ruby
2. Install Compass
3. Install Sass
4. Install Susy
5. Use it.1. gem install compass 2. gem install sass 3. gem install susy
I also don't see why people need to use grids. Grids are meant for graphic design (ie. http://subtraction.com/pics/0703/grids_are_good.pdf) and architecture, not CSS. What's wrong with margins, paddings and media queries?
If you use separate margins and paddings for each element, there's a bigger risk that you'll mess up and introduce irregularities in the layout.
Of course, maybe you don't want elements to be aligned on your page. In that case, yes, you might not need a grid.
So you can get your product to market faster.
In many cases, stock Bootstrap ends up being fine to keep even when you're up and running, as 99% of people on the internet don't even know what Bootstrap is, or care, as long as your site works for them.
Grids just make it easy to talk about where to put information on the screen. People could bring their own grids, but often it's easier to just reuse what exists. This is especially true for responsive websites which need more than one fixed-size grid.
Also using a classname convention that is established by Bootstrap or any other CSS-Framework helps to switch styling without having to change a lot in the HTML code.
"Discipline is a set of self imposed rules, parameters within which we operate. It is a bag of tools that allows us to design in a consistent manner from beginning to end. Discipline is also an attitude that provides us with the capacity of controlling our creative work so that it has continuity of intent throughout rather than fragmentation. Design without discipline is anarchy, an exercise of irresponsibility."
Massimo Vignelli http://www.vignelli.com/canon.pdf
I think if we continue to use the term "Web Designer" then the use of grids is more than acceptable.
In postscript I will however admit that I am a complete html novice so perhaps your point is quite valid.
As a developer who's not great at design, I've seen the clear difference between a site I start from scratch and a site I start from a Bootstrap foundation. It makes a world of difference for me.
Doing front end for 30-40 sites a year from many many diffent designers for a long time and projects with bootstrap included have cost me more time spent in the end to it look right. Also BS class names are more visual than component based that can end up with some retarded hacks when design needs an update
I was a heavy BS user a couple of years ago. I built my biggest project to date using BS: http://angrybirds.tumblr.com In retrospect, I wasn't really getting anything other out of it than the grid. Nowadays, I take a much more modular approach and pick an appropriate grid system, roll out my own headers as they are often heavily custom anyway, and pick some resets for the forms.
Writing that from scratch isn't easy.
And then a few things I save time on: grids buttons (in case I don't want to bother making my own) modal popups (they are easy to use) forms
- Responsiveness.
- Cross browsers.
That's not to be sniffed at.
I don't want to deal with the nightmare of using Wordpress as the front-end for this, so Bootstrap seems like a lean way of going about this.
Forgive me if I'm asking a completely n00b front-end question. If you ask me why Bootstrap, it's basically because of its popularity, and how easy I've found it to set something up in a few minutes. I know Foundation is pretty powerful too, but since I've already started with Bootstrap, I figure I don't have a real reason to pivot to something else at the moment. Any reason I shouldn't be considering Bootstrap? Any pitfalls I'm unaware of?
[1] www.launchrock.com
If you want to pay a few bucks instead of customizing things yourself, check out Wrapbootstrap and/or Bootswatch.
I suppose I might leave my mouse pointer hanging out in the middle of the screen a lot, but my intention was just to scroll through the site and look at the large pictures. Unfortunately, whatever is front and center (the one I want to look at) goes jarringly faded because my mouse is usually unintentionally hovering it. I could live with a more subtle opacity: 0.90. :)
That said, nice site. For something similar, if you have not seen it, you might be interested in builtwithbootstrap.com.
If you absolutely need a grid, what about http://hashgrid.com/?
So basically it's for people not too familiar with HTML and CSS? Ie. like a WordPress theme?
People argue they need grids for their websites to be responsive, but that is not what grids are for. At least not according to Massimo Vignelli.
I understand where you are coming from now. Can you suggest a good article for reading up on "gridless" responsive design?
I've just been looking at http://thatcoolguy.github.io/gridless-boilerplate/
It would be good to learn more about this philosophy.
Sure, they might come in handy when drafting your webdesigns in Adobe or whatever, but not in the CSS. Just use your eyes and basic CSS. For true responsive websites, use media queries.
As they say, "perfection is achieved, not when there's nothing left to add, but when there's nothing left to take away".
These quirks are becoming less and less over time as well, as new browsers and devices start to follow the same standards, and major players are dropping support for old browsers (ie. Google is no longer supporting old versions of IE).
> So basically it's for people not too familiar with HTML and CSS? Ie. like a WordPress theme?