Just wondering if anyone is using or has used bootstrap studio and what you think of it I got it the other day and so far it seems to be ok to make the basics of a site but may need to export to sublime or brackets for the fine details as I said tho only had it a couple days so not found out how to do everything yet

I wouldn't bother with any drag and drop tool for modern web development. apart from that I don't think Bootstrap is a good solution in the majority of cases due to it being very opinionated in it's cosmetic styling.

To be honest it looks cool but I don't think it would be to useful for someone who say codes in PHP a lot. I tried the demo and as far as i can tell you can't write PHP code inside the editor. As strictly a design tool I guess it's ok

To be honest it looks cool but I don't think it would be to useful for someone who say codes in PHP a lot. I tried the demo and as far as i can tell you can't write PHP code inside the editor. As strictly a design tool I guess it's ok

 

Not useful for anybody who writes code in any language...

 

There's a good reason none of these tools are used in the professional world, there are far too many nuances and combinations in front-end UI development that cannot be described by a drag and drop GUI. At best you will have a much reduced set of options.

The only way to accurately communicate how we want the UI to look and scale is through code. It can and should be learnt by those wanting to create modern websites or applications.

So should I avoid bootstrap altogether then

So should I avoid bootstrap altogether then

 

Well this discussion is specifically this DnD tool which I would advise you to avoid.

 

As for Bootstrap the framework - if you agree with their design decisions and won't be undoing / overriding styles then you'll be able to build out a UI quickly. If you want something bespoke then use a low level framework that doesn't make cosmetic design decisions but can handle layout and architecture.

 

If you are looking to learn CSS then try and build things from scratch.

Edited April 21, 20179 yr by rbrtsmith

I was offered a very lucrative contact to create websites for authors using bootstrap. I'd be sent a photoshot mockup and be asked to recreate using bootstrap. The sample sites they used for their demos were awful. More time was spent hacking the bootstrap code than anything else. I pointed out I could build a site faster and be more responsive than using bootstrap but there weren't interested. They just wanted to create sausage factory websites. The authors were paying near on £2K for not very good generic sites a bit of fancy imagery.

The authors were paying near on £2K for not very good generic sites a bit of fancy imagery.

 

Sounds like easy money!

It was. I just didn't feel comfortable building site I knew weren't very good. The company selling the websites to the author then charged another wodge for SEO and then just outsourced to a link building company in Asia.

Bootstrap sounds fine for what you want to do - anyone that rubbishes bootstrap is usually coming from a snobbery point of view. At worst it's overkill but at best it saves a bunch of time and gives a proven framework to work with. Those £2k sites sound like a winner though! I'd certainly want to get comfy with bootstrap for that!

I rubbish a lot of bootstrap sites because the resulting UK is pants.

 

A quick look at the code will show you why.

Bootstrap sounds fine for what you want to do - anyone that rubbishes bootstrap is usually coming from a snobbery point of view. At worst it's overkill but at best it saves a bunch of time and gives a proven framework to work with. Those £2k sites sound like a winner though! I'd certainly want to get comfy with bootstrap for that!

Or they value well written CSS. Bootstrap makes a lot of up-front design decisions which have to be overridden if you want a unique looking website - undoing styles is a major code smell. The only time Bootstrap is appropriate is when you need a quick, throw away UI - say like an internal tool or similar - but even then there are better alternatives than Bootstrap.

.... Bootstrap makes a lot of up-front design decisions which have to be overridden if you want a unique looking website ....

 

Since the cool look of the last few years is bootstrap that isn't really a problem. Bootstrap is great, and yeah you might remember that it isn't the alpha and omega of web design, but still, it's great.

Edited September 20, 20179 yr by TimW