Initially Frustrating, Incredibly Functional
04 Oct 2023
Don’t get me wrong, learning Bootstrap 5 was rather frustrating in the beginning. I didn’t have a concrete understanding of a lot of the components, and felt discouraged when my webpage didn’t look as desired. I spent a lot of time searching the documentation trying to wrap my head around the concepts. Aside from that, I didn’t really understand why it was needed. I can do the same thing in CSS, which I was already familiar with. Isn’t it based on CSS anyways? Well, the truth is that once I really got into learning Bootstrap 5, I realized how beneficial UI frameworks can be.
A Boost in my Productivity
After spending some time with Bootstrap 5, I realized how much faster I can get the same task done than if I only used vanilla CSS. I can simply use the built-in classes to create components with Bootstrap 5 instead of manually doing everything. Not to mention the nicety of the responsiveness. Granted, it’s worth noting that I still use vanilla CSS to customize my Bootstrap 5 components. However, it’s still substantially quicker to use Bootstrap 5 components and alter them to my needs than to do the whole thing from scratch.
Real-World Application
I’ve briefly touched on some of the benefits of frameworks in my own experiences, but there are a whole slew of them in terms of general software development. In my other essay on coding standards, I talk about how they keep code consistent. UI frameworks, on the other hand, help keep the design more consistent. Using a framework with easily reproducible components will result in more consistency overall than if every developer on the team were to do everything from scratch with their own personal styles added. The responsive design that Bootstrap 5 provides is huge for developers because the reality is that everyone in the real world will have their own screen sizes, aspect ratios, and resolutions. Sure, you could do responsive design without a framework like Bootstrap 5, but it’s important to acknowledge the ease of development using it.
A Worthwhile Investment
At the end of the day, UI frameworks are nothing but another tool to add to your toolbox. However, I do believe that spending time with frameworks like Bootstrap 5 has a great return on investment. It might be frustrating in the beginning, but once you get comfortable you will be able to design responsive software faster and more consistently. In the end you will be a more effective and efficient developer in terms of UI design.