The Future of Bootstrap 4

Brief intro

Bootstrap is an open-source JavaScript framework developed by Twitter. It is also the most popular HTML, CSS, and JavaScript framework at the moment for developing responsive, mobile-first websites.

Bootstrap 4 is the newest version of it. It is used for building web UIs. It encompasses a free collection of tools that can be used for building websites and web applications. Including a lot of templates and classes for typography, forms, buttons, navigation and other interface components, it also has optional JavaScript extensions.

It is mainly used for Responsive Design, and it is generally considered the hero of CSS Frameworks. Bootstrap comes bundled with reusable components and jQuery plugins that you can use or not. With Bootstrap, you’re always in control of everything.

With Bootstrap 4’s recent release and its vast popularity, there’s a question that’s been nagging everyone:

Is Bootstrap 4 worth learning?

1. As a web developer, you’ll find out that bootstrap, and any CSS frameworks in general, will help you save a lot of time. It will increase your speed of development and give you more free time to spend on your hobbies, family or whatever else you want.
2. It is backed by Twitter, which probably means that as long as we’ll have Twitter and its resources, we’ll also have Bootstrap around. Having a big company behind is essential for any framework because of the resources that it can be provided and improved with.
3. The community behind it is incredible, and all the developers that are part of it are encouraged to contribute to the platform. Besides this support community, there’s also the excellent, detailed, and free documentation. Learning it shouldn’t be a problem for anyone familiar with HTML, CSS, and JS.
4. It is highly customizable. What this means is that you can adapt it to the project you’re using it for. Bootstrap enables developers to choose the features they need and leave aside the rest.
5. The high number of companies using it at the moment, plus its popularity, means that the number of job openings for it is also on the rise. So if you plan on learning Bootstrap and add it to your skillset, rest assured that it will definitely do you some good to know it.
6. For a beginner, responsive web design is usually kind of a huge, complicated thing. No worries, Bootstrap 4 makes it easy to learn, understand, and use.
7. Up until now, I’ve mainly talked about Bootstrap in general. But don’t forget that in January 2018, just a couple of months ago, Bootstrap4 was released. The entire web development community had been expecting it for a while. And it seems to have lived up to everyone expectations. Briefly, they updated the print and utility classes, as well as the $spacers and $sizes Sass maps, additive border utilities have been added and so much more! You can read more on their official blog.

Bootstrap 4’s future

I’m not trying to convince you of anything. In the end, it’s your own personal choice whether you’ll learn it and use it or not. But one thing we can all agree on is that we need to understand what will happen in the future to Bootstrap, for the sake of web development’s future.

Bootstrap’s GitHub states that as of now (insert date) they’re almost done with V4.1 which is concerned with a constant grid system, utilities, and small new features. They’re also working on V4.2 that promises to bring enhancements to forms and components.

The conclusion we can draw from this is that the people behind Bootstrap are very invested in it, super hard working and definitely continuously. That’s the first good sign.

Having Twitter behind is the other. Let’s face it, any framework backed by a huge company does well. And it makes all the sense in the world. As I was saying earlier, a huge company means loads of funds.

First team plus funds definitely can’t equal anything other than a brilliant future for Bootstrap 4 and the versions to come.

TL;DR

Bootstrap 4 is fantastic, and it has lived up to every developer’s expectations. The improvements they made and the features added make it even easier to use and enjoy. It is definitely worth learning based on ease of use, ease of implementation, job openings, and great documentation and community.

Success for a framework more often than not equals being backed by an excellent team and a huge company. And Bootstrap has both of these going for it.