Illustration by FamiHero

Using Bootstrap for FamiHero

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The new website of FamiHero, a baby-sitting service, is now online. I participated the project as a Front-End developer.

I usually start an integration with the Boilerplate, but for this project, I use Bootstrap to match with the graphic designer’s templates.

The difficulty was to learn its limits, how far could I develop my own classes. It was my first time using Bootstrap and I ended up few times developping a CSS which was already done in the bootstrap.css file. Even though it seems a bit long I strongly recommend, at first, to browse and take notes from the whole Bootsrap’s website.

The grid is pretty simple to use, as for the sizing class, the fluid layout and the icons management already put in a sprite and optimized with ImageOptim. Well done !

As for the Responsive part, Bootstrap has its own CSS (bootstrap-responsive.css) which already defined the breakpoints… good and bad !

I usually prefer to defines those by myself. In fact, after three years of doing responsive websites, I found better not to think too much about those when you design a project. It’s a bit of a inspirations killer sometimes. But anyway it can help sometimes to save some times.

The framework becomes really handy when you need to implement some javascript effect like carousel, tooltip, modal windows or scrollers. It’s all set in the bootstrap.js file. You just need to implement the right classes at the right places and everything works just fine.

Bootstrap is a really powerfull framework. It makes me save hundreds of lines of code. It supplies a lot of design, which makes it “practical”.

Also I enjoy using it, I prefer to start a project from scratch, create my own object, my own classes and choose breakpoints by myself.

If you are musician working with computer, it’s a bit like starting a project using Logic/Protools/MaxMSP or … Ableton Live ! Every solutions are fine, it just depends on your personal preferences.

  • If you don’t want to dig too much into theory, Bootstrap is for you.
  • If you want a framework which supplies design, Bootstrap is for you.
  • If you enjoy, like I do, reading everyday articles and talks about CSS approach, then you might find sometimes Bootstrap not always up to date.
  • If you enjoy cooking your own recipe from zero, I more recommend [inuit.css->https://inuitcss.com], the boilerplate, or both !