I know you have heard about Bootstrap earlier and may be you have used it for one or many websites. Yet let me give some introduction you about Bootstrap. It is a framework from Twitter to create responsive website and HTML5 based applications with the great deal of ease. If you are aware of the word ‘framework’ or you have worked on any of the framework earlier then you must know about the benefits of it and if not then I am making it easy to you to understand.
Bootstrap Framework is Good for
- Portable, Tablets, and Computer Websites
- Portable, Tablets, and Computer Web Applications
- Large or Huge Websites and Applications
- A decent set of different CSS selectors
- A 12 Columns Grid System that functions admirably for current sites (Number of columns can be customized as per the need)
- Different JavaScript and jQuery features
- Dynamic CSS e.g. LESS and SASS
- A good debugging system for HTML and CSS
- Handy navigation styles
What is Responsive Website Design?
Responsive website designing is a great utility for owner and great simplicity for the user. Now you don’t need to create multiple websites to target all the internet users. Just create a single website and provide solution for all whether they are browsing your website through mobiles, tablets, or computers using CSS3 Media Queries, JavaScript, jQuery, and HTML5.
Things need to know for creating a responsive website using Bootstrap
As I discussed above about what Twitter Bootstrap offers and for what it is made? In general you need to be good in the following subjects to create a responsive website or application.
1. Graphics User Interface or GUI Designing
You must have good sense of creating Graphic User Interface or mockups for a website. This is the first thing that you would be asked by your team leader or client to do. Generally people use Adobe Photoshop and GIMP (Open Source alternative of Photoshop) to create these types of designs. Only knowledge of these applications are not sufficient you must know about design principles, color schemes, typography etc. in detail along with the knowledge of mobile and web context.
2. HTML5 and CSS3
Want to become a PRO in responsive website designing using Bootstrap then don’t ignore HTML5 and CSS3. If you have basic knowledge then that will not work you must know various points such as:
- Use of all HTML5 selectors
- Use of HTML5 in semantic way
- Use of HTML5 APIs such as Geolocation, Audio, Video, Drag & Drop, Canvas, and LocalStore
- CSS3 Id and Class Selectors
- CSS Specificity
- Compound CSS
- Other professional ways of writing CSS
3. JavaScript and jQuery
If you have ever read the documentation of Bootstrap then you might seen their various JavaScript and jQuery Components so good amount of knowledge of JavaScript and jQuery is essential to develop a great responsive UI using Bootstrap. I would recommend you to improve your knowledge of JavaScript and jQuery by joining our institute asap.
4. Dynamic CSS such as LESS and SASS or CSS Preprocessors
Dynamic CSS is a revolution in the cascading style sheet industry. Now you don’t need to write your CSS in redundant and fixed ways. You can use variables, mixins, functions etc to make your CSS compact and flexible for your website. Bootstrap supports LESS and SASS both types of dynamic CSS so that Apple, Windows and various others user can take the benefits of it.
5. Grid Systems
A Grid System is the key of any responsive website designing framework. Bootstrap also uses one of the best grid systems in it to provide refined control over managing the layout of your website. Its grid system has 12 columns with various break points.
Some common grid systems are:
- Golden Grid System
- Blueprint
- Responsive Grid System
- 960
6. Modernizr, Shiv, Shim, CSS3 Pie, Respond JavaScript Libraries
It is quite good to have knowledge of all above JavaScript libraries so that you can detect features of a browser, provide compatibility for html and CSS. Please read the following explanation carefully too:
Modernizr
Modernizr is a great library to detect features of a browser for html5 and CSS3 so that you can provide a good fallback for better user experience in your website. Modernizr provides basis compatibility for html5 and CSS3 too in various browsers.
Shiv and Shim
You can use any one from Shiv and Shim for cross browser html5 in your website. Special IE 7, 8, and 9 use this for html5 features support.
CSS3 Pie
If you are facing any CSS3 related compatibility issues then go for this library. It is very cool library.
Respond.js
It makes your old IE browsers such as IE 6, 7, and 8 compatible for CSS3 Media Queries.
Summary
There are two types of Bootstrap learning, first is basic Bootstrap where you can use most of the CSS and JavaScript features after just basic training of integrating them in website and second is advanced Bootstrap training where you can customize entire Bootstrap but for this type of specialization you need to be excellent in all these languages and subjects e.g. HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery, LESS, SASS, Grid Systems etc.
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Learn More About Bootstrap
Learn More About Bootstrap 3 from ADMEC Multimedia Institute
