Does Bootstrap Add to My Business Value?

In short, YES!

Let’s take a step back and go back to the days of yesteryear in 2015. I don’t know about you but remembering the exact details about why a decision was made can be a bit hazy. While working on the redevelopment of the Air Force Reserve website we considered using Bootstrap (version 3). After all, we were already seeing continued growth from mobile visitors. There were 2 factors that stick out even today about why we opted not to use bootstrap back then.

1. Load Times

Bootstrap offered a lot of versatility but that came at the cost of a lot of code. That meant longer load times. It also meant more data needed to load which was a big concern for that project at the time.

2. Stifled the Creative Department

While I dabble in the creative realms I am by no means as well versed as others. The visual options that Bootstrap offered were limited. That might not be the exact wording, but the sentiment stands out.

So the decision we went with was custom-tailored code to do only what was necessary. It gave the creative department the freedom they desired and it ensured faster load times.

Alright, enough reminiscing!

It’s 2021 and the answer has changed. Mobile has taken over web browsing and Bootstrap has become more and more popular. Thus the appeal for mobile-based design has taken a greater priority. On top of that, the increased popularity and optional centralized resources have helped address the “cons” of the past. The icing on the cake if you will is, Bootstrap is a toolkit worked on by a team and community.

The more I dabble with Bootstrap, the more I see that I’m often saving time. While Bootstrap is not always the right choice it is definitely a great choice. Bootstrap, like everything else, is situational. It is definitely something to consider when deciding on how to build a website.

This website is built with Bootstrap and it saved a lot of time when it came to the design aspects. But it did require some extra backend code to integrate into WordPress. Since I was already building a custom theme, the extra code wasn’t a huge problem.

As I said at the beginning of this post, Bootstrap does often add to my business value. It is another great tool I’ve added to my toolbox of web development options.