Twitter Bootstrap, which was launched by the social networking website Twitter, for open source web development technology for creating front end web frameworks, has turned a year older and continues to hold the popularity that it gained soon after its launch. However, with the application growing older and stronger, it has also brought some good news along with it for the entire web development community. The framework which was used in creating beautiful and professional websites by prestigious establishments like- The White House, NASA, etc., has released a yet another advanced version 2.1 for its fans and users.
The journey so far
Twitter, which has already carved a niche amongst the open source web development community for its unique approach, has released most of its codes as an open source. Unlike other frameworks, this time too Bootstrap has released its new version as an open source, accessible by every individual, instead of making it accessible only by the experts. This unique approach of the framework has made it highly popular amongst the web developers as well as the users.
In its one year journey, Bootstrap has made a significant contribution in giving a new shape to the open Source Content Management Systems by integrating with them and creating exclusive, clean, simple and professional themes and templates, which are later on made into sophisticated websites. The websites created using the Bootstrap framework are highly compatible with all the major web browsers, simplifies responsive designs, and speeds up the performance of front end web applications.
Bootstrap and WordPress
The widely accepted open source blogging platform, WordPress has already evolved as a website designing and development platform. The CMS also offers an array of themes and templates as a front end user interface for development of web applications. When WordPress theme developers combine Twitter’s Bootstrap in their creation, they can get a well coded, advanced, feature loaded and classy WordPress theme that can be used in the WordPress website. Use of HTML5, CSS3, jQuery and JavaScript plug-ins are an added advantage in their creation of value added features.
Standard WordPress theme, StrapPress theme, WP-Bootstrap, Synapse Corporate Theme, Instyle, Responsive Portfolio theme, etc. are few of the WordPress themes and templates created using Bootstrap framework.
Bootstrap and Joomla
With Joomla community beginning to use the Twitter Bootstrap; we can see an improved level of consistency between the add-ons. For instance, if you have a medium-sized Joomla website with 15-20 elements in it, then your web developer needs to spend a considerable amount of time updating the icons and styles of each element so as to keep up the pace with the rapidly changing world, otherwise your website might appear broken/ inconsistent. Apart from the above Bootstrap is also useful in creating beautiful Joomla themes and templates.
Bootstrap and Drupal
Use of Twitter Bootstrap with Drupal version 7 can lead to the creation of a high-end responsive themes along with some impeccable front-end user interface components that can be used while developing web applications for a Drupal based website.
The new version of Bootstrap
With the release of its new version, the users of the framework are pushed a step ahead. The developers of the framework have focussed on making the latest version of the application accessible to a maximum number of users with its expanded functionalities. The new version has fixed nearly 100 bugs that existed in its previous version, included new documentation with new navigations, new tagline, new layout and new font style, apart from using a new easy to use interface, adding a few new features, increased the flexibility and durability of their codes and has added, live examples and walkthroughs.
The new features of the version include, dropdowns that supports the submenus, use of table rows for classifications, buttons with block levels, Affix JavaScript plugin, navigations and dropdowns with ‘disabled’ feature, enhanced input facility with prepended and appended support, lighter navigation by default with an option to darken it, new font size and line height, consistent grid system and many more.
Conclusion
Although Twitter had got a lot of fame with the release of Bootstrap’s first version, its new version is likely to make brand Bootstrap doubly popular.
