All you need to know about Bootstrap 5

7 min readFeb 3, 2022

Now that Tech is growing rapidly it is very important to learn web development. If you are already learning web development then you must have heard of the bootstrap technology especially the latest release of the bootstrap 5.

What is bootstrap?

Bootstrap is a CSS framework that functions as a responsive, mobile-first front-end web development. It is also free and open source. You might ask for you really need a framework. The answer to that is no. Not really but it helps to make your work easier and fast. And you get to avoid alot of repetitive stuffs. It is especially important for both newcomers and experienced developers so you can focus on the functionality of your web or app.

Features of bootstrap with added bootstrap 5 new features.

With the arrival of bootstrap 5 alpha. It open doors to some features that makes bootstrap a leading font-end developing tool. We shall discuss the already existing features found in bootstrap.

Easy to use

Bootstrap is very easy to use as anyone with basic knowledge of the HTML and CSS can use it

Responsive features

Bootstrap’s responsive features allows for you to have CSS adjusts to mobiles, tablets, and desktops

Mobile-Friendly

Bootstrap is very mobile friendly as it’s version 3 focus on that.

Simple Integration

It is simple to integrate Bootstrap along with different other platforms and frameworks, on existing sites and new ones too. An element of bootstrap can be used along with your CSS.

Pre-styled Components

Bootstrap has already pre-styled components for bars, alerts, dropdowns, etc.

Customizable Bootstrap

In the previous version bootstrap 5 extends on the bootstrap 4 customizable docs with more theme page with content and code snippet for building on top of bootstrap’s source sass file. The color palette was also expanded in bootstrap 5 allowing you to customize you app easily without leaving the codebase.

Great grid system

In the new bootstrap 5 stable version, the grid system introduces the XXL features along with the already existing 12 column gird system. It also has some notable changes like:

The gutter classes have been replaced with .g* utilities.it also comes with additional features to the gird gutter spacing.
Form layer options have been replaced with the new gird system.
Vertical spacing has been added.

Bundled JavaScript plugins

In the bootstrap 5 new components the JavaScript is more easily understandable and it bridges the gap between the bootstrap 4 and bootstrap 5. The toggle state that used a bulk of HTML and css to make buttons plugin was also dropped. The toggle buttons are now powered by checkboxes and radio buttons which are more reliable.

Extensive list of components

Bootstrap has an extended list of components pre styled. These include; Button Groups, Navigation Bar, Breadcrumbs, Labels & Badges, Alerts, Progress Bar, And many others.

Base styling for most HTML elements

Bootstrap provides basic styling for your HTML element. These elements include; Typography Code, Tables, Forms, Buttons, Images, Icons

Good documentation

Bootstrap is also known to provide excellent documentation with examples and demo which makes it ease for anyone to use even a beginner.

New SVG Icon Library

Bootstrap 4 offered no library for icons as developers were forced to use font awesome for their icons. while in In Bootstrap 5, SVG icon library is introduced which makes it possible to make your own icons and use them in your projects.

Utilities API

Utilities were introduced in bootstrap. These allowed you to control and customize the page with the global ‘$enable-*’ classes in bootstrap 4 . In bootstrap 5 API is introduced to the utilities. These added feature also gives developers opportunity to either create their own API or even remove or modify utilities with this API based approach.

Bootstrap 5 major changes

One of the frustrating things for web developers is doing some repetitive work. It makes the work a lot more difficult for them. Bootstrap have allowed developers to solve this issue and focus more on creating beautiful and user friendly websites.

The new bootstrap 5 has been released and has seen so many changes to it. We will be discussing these bootstrap 5 changes in details here and it’s importance.

New look and feel for bootstrap 5

The bootstrap new version is coming with a new look. They have improved on their doc v4.5.0. Bootstrap doc pages are no longer full width, this helps to improve readability and allow to feel more content-like. The sidebar was also improved with bootstrap expandable section to enable faster navigation. A new logo is also introduced which embodies the bold B with curly braces.

Bootstrap 5 no jQuery

jQuery has been losing its popularity as most of these modern frameworks work through the virtual DOM and not on the DOM directly that leads to much faster performance and loading speed. Bootstrap has been using jQuery for 8 years now and have seen that is much easier and efficient to discard the technology for better ones. Now bootstrap 5 have changed to venilla JavaScript which is far more popular.

Dropping the internet Explorer and using more CSS properties

Thanks to bootstrap dropping the use of internet Explorer they have been able to use a lot CSS customer properties. This allows the developer to focus more on designing their desired web page without worrying about old browser supports or bigger project size.

Enhanced gird system

We can already see a 12 gird column in version 4 of bootstrap. In bootstrap 5 it comes with xxl grid which is for screens more than 1400px wide. Also the Gutter classes was replaced with ‘g- ‘ utilities much like margin/padding utilities. ‘gx- ‘ or ‘gy-*’ can be used to have space between your columns and rows. Additionally, columns are no longer ‘position: relative’ by default.

You can learn more from bootstrap GitHub here.

New SVG Icon Library

Bootstrap 5 comes with awesome SVG icons which other versions doesn’t have. Before the stable version arrive, you can now use the SVG icons for your project without having to check Google for your icons.

Utility API

Utility has become a way to build apps and web. Bootstrap has decided to include these feature on the new bootstrap 5 version by introducing the API utility version. This is a step forward from the previous bootstrap 4 which introduced the global $enable-* classes. This new API utility wiLl make it possible to create your own utility whenever you want while being able to remove or adjust those provided.

Updated doc.

Bootstrap have switched from their usual documentation static site Jekyll to Hugo. Bootstrap made these changes because of the slow run of Jekyll and the requirement to download ruby. Hugo has none of these problems and these makes it load website faster.

Conclusion

Bootstrap is expected to release better features in their stable version and provide developers with easy access to tools needed to make your work more artists and mobile friendly.

Create Stunning Websites and Web Apps

Trying to build out all user interfaces and components for your website or web app from scratch can become a very tedious task. A huge reason why we created Contrast Bootstrap to help reduce the amount of time we spend doing that, so we can focus on building some other aspects of the project. Contrast Bootstrap PRO consists of a UI Kit featuring over 10000+ component variants. Together with a template of 5 admin dashboards and 23+ additional multipurpose pages template for building almost any type of website or web app. You can view a demo and learn more about Contrast by clicking here.

Contrast Bootstrap PRO was built using the most popular CSS

framework Bootstrap to help build your next landing, admin SAAS, prelaunch etc project with a clean, prebuilt and well documented template and UI components. Learn more about Contrast.

## Resources

You may find the following resources useful:

Originally published at https://www.devwares.com.

All you need to know about Bootstrap 5

Features of bootstrap with added bootstrap 5 new features.

Bootstrap 5 major changes

Create Stunning Websites and Web Apps

Written by Devwares