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  1. Stackups
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  4. Front End Frameworks
  5. Bootstrap vs Onsen UI

Bootstrap vs Onsen UI

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Bootstrap
Bootstrap
Stacks57.4K
Followers13.2K
Votes7.7K
GitHub Stars173.6K
Forks79.2K
Onsen UI
Onsen UI
Stacks40
Followers136
Votes11
GitHub Stars8.9K
Forks1.0K

Bootstrap vs Onsen UI: What are the differences?

Introduction

Bootstrap and Onsen UI are both popular front-end development frameworks used to create responsive and mobile-friendly websites and web applications. While they share similarities in terms of providing a range of pre-built components and a grid system, there are key differences between Bootstrap and Onsen UI that make them unique in their own ways.

  1. Design Philosophy: Bootstrap follows a more generic and universal design philosophy, providing a modern and sleek look. On the other hand, Onsen UI is specifically designed for mobile apps, offering a more native and mobile-oriented design approach. This makes Onsen UI a better choice for building mobile applications, while Bootstrap stays versatile for both web and mobile projects.

  2. Flexibility: Bootstrap offers a wide range of customization options, allowing developers to modify various aspects of the framework's style and functionality. On the other hand, Onsen UI focuses more on providing ready-to-use components with less customization options, ensuring a consistent and predictable user interface. This makes Bootstrap more suitable for highly customized projects, while Onsen UI is ideal for projects that require a quicker development process.

  3. Component Library: Bootstrap offers a comprehensive library of components, including navigation bars, buttons, forms, and more. It also provides additional third-party plugins and extensions to enhance functionality. On the other hand, Onsen UI provides a smaller but more specialized collection of components specifically designed for mobile app development, including side menus, tab bars, and carousels. This makes Onsen UI more suitable for building mobile app interfaces.

  4. JavaScript Framework Integration: Bootstrap is agnostic to JavaScript frameworks and can be easily integrated and used with popular frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue. Onsen UI, on the other hand, is deeply integrated with the JavaScript framework Vue.js and provides seamless compatibility, making it an excellent choice for Vue.js developers. This integration allows for a more streamlined development process and better performance.

  5. Documentation and Community Support: Bootstrap has been around for a longer time and has a larger community and extensive documentation available. Onsen UI, while not as widely adopted, also has a sizable community and provides comprehensive documentation. However, due to its larger user base, Bootstrap has more readily available resources and a larger community to seek support from.

  6. Development Learning Curve: Bootstrap has a steeper learning curve compared to Onsen UI. Due to its extensive customization options and flexibility, mastering Bootstrap may require more time and effort. On the other hand, Onsen UI's focused approach and simplified component options make it easier to learn and get started with, especially for developers with mobile app development experience.

In summary, Bootstrap and Onsen UI differ in terms of design philosophy, flexibility, component library, JavaScript framework integration, documentation and community support, and the development learning curve. While Bootstrap is a versatile and widely-used framework suitable for both web and mobile projects, Onsen UI is more targeted towards mobile app development, providing a native and focused experience.

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Advice on Bootstrap, Onsen UI

Bridget
Bridget

Full Stack Developer at Bridget Sarah

May 29, 2020

Decided

I do prefer to write things from scratch however when it came to wanting to jump-start the frontend, I found that it was taking me a lot longer hence why needing to use something very fast.

Bootstrap was the boom when it came out, I didn't like it, to be honest, set in its way and a pain to over-ride and in addition, you can tell from a distance if you're using boostrap and as everything looks the same.

I came across Tailwind CSS as I wanted more dynamic features, you could say, I've been now doing it for a few days and I love it a lot. I've been practising with the full stack part installed but I an't we wait until I do a new project, and I'll e able to select exactly what I want. Much faster.

681k views681k
Comments
Daniel
Daniel

Frontend Developer at atSistemas

Jun 10, 2020

Needs adviceonNew RelicNew RelicNext.jsNext.jsReactReact

I'm building, from scratch, a webapp. It's going to be a dashboard to check on our apps in New Relic and update the Apdex from the webapp. I have just chosen Next.js as our framework because we use React already, and after going through the tutorial, I just loved the latest changes they have implemented.

But we have to decide on a CSS framework for the UI. I'm partial to Bulma because I love that it's all about CSS (and you can use SCSS from the start), that it's rather lightweight and that it doesn't come with JavaScript clutter. One of the things I hate about Bootstrap is that you depend on jQuery to use the JavaScript part. My boss loves UIkIt, but when I've used it in the past, I didn't like it.

What do you think we should use? Maybe you have another suggestion?

1.07M views1.07M
Comments
Syed
Syed

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceonBootstrapBootstrapTailwind CSSTailwind CSS

I am planning to redesign my entire application, which is currently in Bootstrap. I heard about Tailwind CSS, and I think its really cool to work with. Is it okay if I use Bootstrap and Tailwind together? I can't remove Bootstrap altogether, as my application is using the js dependencies of Bootstrap, which I don't want to disturb.

739k views739k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Bootstrap
Bootstrap
Onsen UI
Onsen UI

Bootstrap is the most popular HTML, CSS, and JS framework for developing responsive, mobile first projects on the web.

Onsen UI helps you develop both hybrid and web apps. If developing hybrid apps, you can use it with the Cordova / PhoneGap command line, or with Monaca tools (CLI, Monaca IDE - cloud-based IDE for Cordova, Localkit - desktop GUI).

Preprocessors: Bootstrap ships with vanilla CSS, but its source code utilizes the two most popular CSS preprocessors, Less and Sass. Quickly get started with precompiled CSS or build on the source.;One framework, every device: Bootstrap easily and efficiently scales your websites and applications with a single code base, from phones to tablets to desktops with CSS media queries.;Full of features: With Bootstrap, you get extensive and beautiful documentation for common HTML elements, dozens of custom HTML and CSS components, and awesome jQuery plugins.
Open source HTML5 hybrid app framework for PhoneGap & Cordova; JavaScript framework agnostic; Mobile-optimized HTML5, CSS and JavaScript with Web components; UI framework; Responsive layout; Material and Flat design; Comprehensive toolset (CLI, IDE, debugger, remote build etc.) provided as Monaca
Statistics
GitHub Stars
173.6K
GitHub Stars
8.9K
GitHub Forks
79.2K
GitHub Forks
1.0K
Stacks
57.4K
Stacks
40
Followers
13.2K
Followers
136
Votes
7.7K
Votes
11
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 1582
    Responsiveness
  • 1193
    UI components
  • 943
    Consistent
  • 779
    Great docs
  • 677
    Flexible
Cons
  • 26
    Javascript is tied to jquery
  • 16
    Every site uses the defaults
  • 15
    Grid system break points aren't ideal
  • 14
    Too much heavy decoration in default look
  • 8
    Verbose styles
Pros
  • 3
    Works with any JavaScript framework
  • 3
    Allows for rapid prototyping
  • 3
    Hybrid mobile
  • 2
    Free

What are some alternatives to Bootstrap, Onsen UI?

Ionic

Ionic

Free and open source, Ionic offers a library of mobile and desktop-optimized HTML, CSS and JS components for building highly interactive apps. Use with Angular, React, Vue, or plain JavaScript.

Flutter

Flutter

Flutter is a mobile app SDK to help developers and designers build modern mobile apps for iOS and Android.

React Native

React Native

React Native enables you to build world-class application experiences on native platforms using a consistent developer experience based on JavaScript and React. The focus of React Native is on developer efficiency across all the platforms you care about - learn once, write anywhere. Facebook uses React Native in multiple production apps and will continue investing in React Native.

Xamarin

Xamarin

Xamarin’s Mono-based products enable .NET developers to use their existing code, libraries and tools (including Visual Studio*), as well as skills in .NET and the C# programming language, to create mobile applications for the industry’s most widely-used mobile devices, including Android-based smartphones and tablets, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Foundation

Foundation

Foundation is the most advanced responsive front-end framework in the world. You can quickly prototype and build sites or apps that work on any kind of device with Foundation, which includes layout constructs (like a fully responsive grid), elements and best practices.

Semantic UI

Semantic UI

Semantic empowers designers and developers by creating a shared vocabulary for UI.

Materialize

Materialize

A CSS Framework based on material design.

Material Design for Angular

Material Design for Angular

Material Design is a specification for a unified system of visual, motion, and interaction design that adapts across different devices. Our goal is to deliver a lean, lightweight set of AngularJS-native UI elements that implement the material design system for use in Angular SPAs.

NativeScript

NativeScript

NativeScript enables developers to build native apps for iOS, Android and Windows Universal while sharing the application code across the platforms. When building the application UI, developers use our libraries, which abstract the differences between the native platforms.

Material-UI

Material-UI

Material UI is a library of React UI components that implements Google's Material Design.

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