When I first started building web applications, Bootstrap was the absolute standard. Every tutorial used it, and it was the fastest way to get a decent-looking navbar or a grid layout.

RubyFlow's platform is a resource for Ruby developers, offering insights into Ruby programming language, Ruby on Rails framework, and Ruby-related tools. Through articles, tutorials, and community discussions, RubyFlow offers insights into building web applications with Ruby and Rails. Developers can learn about Ruby gems, Rails conventions, and best practices in Ruby development to write clean and maintainable code.

Ruby Flow

A developer shares their personal journey switching from Bootstrap to Tailwind CSS, outlining four key reasons for the switch: eliminating context switching between HTML and CSS files, avoiding the pain of naming CSS classes, smaller production bundle sizes via Tailwind's purge compiler, and achieving more unique UI designs. The post also addresses the common criticism of verbose HTML by showing how Rails helpers or components can encapsulate Tailwind classes cleanly.

Why I Stopped Using Bootstrap and Moved to Tailwind CSS

The Bootstrap Problem: Fighting the Framework

You’re many years late… Bootstrap is an ancient relic

For me, I’ve been a big fan of Tailwind for quite some time in my programming years. However, I must admit that that when it comes down to grids, layouts and responsive designs, Bootstrap takes the win. If we talk about customization, Tailwind dominates. Honestly, I have no problem toggling between the two for my projects since they share some similar syntax.
Tailwind I usually use when I do casual projects and I have time to learn how to use the utilities it offers to create cool custom designs.
I use Bootstrap when I don’t want to bother with styling much and want to get styles done quick to move on to the real system functionality (I do competitive programming where we have to complete project modules within a period of time)

yeah, basically stopped eating **** and started eating more ****

The right image for tailwind would be an exploded parts diagram of a boeing down to the individual screw level.

As a developer, I usually work in CSS using frameworks as a helper to handle grids and other mundane tasks I don’t want to spend time maintaining.
Bootstrap was till now a big helper and I never had to even think about simple tasks like grids and responsive page flow, but now that the Chinese AI models are getting better and better at producing professional-looking layouts for websites and marketing materials, it seems I have been forced to shift to tailwind.
Since the market has been flooded with tailwind code and AI understands it better than Bootstrap, it is the framework I have to switch to.
Don’t get me wrong, I still see Tailwind has half a framework with the other half locked-in behind a credit card, and using it on non-creative frontends is a good idea.
I mean how much creative thinking do you really need to produce some app dashboard?
But in creative and marketing CSS, it is a pain to work with and all that in-line code makes rapid maintenance and updates/changes a nightmare without AI intervention.
So, for now, I too will need to change to Tailwind and get used to it, but who knows how long it will take till someone gives us another Bootstrap helper.
Maybe even the next version of Bootstrap might get me to switch back. Time will tell in this fast moving AI world.
Yes, loyalty is for dogs. For me, I just want to get the job done as smoothly and efficiently as possible, without investing my hard-earned profit in some fly-by-night framework that will be replaced by the next fashion statement.