User Friendly User Framework!
04 Oct 2023
Web Dev and UI
Web development has been constantly evolving and it seems like a majority of companies are diverting their resources to a strong online presence. User Interface (UI) frameworks allow web developers to simplify their process of designing and creating beautiful and functional web applications.
HTML and CSS
HTML and CSS are the foundational building blocks of web development. I learned these languages through the analogy of building a gingerbread house. HTML (HyperText Markup Language) serves as the gingerbread pieces that form the structure of the house such as the walls and the roof. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) serves as the frosting, candy, and other edible decorations that make the gingerbread house appealing to the eye. With that in mind, HTML provides the structure and content of a webpage while CSS handles the presentation and styling. Together, they create the visual and interactive elements that users interact with. Although they aren’t frameworks in themselves, it was important that I had a clear understanding of HTML and CSS to utilize any UI framework.
Bootstrap 5
Bootstrap 5 is a popular front-end UI framework that streamlines the development process. It offers a comprehensive library of pre-designed components, such as navigation bars and buttons. These components can be easily customized to fit a project’s specific needs. The more I practice with it, the easier it becomes. The documentation includes examples that I can choose from and the customization is straightforward. Bootstrap’s responsive grid system ensures that web applications are visually appealing on different devices, which is extremely important in modern web development.
Modern Web Development
Modern web development now requires applications to be user-friendly, responsive, and accessible. UI frameworks like Bootstrap 5 align perfectly with these requirements. They speed up the development process, promote consistency, and support cross-browser compatibility. They also incorporate popular web technologies such as JavaScript frameworks like React, which helps developers create interactive and dynamic user interfaces.
User Friendly!
Learning a new UI framework has been challenging and rewarding. It’s been taking time and effort to understand the documentation and then actually applying it to my specific projects and assignments. However, there have been a lot of benefits. A component that would take me numerous lines of HTML and CSS can now be done with 1-2 lines of Bootstrap. This has improved my productivity and reduced my development time. Overall, learning this framework has enhanced my skill set and is something I’ll use to create modern and visually appealing applications moving forward.