Bootstrap vs React: Which is Better for Front End?

When it comes to creating an application, choosing the right front-end development framework is very important for any developer. And as there are many different types of frameworks in the market, some web app development companies use different frameworks according to the client requirement, while others try to get their hands on a new framework. But the main goal behind using any framework is to offer a perfect solution to the end-users. In today’s time, the two most popular front-end frameworks are Bootstrap and React. Therefore, in this blog, we will compare – Bootstrap vs React to find out which can be the right choice for your web development project.

Bootstrap is a framework that is referred to as a popular front-end toolkit that is also open-source, while on the other hand React, a JavaScript library is famous for creating UI. Both of them are competing in the market to become one of the most optimal frameworks.

1. What is Bootstrap?

What is Bootstrap?

Bootstrap is one of the most popularly used open-source front-end CSS frameworks. It helps in developing mobile-first websites. Though this front-end framework template is created on CSS, it also supports JavaScript components and HTML templates. Besides, this is a UI development framework that is very popular and this is because of its responsive design templates and multi-site interoperability.

2. What is React?

What is React?

React is a popular and free-to-use JavaScript toolkit for developing interactive web applications. It enables web development companies to use reusable components as they can help speed up the development process in comparison to other frameworks. Besides, React comes with the ability to generate web pages faster than any other technology and this makes it a preferable choice over other JavaScript libraries. In addition to this, there are React folder structure best practices that help the developers to create a perfect file structure for the project. Overall, it is one of the best libraries for creating straightforward and sophisticated commercial applications. 

3. Bootstrap Vs React – Differences.

Some of the major differences between React and Bootstrap are –

3.1 Performance

Bootstrap is a popular framework and the reason behind is its user-centric nature. It is a framework that makes it easy for the developers for creating developing websites and web applications, but for the app’s performance, one needs to keep an open eye. Web app developers have sometimes criticized the framework because of its unutilized resources and libraries. But, this framework offers extensive customization features that every developer praises. Besides, Bootstrap also has the capability to increase the performance of the application and it is irrespective of the content-heavy.

This means that bootstrap can be used as one of the best requirement-specific resources. It helps in reducing the bulk over the website by using the source code and not the entire library. When a web development company is working with bootstrap, it can take the advantage of the minimal and lean use of JavaScript and CSS minimizes the app load.

On the other hand, the app performance that React offers is faster and the user experience is excellent. And this is possible as in React, every component is working in a perfectly functional manner. Besides this, the component-based architecture of this framework enables the developers to create robust single-page applications and remove reusability. In addition to this, the library used here is helpful to make necessary changes to the web pages without making the entire pages reload. This means that React has the capability to eliminate the unnecessary loading of pages.

3.2 Application Architecture

When we talk about the application architecture in bootstrap, it means View-View-Controller. The build of this architecture uses two components, popularly known as the Logic Layer and the View Layer. The components of view focus mainly on the visual display of the application and the view-controller is responsible to set out the behavior of all the visual components within the framework. The view layer comes with six modules and the logic layer in the bootstrap comes with twelve components that have the capability to offer unique functionalities to the application.

React is a framework that doesn’t have a built-in architecture. It caters to the view layer that comes with various components. All the React components in this framework work as functions that help in rendering the user interface whenever the data changes. And because of the constant interaction between the state of the app components and the users’ actions, React is the best option. But this only works when the scope and functionality of the app are limited. On the other hand, when it comes to creating real-world applications, React native needs external libraries like Reflux, Flux, Redux, and MobX, to implement an architecture.

3.3 Scalability

Bootstrap is a popularly used mobile-first development framework that is preferred by most developers to create scalable websites and apps. And with the help of bootstrap, one can scale up or down the responsive website content, completely depending on the screen, browser, or app, the client is using. In addition to this, bootstrap has the ability to omit compatibility issues and cross-browser bugs with the help of its single universal codes. Besides, the class components of bootstrap enable the developers to specify column sizes as per the size of the screen and also help in altering the content.

On the other hand, when we talk about the scalability of the React framework, we can say that as React apps are created using JavaScript, programmers have to rely on the traditional way of code organizing to make the web development project scalable. Besides this, React is an excellent choice when it comes to developing scalable UIs that come with a concept of component reusability and virtual DOM.

3.4 User Experience

Bootstrap is a framework that was created as a web responsive front-end framework that helps in rendering a better and standardized user experience. And the responsive design of this framework offers developers, web users, and viewers consistency for all types of platforms. This can help in increasing the value and trust of the app without any issue. In addition to this, bootstrap comes with drop-down menus, themes, templates, sliders, and plugins that are developed on jQuery, and some other interactive components that can give users a seamless experience.

On the other hand, React comes with a fast rendering and high-quality user interface. The React-based apps incorporate rich user interfaces which means that the developers can offer an everything-on-place system. In addition to this, it comes with UI components like text boxes, buttons, and forms. These components makes the users comfortable. Besides, as this framework is a Facebook product, it has the capability to offer the best functionalities to the users.

3.5 Developed by

Bootstrap is developed by @Fat and @MDO, the members of the Twitter team in the year 2011.

React is developed by Jordan walke, a Facebook team member in the year 2013.

3.6 Technology / Languages used

Bootstrap was developed using technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and SASS.

React was developed using JavaScript codes.

4. Why Use React

Some of the major reasons behind web developers using React are –

4.1 Form A Complex UI

Reactjs is a component-based framework. With the use of this framework, developers can easily encapsulate various UI components of web pages and then merge all of them into one complex user interface. And here, every component can manage its state and update.

4.2 Faster Reloading

React, a JavaScript framework can update data on a web page faster and it can also make the data easily viable for dynamic websites where there is a frequent change in the view data. And the main reason behind the speedy change is the virtual DOM function of React.

4.3 Easy Component Creation

React Js follows a render() method. This means that the react developers can effectively develop their custom components. They can also use several libraries and external frameworks.

5. Why Use Bootstrap

Some of the major reasons behind web developers using Bootstrap are –

5.1 Rapid Development 

The major advantage of using Bootstrap is that it is rapid with web development. Any developer who has a basic knowledge of HTML and CSS can use bootstrap for creating a perfect structure for web and mobile apps. And the key to making the development easy is that bootstrap can call classes from HTML, CSS, or JavaScript.

5.2 Easy To Use

Bootstrap is a very simple and easy-to-use framework for everyone. It is not like other frameworks which is just for experts. It targets beginners and helps them enhance their app coding skills. Besides, it hardly takes very less time for the developers to start with bootstrap as it offers a well-documented manual.

5.3 UI Components

Bootstrap comes with a wide range of components for the front-end developer. And this list of components includes a navbar, cards, list, carousel, popovers, pagination, and more. These components make web projects simple and user-friendly.

6. Conclusion

As seen in this blog on Bootstrap vs React, both are very close competitors, especially when it comes to creating, designing, and customizing the best user interface for web applications. React is known as a component-based framework and Bootstrap is called a template-based frontend development framework that offers ready-made templates for creating both single-page and dynamic web applications. But the choice between these two completely depends on the web app developers. And for making the right choice, they must consider the unique facilities and features provided by both these frameworks.

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Itesh Sharma

Itesh Sharma is core member of Sales Department at TatvaSoft. He has got more than 6 years of experience in handling the task related to Customer Management and Project Management. Apart from his profession he also has keen interest in sharing the insight on different methodologies of software development.

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