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Ask HN: Bad idea to use something like Twitter Bootstrap in a production webapp?

7 points by Archio ↗ HN
I'm interning at a new startup, and I've been tasked with designing the front-end of the site.

I really, really want to use the new Twitter Bootstrap (http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/). It's all CSS, looks amazing, works great, and lets me get to designing and not worrying about the little stuff.

However, is this a good idea if it's a demo of a webapp that we're building, that could become production code? Will it look silly and amateur if I use this instead of coding it all myself? Is the bootstrap too Twitter-ish for a real company's brand?

Thanks for any input you guys can give me.

10 comments

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jonah
Some have said their grid system is somewhat wonky. It's also not responsive.

However, I'm using it as the basis for my current app. Since the CSS is all written in Less, it's easy enough to override the base styles to "theme" it, which is what I'm doing.

latchkey
I just take bits and pieces from it that I like. For example, I took the table css and modified it a bit for my tastes. Came out great.
becomevocal
I'd say use it to get your initial version out. Focus on usability now.

Keep in mind that it doesn't support a wide variety of browsers (namely, IE falters).

threepointone
>"Will it look silly and amateur if I use this instead of coding it all myself? Is the bootstrap too Twitter-ish for a real company's brand?"

Dropbox still uses famfamfam icons, doesn't hurt them one bit. Best of luck with yours!

Archio
Thanks! Nothing wrong with deciding not to re-invent the wheel, right?
threepointone
Indeed. Just make sure your code is clean, and you should be able to do a rewrite in the future.
ianpurton
It's starting to get noticed that's for sure. I can spot a bootstrap site from a mile away.

Saying that, unless you're an experienced web designer it's just about the only way to go.

brandoncordell
I think bootstrap is perfect for an MVP. I plan on using it because I'm not the best at design and quite frankly as I'm writing my MVP, I don't want to be bothered with the design. I need to get my idea out quickly and have it validated or fail. If I get to the point where I can release more features, I'll eventually have a designer on board to get things rolling.

Bootstrap is very noticeable, but honestly if you web app's audience are non-technical/non-hacker I doubt they'd notice.

dtwwtd
We used it for our new product and it enabled us to write a usable layout with good looking elements really quickly.

We're likely to move away from it in the future but it was really helpful as we were starting out.

petervandijck
Nothing wrong with using Bootstrap. Only geeks will notice.