Just In Time To Make Webpages
10 Oct 2024Introduction
The creation of the transistor, which allowed the miniaturization of computers, took less time than mankind discovering the capability to destroy itself. Though it can be frustrating to keep up with the newest and latest fads, technology is developing at a rapid pace. As the Bull Moose, Teddy Roosevelt, said himself, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.” While we Computer Science majors don’t have the luxury of creating a world-ending weapon like the atom bomb, that credit goes to Oppenheimer, at least we can code fun and creative webpages thanks to UI Frameworks.
My experience with Bootstrap 5
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Above are the images of the original and of my rushed attempt at recreating the website of Leeward Community College, where I’ve recently completed my associate’s degree. Despite there being very notable differences such as the size of buttons, positioning of the dropdown buttons, and the padding on the menus, it looks passable enough. Of course, I couldn’t have achieved this replication with HTML and CSS alone. Bootstrap 5 was the UI Framework used to make this cardboard cutout of a webpage possible.
When creating this webpage, I didn’t have to create as many classes in a CSS file as I did in previous assignments, and there were fewer lines in my HTML file. Thanks to BS5, I was able to call on built-in classes to help me create my menus, add icons, and position text. It didn’t replace the use of the CSS file, so I could still create and enforce changes as I saw fit. The experience was akin to using a screwdriver and a power drill. Bootstrap 5 helped me get the job done the way I wanted to but faster, and it is no doubt why many UX designers have probably integrated BS5 into their toolset.
Conclusion
In any profession there’s bound to be obstacles and lots and lots of headaches. While constantly having to adapt at times be a chore, new and updated tools are there to help us continue on improving what we’re capable of creating. I unfortunately had the bad luck of being born too young and in an alternative dimension where some Physicist takes the credit for creating the nuclear bomb, can’t believe they made a movie about that guy. Regardless, at least I was born just in time to make webpages.