Bootstrap 3 vs Bootstrap 4 – An Overview

06 Oct, 2017 Danish Ansari 1 Comment

• Web Designing
• bootstrap 4 new features, bootstrap features, bootstrap tip, bootstrap3, bootstrap3 vs bootstrap4, bootstrap4, learn bootstrap

Bootstrap has been most trusted open source front-end-framework to develop responsive, mobile-first websites. Bootstrap is a famous framework, Why??? Because all it requires is the basic knowledge of HTML and CSS and we can build an attractive and functional website by using pre-defined classes of bootstrap which take care of responsiveness on different devices.

Bootstrap 3 was released in the year 2013 and last stable version Bootstrap 3.3.7 released in July 2016. In October 2014, Twitter announced that Bootstrap 4 was in development. The first alpha version of Bootstrap 4 was released in August 2015. And now in August 2017, Bootstrap 4.0.0-beta version released. You can check out this in-depth Bootstrap tutorial if you want to start learning from 0 .

The center of attention of this post will be the key differences, additions, and subtractions from version 3 to the newly released version 4.0.0-beta.  

What Is Different In Version 4 :

Now we can begin to talk about the new features of Bootstrap 4. As technology rapidly evolves, newer and smarter languages are developed to make building clean, fast websites much simpler. Such is the case with the newest release of Bootstrap. The team says that this “version 4 is a major rewrite of almost the entire project”. We will summarize some key changes of this improved.

Global Changes:

• Switched from Less to Sass for source CSS files.
• Switched frompx rem as Bootstrap’s primary CSS unit, though pixels are still used for media queries and grid behavior as device viewports are not affected by type size.
• Global font-size increased from 14px to 16px.
• Added a new grid tier for ~480px and below.

Grid system:

Bootstrap 4’s major step towards improvement is its movement towards adopting Flexbox. As part of flexbox, included support for vertical and horizontal alignment classes. Bootstrap 4 positions a lot of emphasis on customization. It’s new grid tier system lets the Bootstrap 4 enjoy the presence of up to 5 grid tiers ( example of 5 tiers : .col-4, .col-sm-4, .col-md-4, .col-lg-4, .col-xl-4 ). One can easily say that Bootstrap 4 provides access to an improved grid system.

• Added a new sm grid tier below 768px for more granular control. There is now xs, sm, md, lg, and xl. This also means every tier has been bumped up one level (so .col-md-6 in v3 is now .col-lg-6 in v4).
• Changed grid system media query breakpoints and container widths to account for new grid tier and ensure columns are evenly divisible by 12 at their max width.
• Grid breakpoints and container widths are now handled via Sass maps ($grid-breakpoints and $container-max-widths) instead of a handful of separate variables. These replace the @screen-* variables entirely and allow you to fully customize the grid tiers.
• Media queries have also changed. Instead of repeating media query declarations with the same value each time, there is now @include media-breakpoint-up/down/only. Now, instead of writing @media (min-width: @screen-sm-min) { … }, you can write @include media-breakpoint-up(sm) { … }.

Browser Support:

• Dropped IE8 and iOS 6 support. v4 is now only IE9+ and iOS 7+. For sites needing either of those, use v3.

Utility classes:

In Bootstrap 4, new utility classes have been included without hampering any existing functionality, whatsoever. Such important additions are as that of responsive text alignment classes, responsive floats, and responsive embedding. Apart from offering many shortcuts, these, respectively, allow for changing the alignment of the text, floating of the elements and the scaling of the aspect ratio of any embedded media. (example:.hidden-md-up hides an element on medium, large, and extra-large viewports. Now, instead of .hidden-md-up, use .d-md-none).

Images:

• Renamed .img-responsive to .img-fluid.
• Renamed .img-rounded to .rounded
• Renamed .img-circle to .rounded-circle

Tables:

• Responsive tables no longer require a wrapping element. In simple words, in Bootstrap 3, .table-responsive class should be added to the parent <div>. But in Bootstrap 4 , .table-responsive class to be added to <table> element.
• Added a new .table-inverse option.
• Added table header modifiers: .thead-default and..thead-inverse
• Renamed contextual classes to have a .table--prefix. Hence,.active .success, .warning, .danger and .table-info to .table-active, .table-success, .table-warning, .table-danger and .table-info.

Navigation:

In Bootstrap 4, Navigation component has been simplified to a great extent. One is required to create a new list of elements employing the latest nav base class. There are some recent additions like nav-link class, nav-item class, and navigation bar styles also.

• Rewrote component with flexbox.
• .navbar-default is now .navbar-light, though .navbar-dark remains the same.  However, these classes no longer set background-colors; instead they essentially only affect color.
• .navbar-toggle is now .navbar-toggler and has different styles and inner markup (no more three <span>s).
• Dropped the .navbar-form class entirely. It’s no longer necessary; instead, just use .form-inline and apply margin utilities as necessary.
• Navbars no longer include margin-bottom or border-radius by default.

A Comparison Table of Bootstrap Version 3 and Version 4

 

Parameters	Bootstrap 3	Bootstrap 4
Source CSS file	LESS	SASS
Grid Tiers	4 grid tier system	5 gid tier system
Dropdown Structure	Can be created with <ul> and <li>	Can be created with <ul> or <div>
Default Pagination	.pagination needs to be added to <ul> element	.page-item must be added to to each <li> element and .page-link to each <a> element
Responsive Images	Apply .img-responsive class	Apply .img-fluid class
Responsive Tables	.table-responsive class should be added to parent <div> element	.table-responsive class to be added to <table> element
Navbar Alignment	Employ .navbar-right, .navbar-left to align components	Employ spacing utilities such as .mr-auto, or flexbox alignment utilities
Glyphicons	Supported	Not Supported
Media Objects	Includes many different classes for media objects, including .media, .media-body .media-object, .media-heading, .media-right, .media-left, and .media-list and .media-body.	Uses just .media class. Margins can be applied using spacer utilities. Media objects are flexbox enabled in Bootstrap 4, so the various flexbox classes can also be applied (such as reordering, etc).
Progress Bars	Doesn’t use the progress for progress bars. Instead, applies progress bar classes to nested div elements.	Using the progress element was abandoned in Alpha 6. Bootstrap 4 now uses the div element again.

As we already told that, Bootstrap team has rewritten the framework. So the above changes are only key changes we wrote here. To read in-depth please follow the link Bootstrap 4.

Should we migrate to Bootstrap 4 or remain on Bootstrap 3

We have talked about the features that Bootstrap 4 offers. We can see there has been a lot of work is done in optimizing and cleaning up unnecessary elements and classes throughout the entire framework. Bootstrap 4 promises to be much quicker and streamlined for even greater flexibility and ease when creating an awesome mobile-friendly website.

Bootstrap 4, moved to flexbox. This can be considered as one of the biggest and significant achievements. This will provide the following benefits:

• Flexbox based grid
• New XLl grid tier
• Latest auto-layout grid
• Navbar customisation options
• New Spacing utilities
• Sans Glyphicons configuration (Bloat-free zone)
• Responsive sizing
• Responsive Floats
• Auto Margins
• Vertical Centering

Conclusion

Bootstrap has always been easing the lives of the developers and by the updating in the version, now bootstrap has many more new features and options to make things, even more, easier for the developers and that is why people are migrating from Bootstrap 3 to Bootstrap 4 since it is more convenient and accessible that it’s previous counterpart.