Bootstrap is a popular front-end framework used to quickly design and develop responsive web pages and user interfaces. It provides a consistent set of styles, components, and Javascript plugins that simplify the process of developing websites and applications. Bootstrap is known for its simple and intuitive class-based grid system which makes aligning and positioning elements on a page easy. It also includes a huge library of pre-built components like navigation bars, forms, and buttons that can be customized with your own styles and colors.
Windi CSS is a modern utility-first CSS framework that provides classes for designing pages quickly. It offers an intuitive syntax with over 250 built-in utilities for colors, typography, spacing, and more. The framework has a small footprint and can work independently or alongside other CSS frameworks.
Bootstrap has been one of the most popular front-end frameworks for many years and has a large and active community. WindiCSS, although relatively newer, has gained popularity recently due to its focus on performance and modern development workflows. It has a growing community but is not as widely adopted as Bootstrap.
Size
Bootstrap is a comprehensive framework that includes a wide range of components and features. As a result, the default minified CSS and JavaScript files can be larger in size. WindiCSS, on the other hand, is a utility-first CSS framework that generates highly optimized and minimal CSS at build time, resulting in smaller file sizes.
Customization
Bootstrap provides an extensive set of predefined styles and components that can be customized through Sass variables and CSS overrides. It also offers a variety of themes and an online customization tool. WindiCSS, on the other hand, is highly customizable by nature as it allows you to write your styles using utility classes. It provides a configuration file where you can define your own utility classes, variants, and theme options.
Developer Experience
Bootstrap has excellent documentation, a vast number of community resources (such as themes, templates, and plugins), and widespread compatibility with various platforms and frameworks. WindiCSS also has good documentation and provides a modern developer experience with features like JIT (Just-in-Time) compilation, automatic class generation, and support for popular frameworks like Vue.js and React.
Performance
WindiCSS is designed to be highly performant, thanks to its utility-first approach and the elimination of unused styles through static analysis. It generates minimal and optimized CSS, resulting in faster load times and smaller bundle sizes. Bootstrap, being a more comprehensive framework, may have a larger CSS and JavaScript footprint, but its performance can be optimized by selectively importing only the required components and using various optimization techniques.
