[Bootstrap: Responsive Web Development] [By: Spurlock, Jake] [May, 2013]

by Jake Spurlock

Discover how easy it is to design killer interfaces and responsive websites with the Bootstrap framework. This practical book gets you started building pages with Bootstrap’s HTML/CSS-based tools and design templates right away. You’ll also learn how to extend your app with interactive features, using its suite of jQuery plugins—often without writing a single line of code. Developed by Twitter and available free from GitHub, Bootstrap supports responsive design by dynamically adjusting your web page layout. With just a basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, you can build apps that work equally well on desktop screens, smartphones, and tablets. This book shows you how.

Genres: Web, Software, Technical, Website Design, Programming

Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book deals with Bootstrap 2.

I've read it. I paid attention to the terminology used in Bootstrap and to the features offered by Bootstrap 2. I’ve paid only token attention to the code in the examples. I’ll do that with the online examples for Bootstrap 3.

For somebody (like me) who’s new to web design, this book is worth skimming through. This book probably isn’t worth buying these days. (I’ve loaned mine in a library.)

For a chronological reference. Bootstrap 2 came out in 2012 Jan. This book came out in 2013 May. Bootstrap 3 came out in 2013 Aug. Bootstrap 4 had its first stable release in 2018 Jan.

[Spencer Greene · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well-intentioned but slapdash

I was hoping for a book with good examples and best practices. There are a few here, but it’s pretty thin gruel. The author points to the various free resources out there; they’re your best bet.

[Ashraf Bashir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not worth reading! Go directly to documentation. Even the author is not talented in writing, so you will get bored of his writing style after dozen pages. He also doesn't explain technical points well, he just kept listing the features without any valuable description as if it was being automatically generated -to be included in the book- by a robot or some script. For few pages, I get convinced that he is not a technical guy who has practical experience, but later after checking who he is, I changed my mind (not totally). Also the book has a lot of copied sections and samples from Bootstrap's documentation, I think the author preferred to copy/paste the documentation instead of showing real life examples to save his time! In my opinion, this book was a "task" on him that he must accomplish, not no more than this; And I think he succeeded to finish it. For you, just use the documentation, or search for a better book which covers this topic.

[Arun Mahendrakar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry to say this, but it seems like the documentation on the site was turned into a book "as is".

The book does give details about bootstrap and it's usage, but expected much more from O'Reilly books.

The sample code that comes along with the book is also incomplete. For some reason, the author decided not to include the examples of chapter 4 in the code sample.

The author could have built a website through the chapters to demonstrate the usage of the concepts of Bootstrap.

[Alessandro Pellizzari · Rating 1 out of 5]

Inutile.

Sapevo che non potevo aspettarmi molto da un manuale di meno di 100 pagine utili, ma questo è una copia precisa al 99% del manuale online. Stesse parole, stessi esempi (e stessi esempi mancanti). Ha giusto aggiunto un paio di paragrafi di introduzione o di conclusione o qualche suo commento ogni tanto.

E per di più è diventato vecchio con la release 3 di Bootstrap.

[Jim Driscoll · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is written in a easy going, fun style (though it does descend into a bit of a laundry list at some points). But it's describing an obsolete version of the technology, and I found more than a couple places where the examples simply didn't match what the text said they were demonstrating.

As others have said, you're better off with the web docs.

[Madalin Ignisca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even if you started with Bootstrap (version 2 when I read the book), it's a good way to check out most of the stuff you can use from the author's side of views. I found a few things I wasn't aware of and helped me in some projects.

[Brian Paul]

Wasn't that great of the book, it was mostly the copy of the documentation available on the bootstrap website

[Sergiy Leschenko · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a copy of documentation from web, with the same examples.

[Kiril Kirilov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another lifeless O'Reilly book - a simple copy/paste from the Bootstrap's official site - http://getbootstrap.com/2.3.2/

[Dieter · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit outdated and does not offer much more information than the bootstrap website.

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book answered a few of my questions but it looks like stuff I could find with a quick Google search. If there were a better explanation of JavaScript, I might have liked it more.

[Umma]

Not what I was expecting...

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction and short overview of what bootstrap is capable of.