Bootstrap 3 Goes Mobile-First, Now Reportedly Powers 1% Of The Web

Bootstrap 3

Sleek, intuitive, and powerful mobile-first front-end framework for faster and easier web development.

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New organization

We've mentioned it a few times in previous updates, but today it's Facebook Official: Bootstrap has moved to @twbs/bootstrap. Watchers, stars, and the like are all maintained in the move, as is all Git history. New digs, same code.

Docs for v3 and v2.3.2

With today's release we're pushing forward 100% on Bootstrap 3, meaning when you head to http://getbootstrap.com you'll see the v3 RC1 documentation. Our intention is to make BS3's testing and development as widespread as possible so we get the best final release possible.

Head on over to http://getbootstrap.com to check it out. If you're running into any broken links on the downloads, give it a bit for the DNS to sort itself out.

We're fully aware everyone cannot simply jump right into BS3 yet, so we've kept the docs for 2.3.2 around for easy access. You'll find a prominent link to the old docs in all of BS3's documentation. If you're in need, head over tohttp://getbootstrap.com/2.3.2/.

What's changed!?

With over ~1,600 commits, ~72,000 additions/deletions, and ~300 files changed,everything has changed. We've added features, removed features, and cleaned up a lot more. The v3 pull request on GitHub has all the details you'll need for a complete list of changes and some helpful migration tips.

Onward to RC2

Bootstrap 3 RC1 is just the start, and we need your help to get to RC2. Download it and give it a go, and most importantly, tell us what you find. If something new is all funky or you found a bug, let us know by opening a new issue.

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The team behind Bootstrap, the immensely popular grid-based, front-end framework for web development, launched the first release candidate of Bootstrap 3 includes over the weekend. Besides a tweaked look and a couple of new features (and also the removal of a few others), the most important change in this update is that Bootstrap, just like its close competitor Foundation, is now mobile first and responsive by default. The announcement coincided with new data from source-code search engine meanpath, which also this weekend announced that 1 percent of the 150 million websites in its index now use Bootstrap.

Bootstrap, which was developed at Twitter but has since been spun out into its own organization after its developers left the company, has clearly caught on with developers, who can easily set up a good-looking site without having to involve designers or worry about how the site will look on different browsers.

My guess is that the vast majority of those 1 percent of sites are run by startups. The problem with this, of course, is that if you spend enough time looking at startup landing pages (which most of us here at TechCrunch are contractually obliged to do), it often feels like they all look alike after a while because the majority of developers all built the same generic Bootstrap-powered site.

That said, version 3 introduces a new flat look for a few design elements that makes it stand apart from version 2 sites. In total, the development team made over 72,000 additions and deletions and changed 300 files between the last version of Bootstrap 2 and this first release candidate.

By going mobile first, Bootstrap now asks developers to first think about the mobile site and then think about how it expands to larger screens. Previously, the thought process was the other way round, with developers working from the 12-column desktop grid down to smartphone-sized screens. In the process, the team also changed some naming schemes and added features like retina image mixins and small grid systems for tablets and phones.

If you're currently using Bootstrap 2, switching to Bootstrap 3 should be relatively easy, but given how much of the code has changed means you can't just drop in the new files and hope everything will work.

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