What is CSS Grid?
CSS Grid is a two-dimensional grid system used to work on the layout of UI elements and segments of a webpage. The Grid comprises horizontal and vertical lines to form rows and columns, much like a table.
Using CSS Grid to place UI elements helps to position them precisely which is beneficial for implementing responsive design for the site. The Grid uses pixels to fix the track sizes, and these too can be flexible on a percentage basis. This helps the same webpage adjust its design according to the screen size of various devices like phones, tablets, desktop, etc.
How does Bootstrap Grid work?
Unlike CSS Grid, in Bootstrap Grid, column elements are placed within row elements, creating a horizontal group of columns with each row. The columns remain the immediate children of the respective rows where they are being placed. In a full row, the maximum number of columns shall be 12.
It offers four tiers of classes namely xs, sm, md, and lg, that are classified as follows according to device size:
- xs class is meant for phones with size <768 px.
- sm class is for tablets with size >= 768 px and <992 px.
- md class is used for desktops with size >=992 px and <1200 px.
- lg class is defined for larger desktops with size >= 1200 px.
This classification according to device size works helps implement website responsiveness for devices of different sizes to deliver a pixel-perfect UI.
CSS Grid vs Bootstrap
Here is the classified comparison of CSS Grid and Bootstrap:
| Criteria | CSS Grid | Bootstrap |
|---|---|---|
| Markup | Has a cleaner and more legible markup. The grid layout is not defined in the markup but done in CSS | Requires a div tag for each row and for defining the class tier for specifying the layout in each div tag. This makes code lengthier |
| Column Limitation | Offers a flexible layout with no column limitation. This makes it very easy to have any number of columns | Since the grid is split into 12 columns, any layout that doesn’t add up to 12 is difficult to materialize |
| Responsiveness | Even if HTML remains the same, just add different media queries to the CSS and define the grid layout for each HTML element | One can define content area layout individually for different device sizes using predefined class tiers. But this makes the markup bulkier, as they increase the number of div classes. |
| Page Load Speed | Well supported by most browsers and versions. No downloads are required and the page load speed is faster | The stylesheet supporting files have to be downloaded which slows down the page load speed |
CSS Grid or Bootstrap: Which one is better?
- Bootstrap offers more than a grid layout system and is more of a frontend toolkit suite. Capable of pulling off complex responsive design through its predefined classes.
- On the other hand, CSS Grid is a simple and flexible grid layout system. Which applies a cross compatible design that provides a top-notch user experience. Thus, using CSS Grid over Bootstrap makes sense when implementing simple layouts.
Is CSS Grid better than Bootstrap?
For cases where Layout is the primary concern, then CSS Grid should be choice. Because it allows you to segregate the page and divide it into different areas prior to adding content. It helps give a defined look to the webpage with different areas within the Grid designated to various sections. Also, CSS Grid provides good Cross Browser Compatibility
