Bootstrap Themes and Customization - Bootstrap Tutorials

Best Practices for Bootstrap Customization

Tutorial 5 of 5

# Bootstrap Customization: Best Practices

## **1. Introduction**

In this tutorial, we're going to learn about the best practices for customizing Bootstrap. Bootstrap is a popular front-end framework that can speed up your web development process. However, for your site to stand out, you'll need to customize the default Bootstrap styles.

By the end of this tutorial, you will learn how to efficiently customize Bootstrap in a maintainable way and avoid common pitfalls.

**Prerequisites**: Basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap.

## **2. Step-by-Step Guide**

### **2.1 Understanding the Bootstrap Source Code**

Before diving into customization, familiarize yourself with the Bootstrap source code. Bootstrap is built on SCSS, and its source code files are logically separated. Understanding these files will help you make targeted customizations.

### **2.2 Customizing Variables**

Bootstrap allows you to customize its default variables. This is a good starting point as it affects global styles. Locate the `_variables.scss` file and you can begin customizing.

```scss
// Customizing the primary color
$primary: #5a6268;

// Customizing the border radius
$border-radius: 0.35rem;

2.3 Overriding Bootstrap CSS

When you need more specific customizations, you can override Bootstrap's CSS. Always do this in your separate CSS file to maintain the maintainability of your code.

/* Customizing the navbar */
.navbar {
  background-color: #5a6268;
}

3. Code Examples

Example 1: Customizing Variables

// Customizing the primary color
$primary: #FF6347;

// Customizing the font size
$font-size-base: 1rem;

// Don't forget to import Bootstrap to apply these changes
@import "bootstrap";

This will change the primary color to tomato and the base font size to 1rem.

Example 2: Overriding Bootstrap CSS

/* Overriding navbar */
.navbar {
  background-color: #FF6347;
  font-size: 1.2rem;
}

This will change the navbar's background color to tomato and increase the font size to 1.2rem.

4. Summary

In this tutorial, we've learned how to efficiently customize Bootstrap. We've learned to understand the Bootstrap source code, customize Bootstrap variables, and override Bootstrap CSS. Your next step could be exploring more about Bootstrap components and how to customize them.

5. Practice Exercises

Exercise 1

Customize the following Bootstrap variables: $secondary, $success, and $danger.

Solution

$secondary: #4682B4;
$success: #228B22;
$danger: #B22222;

@import "bootstrap";

Exercise 2

Override the Bootstrap CSS for .btn.

Solution

.btn {
  font-weight: bold;
  letter-spacing: 1px;
}

This will make the text on buttons bold and increase the spacing between letters.
```