Sometimes I need to create websites to be used internally. I’ve experimented with a couple of CSS frameworks but found I was most productive, quickest, with Bootstrap. Below are the most common for and against points I’ve come across in numerous discussions and internet posts:

Why you shouldn’t use Bootstrap:

• you only need a few simple styles
• you don’t want your website to look like “yet another Bootstrap web site” e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11287413
• you’d rather spend time crafting, debugging and improving your own framework (when developing a website of more than just a landing page, you need structure and reusability in your styles e.g. a “framework”)
• you prefer an alternative framework like Pure or Foundation
• you want a “lighter touch”, perhaps only a portion of what Bootstrap has to offer and don’t want the “bloat” around unnecessary, unused styles
• you’re the only person working on the website
• you are either a) not targeting multiple devices and screen sizes or b) have a plan for multiple devices and screen sizes
• you don’t want lock-in to a framework (or particular version)
• you’re being paid to design web sites
• you want your website to look different or innovative
• you don’t want to add additional classes for styling e.g. “col-md-x”, “row” etc.
• you’re already using a competing framework (sometimes frameworks can be “all or nothing” and may not play nicely with existing styles)

Why you should use Bootstrap:

• you want a professional, modern-looking website with a lot less effort than starting from scratch (these arguments can apply to other frameworks as well)
• you are not a designer
• you want to incorporate the result of 100s of hours of work and best practice
• you want the low-level layout taken care of (for the most part) so you can concentrate on solving problems
• you want a consistent and standard way to style your website/s - you want to be able to re-use styles between websites
• you want documentation
• you want a tested product
• you’re creating a quick and dirty prototype that needs to look half decent; you may replace the framework later
• you want access to an ecosystem of themes and 3rd-party plugins such as date pickers, dropdown, carousels etc.
• you don’t want to spend time debugging and updating the framework (Bootstrap is open source, though, just sayin’)
• you want your website to “just work” with different devices and screen sizes