Angular Material Design vs Bootstrap
Understanding UX/UI design
UX/UI are often used interchangeably, but they are different things. Before deciding on a framework for UX/UI design for front-end development, lets dwell on the terms UX/UI and understand them to make an informed decision which will save a lot of time in the future.
UX Design: UX is abbreviation for User Experience
The user experience applies to anything that can be experienced. The purpose of UX design it to create easy, efficient, relevant and all-round pleasant experience for the user. It is not just about cosmetics but the underlying procedure which supports the cosmetics.
UI Design: UI is abbreviation for User Interface.
The user interface to the digital device or product. It deals with the interactivity of the product by the user. That seems simple enough doesn't it? But it's not. UI design deals with the look, feel and interactivity of the product.
The goal is to create an intuitive interface so that the user can not only operate it easily, but do it with minimal training and effort, like scratching the back of his hand.
Relevance: UX/UI go hand-in-hand. In Angular development, the material design and bootstrap provide readymade, customizable solutions to frequently used code blocks. They are both excellent frontend UX/UI frameworks.
Angular Material
Material Design is created by Google. It provides an exhaustive framework for creating responsive applications with high interactive and mobile first UI
The UX/UI components in angular are consolidated under the umbrella Angular Material. These are built by angular team to integrate seamlessly with angular. Angular Materials provide consistent performance and reliability across platforms.
Bootstrap
Bootstrap created by twitter is a open source CSS framework for building responsive applications across platforms
The main purpose of Bootstrap design is to facilitate and simplify the problem of web pages and web applications development, by supplying abundant options and components that can be carried out and customized.
Bootstrap includes an array of design templates. The community is so advanced that a template will be available for any typical design suitable for your requirement.
Angular Material or Bootstrap, What should I use?
Now the question is which one should you choose, keep reading to find out what they offer, their similarities and differences to determine which of the web platform among Material Design & Bootstrap is better for your project.
Please note that the observations are based on personal experience and it's entirely plausible that others might have different opinions. After all there are die hard fans on both sides swearing by their choice of platform. On the plus side, having to debate over choices is a good thing to have as a developer.
Also our article might become out-dated at some point as both the platforms keep publishing new releases with newer features, better efficiency and cross platform consistency. You can join our community and help us keep up to date.
Angular Material vs Bootstrap
Angular Material and Bootstrap are exceptional libraries that are used extensively for developing top-notch front-ends. The similarities and differences between Angular Material and Bootstrap are tabulated below to help you understand what they offer and assist you in deciding whether to go with Angular Material or Bootstrap for your application.
| Angular Material | Bootstrap | |
|---|---|---|
| Browser compatability | Seamless across browsers | Seamless across browsers |
| Grid system | 12 - grid system With columns, gutters, margins | 12 - grid system With containers, rows, columns |
| Design Intent | Aesthetic + Functional | Functional + Aesthetic |
| jQuery dependency | Not dependent | Can be omitted from Bootstrap 5 |
| Design Process | Enhanced with limited customization | Simple with wide customization |
| Community | Small but evergrowing community, backed by google | Large and Active community, backed by twitter |
| Sample Usage | Used by Amazon, Google, lachimi, Reddit, Nasa | Used by Airbnb, Courseera, LinkedIn, twitter, Udemy |
Can I use both Angular Material and Bootstrap together in an Application?
Absolutely! multiple UX/UI frameworks can be used in an Angular application. There are other frameworks & libraries apart from Angular Material and Bootstrap which can also be used along with these two in the application.
"You were so preoccupied with whether you could, you didn't stop to think if you should"
However, as the famous quote above says, it's not a matter of whether you could, it's a matter of whether you should. The simple answer is no you shouldn't, we do not recommend using multiple similar libaries that doesn't add much value but can end up adding a lot of weight and confusion.
Lets list out some observations which can be a hindrance using both of them together
- Angular Material and Bootstrap have their own designs. So either your application will not have a consistent look and feel (or) it takes quite a bit of jumbling around to maintain consistency
- If you ever worked with Typography, you'll realise the enormity of decisions it takes to get a legible and stylish font. Adding two sets of typographies and a possible custom typography doesn't make it easy
- A constant clash of CSS styling targeting the front end elements
- Both Angular Material and Bootstrap release new versions with regular updates, you'll end up with double migration because you're using double frameworks, Good luck with that!
- Every dependency needed and every byte added is undesired in production code
Recommendation: Choose one framework, either Angular Material or Bootstrap and stick with it. Both are awesome, fully capable, meeting anything that can be thrown at them. Just don't mix them.
Conclusion
Angular Material provides enhanced design which looks and works good, but it allows limited customization. The motto being when it's already advanced why would you need to make extensive customizations.
If you are happy with the look and feel of Angular Material Design, go for it and don't look back.
Bootstrap provides simple design with wide customization. There's a lot of creative freedom but it comes at a cost, you need to put in a lot of time to make it work. Code designed by individuals also mean any changes or newer developments will be a lot harder to upgrade.
Bootstrap is simple and good, it helps in making your own mark of excellence in front-end development if you can afford the time.
Our recommendation is to go with Angular Material. However, if you feel like you need to use both Angular Material and Bootstrap, please discard Angular Material and go with Bootstrap. Bootstrap is a ton of work but it has everything (especially after Bootstrap 5) and a huge community.
Infact the style, design & feel of Angular Material can be replicated in Bootstrap, but then why would you replicate it when you can use the original.
