Bootstrap 4 vs 5 Difference – What’s New & What Changed?
Bootstrap is one of the open-source tool collections used for making responsive web apps and pages. Bootstrap is known to be the combination of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS and can also make it quite easy for developing mobile-first and responsive web platforms. Bootstrap aims to resolve the compatibility issue for cross-browsers. The Bootstrap is at the core of almost every website and is perfect for all types of screen sizes and matches precisely to modern browsers. (Also Read, Bootstrap Tutorials)
All sites today use responsive frameworks to build more scope for their online platforms. We have a special section for preparation with exclusive Bootstrap Interview Questions and Answers to help you get started on the right path.
Difference Between Bootstrap 4 Vs 5
Here is our short guide for the main difference between Bootstrap 4 vs 5 with respect to release dates, features, functionality, and usage analysis across developers, user experience,
| Features | Bootstrap 4 Version | Bootstrap 5 Version |
| Released date | Bootstrap 4 was released in January 2018 | Bootstrap 5 was released in May 2021 after multiple alpha and beta releases. |
| Links | <link rel = “stylesheet” href = “https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@4.6.1/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css”> <script src = “https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@4.6.1/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js”> </script> | <link href = “https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.1.3/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css” rel = “stylesheet”> <script src = “https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.1.3/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js”> </script> |
| Grid System | Bootstrap 4 has five Grid levels: xs, sm, md, lg, and xl. | Bootstrap 5 has six Grid levels: xs, sm, md, lg, xl, and xxl. |
| Jquery plug-in | Bootstrap 4 includes jquery and all associated plug-ins. | Jquery has been deleted and replaced with vanilla JS and several functional plug-ins in Bootstrap 5. |
| Color | Bootstrap 4 provides a few colors for a web page. | Extra colors insert into the looks, and the card’s color palette was upgraded. There are a variety of colors to pick from the Bootstrap 5 framework. |
| Internet Explorer | Bootstrap 4 is compatible with both Internet Explorer 10 and 11. | Bootstrap 5 does not support Internet Explorer 10 and 11. |
| Elements of Form | Radio buttons and checkboxes appear differently in different operating systems and browsers. The form takes advantage of whatever basic browser features are available. | The appearance of form elements will not change while using a different operating system or browser. The forms alternate and add form controls; they are not browser-dependent. |
| API for Utilities | We are unable to alter utilities in Bootstrap 4. | Bootstrap 5 provided us the ability to tweak and develop our utility. |
| Utilize a gutter. | Bootstrap 4 uses gutter in a px font size. | Use .g* with font size set to rem in bootstrap 5. |
| Vertical Groups | Columns can be positioned relative to one another. | Columns cannot be positioned relative to one another. |
| Icons for Bootstrap | Bootstrap 4 lacks SVG icons; we must rely on font-awesome for icons. | Bootstrap 5 has its own set of SVG icons. |
| Jumbotron | Bootstrap 4 is compatible with jumbotron. | Bootstrap 5 is not compatible with jumbotron. |
| deck of cards | The card deck is used to make an isset of cards with the same width and height. | The card deck class has been removed from bootstrap. |
| Navbar | We have the inline-block attribute, and the white dropdown will be the default for the dropdown-menu-dark class. | The inline-block property has been removed, and the dropdown-menu-dark class now has a black dropdown as the default. |
| Generator of Static Websites | Bootstrap 4 makes use of the Jekyll software. | Bootstrap 5 uses a fast static generator which is Hugo. |
| grid flexbox | It makes vertical designs easier to construct, and columns and rows can be simply implemented. The justify-center-content classes use directly to align according to the requirement. | A more complex grid system is offered, and columns do not have relative locations. |
| CSS usability | Bootstrap 4 uses fewer CSS properties. | Bootstrap 4 uses more CSS properties. |
| offcanvas component | There is no off-canvas element. | The Offcanvas component is available now. |
Unique Elements in Bootstrap 5:
With the newest versions, a lot can be seen changing from Bootstrap 5 all over Bootstrap 4. Here is the complete list of differences that you have to keep in mind if you are thinking of updating all or any of your old projects with Bootstrap or any other tool.
In case you are thinking of starting any new project then you can keep these changes in mind before taking a decision for choosing Bootstrap 5 for any other platform.
Enhanced Type of Elements:
The form elements in the Bootstrap 5 can be seen to have a customized design that can enable it to provide a responsive feel and look for all browsers. The newest form controls are completely based on the standard and semantic forms of control. It helps the developers to avoid extra marking over form controls.
Vanilla JavaScript over jQuery
At the time Bootstrap was introduced it was seen utilizing the JQuery as one of the dependencies for offering many dynamic features like dropdowns, carousel, expansion, etc. The forced dependency for JQuery is not liked by a lot of developers who like to use Bootstrap along with the modernized JavaScript frameworks, like Vue.js and React. And with Bootstrap 5 the service provider has removed their dependency.
New Color Palette:
A lot of CSS frameworks like Tailwind can be seen offering an extensive set of color palette and is very much popular with developers. The Bootstrap 5 is having one of the expanded color palettes and has many colors that are present in many shades like blue-300$, blue-900$, blue-200$, and blue-100$. It allows the user to customize to have the feel and look of the app without leaving the codebase. Here you can easily override the colors with your own color palette by using the generator for color shades
Browser support: IE 11 and 10 support is now removed:
As Microsoft can be seen moving its efforts towards the edge browser and the internet explorer can be seen losing their market share faster. Edge has also adopted the chromium engine open source that can allow having modern CSS and JavaScript features according to the newest version of firefox and chrome. Knowing this the Bootstrap team was seen dropping the support to Internet Explorer which in turn supports modern features like faster JavaScript, better API, and CSS variables.
New Navbar offcanvas
The newest offcanvas components are added in the Bootstrap 5 which are used for creating expanding sidebars just for shopping carts or navigation or even for campus menus. The offcanvas components are placed at the bottom, on right or left of the viewport and can also be configured along with the JavaScript APIs or data attributes.
Expanding classes can also be seen expanding for including support to the offcanvas in the Navbar. Here you can wrap all the Navbar elements along with the requisite off-campus HTML and can point to the toggle button for Navbar off-campus menu to work properly.
Easier theming and customization
The Bootstrap 5 is said to offer the newest customization section that can be seen expanding towards the V4s theme page with more code snippets and content for building the Bootstrap top source files for Saa. The NPM initial project also looks forward to helping the user to get started with the customization of Bootstrap much faster. Not setting the Bootstrap along with the parcel can be seen documented.
Popper.js v2:
Popovers and Tooltips in the Bootstrap are said to be powered by Popper.js. For Bootstrap 5, Popper.js v2 is adopted bringing minute-breaking changes:
Fallbackplacement icon has become now fallbackplacements
Also, remove offset options from the dropdown and popover or Tooltip. It can also be achieved with the help of popperconfig tab.
SVG icon library:
The Bootstrap can be seen offering an SVG library for a thousand icons and are quite easy to integrate along with the code. The user can add these icons via SVG sprite or inline code. The web font versions can be introduced along with the icon library stable release. We are known for using the icon library for icon libraries inclusive of the current projects and it is known to be one of the most extensive ones.
Bootstrap 4 vs 5 Difference & Conclusion
With new upgrades, changes were imminent. Bootstrap 5 offers a more comprehensive approach toward new challenges and scope for responsive web design. New features and functionality add more verstalitiy and capability to the Bootstrap framework.
In this post, we discussed new features and elements in detail to get acquainted to enhance your knowledge. You can practice and test them to master this responsive framework to build better designs for the future.
For more information and learning you can connect with our experts now!
Check out
Understanding Bootstrap 4 Modal
Bootstrap collapse
How to use Bootstrap 4 Dropdown?
Bootstrap 4 Alert Notification with Example and Styles
Understanding Spacing in Bootstrap 4
Understanding Page Header in Bootstrap
Bootstrap 4 cards
Understanding Jumbotron in Bootstrap (updated to 4th Latest Version)
Bootstrap 4 Pagination with Example
Bootstrap Interview Questions and Answers (Updated to the latest Bootstrap 4)
