Top 5 Bootstrap Editors in 2018

Bootstrap 4's stable version was released on 18 Jan 2018. People are feeling excited and want to give it a try, don't you feel the same way? But what if you didn't have to write out the source code line by line and just wanted to get the visual effect by only selecting the Bootstrap components and dragging them into the canvas? Hmm, sounds interesting doesn't it?

That's where Bootstrap editor comes in. These editors and builders ease the prototyping and testing when you are new to web design. Yes, you heard it right, you can build your website without any coding knowledge within a minute.

But first, what is Bootstrap?

Bootstrap is a free and open-source front-end framework for designing user interfaces, theme, building responsive, mobile first web application and website. It's designed for mobile smaller screen first and then working up to the larger screen. It was initially released on 19 Aug 2011 and developed by the Bootstrap Core Team. It has come a long way to become even better and better to suit the community needed. Besides that, do check our other blog to find out what are the breaking changes of Bootstrap 4 that you need to know.

Why use Bootstrap?

Some people might be wondering why use the Bootstrap framework instead of using pure CSS to design the website, here are the main reasons:

• Increase development speed - Rather than coding from scratch, the helper classes in Bootstrap are helpful for alignment, styling and positioning the component on your website
• Responsiveness - Instead of using custom media query to create a responsive site from scratch, you can use Bootstrap's grid system to ease your work
• Consistency - Class name, markup, style of Bootstrap are consistent
• Support - Bootstrap has a very nice and sweet documentation, and a huge community to support with

Should I use Bootstrap Editor?

Yes, to optimize the development speed even faster, Bootstrap editor can help you a lot. Most of the Bootstrap editor provided the feature of live preview, you can modify the component in canvas and observe the changing simultaneously. Moreover, the online Bootstrap editor is very convenient, you can design your website layout on the fly and download the source code into your machine for further reference without installing any software on your machine. All you need is an active internet connection and your creativity!

In this post, I have provided a list of online bootstrap editors that will help you immensely.

Bootstrap 4 Editor

Bootstrap 4 Editor - created by IT Wonders Web is a free and emmet enabled online bootstrap editor. In addition, the user also can activate the powerful feature of snippet search by clicking Ctrl + Shift + F. This feature enable the user to insert the snippet into the editor quickly without digging in the official documentation of Bootstrap 4.

Furthermore, you can move and resize the output window to what you like. It provides instant output feature that shows the output instantly without refreshing repeatedly. If you find yourself not familiar with Bootstrap's class, click on the Class and Components button to search the classes name and see how the visual and code base look like.

How do you feel after using the Bootstrap 4 editor?  Feel free to join this Bootstrap Facebook group and leave your comment as we are still adding new features to this editor.

Codeply

Codeply is a free, responsive design playground and frontend editor. It lets you run and preview your HTML, CSS and JavaScript code from any modern Web-browser. It provides not only Bootstrap but also other types of front-end framework such as Foundation, Materialize, Skeleton and so on. This unique functionality helps you learn quickly and build a responsive website.

You can select various types of responsive framework in the setting. Moreover, it includes more than 50 micro-libraries, plug-in, APIs to suit your needs. Next, you are required to register an account (it's free) to save your project. Your project will be listed down on your profile dashboard.

Bootply

Bootply is a free Bootstrap editor, a visual builder that includes templates and examples using HTML5, CSS, Javascript, and jQuery. It provides both a visual and hand-coding interface. The project comes with the extension of 'ply' which stands for the collection of HTML, CSS and Javascript code. Moreover, Bootply contains a large collection of snippets created and evaluated by other Bootply users and you can access to more than 1000's of Bootstrap examples created by other users. It provides a searchable and shareable code repository. Furthermore, Bootply provides saving, updating, and forking functionality for both guest and anonymous user.

You can select different versions of Bootstrap, jQuery, and plugins in the editor interface.

Pingendo

If you need a lightweight and cost-effective wireframing solution, Pingendo is suited you. It supports open-source tools likewise you can easily drag-and-drop elements through the code editing pane. Pingendo comes with $99 one-time payment for the premium version, even so, you can use the free version for Non-commercial purpose. Moreover, Pingendo provides a special plan for students, teachers, and academic institutions. You can download Pingendo for desktop or you can access the playground online to customize your design. Customization is much easier in Pingendo, you can design your website with one click away with the right inspectors, and graphic possibilities are infinite that provides you various types of templates and ideas.

In Pingendo playground, you can use the free template and customize your design with the drag and drop feature.

Shoelace – Bootstrap 3 grid builder

Shoelace – Bootstrap 3 grid builder has slight differences with the editor that I mentioned above. You cannot customize the content here, no drag and drop feature, no snippet, no emmet. On the contrary, it provides only the grid system. If you are new to web design and has passionate to learn about it, this editor can help you immensely as it can help you in learning of Bootstrap grid system in both visual and code base.

Conclusion

Bootstrap editors are a great way to quickly design your websites. Each editor has their own strengths and weakness so you can use one that completely suits your needs but it's better to use one instead of a normal editor. In fact, in IT Wonders that's what our company uses to design websites.

That’s all from me! Thanks for your time in reading this article and if you find this article helpful, do remember to like our Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to put your comment below. Any suggestions are welcome! Bye, nos vemos!