Twitter Bootstrap is quickly becoming the defaco standard for HTML5 design. 4.0 should fully embrace this and only add extra custom CSS where it's totally necessary.

The major advantage here is we can fully customise our layout with straightforward CSS only and not having to make any complicated template edits.

Could be wrong, but can't see that happening any time soon.

The look will be too generic. Won't feel like IP.Board anymore.

You don't need to have Twitter Bootstrap to have a CSS customised style. Bootstrap is just a CSS and Html framework you can use which reduces the work for some people. However i don't think it is the best solution out there.

I am confident with IPB developers so that they can create a better framework.

Could be wrong, but can't see that happening any time soon.

The look will be too generic. Won't feel like IP.Board anymore.

The look is entirely customisable.

We're using it for the next version of our web app at the company I work for. Very impressed with it :smile:

Whether it's suitable for a forum software though, I'm unsure.

The look is entirely customisable.

Oh, I know - but it comes to your last point.. I don't think that it'd have the IP.Board "feel" to it without some serious customisation - which would surely take away the advantages of using the bootstrap in the first place?

I'd love to see it... I dunno. Ultimately, I don't even care what they choose to use. I'd adapt. :p

I personally prefer Zurb Foundation, which I just switched to in an application I'm working on. Bootstrap is hugely popular, but Foundation's grid feels much more intuitive to work with, particularly with the way its nested columns work. If IP.Suite 4.0 adopts a third-party HTML/CSS framework, that's the one I'd like to see.

IPS's developers aren't afraid to get their hands dirty and build their own frameworks, which is awesome, but they also went ahead and committed to CKEditor for their WYSIWYG needs as they found it already delivered most of what they needed, so it's clear that they aren't averse to using third-party code where it makes sense. Frameworks are rigorously tested to deliver their grids and features reliably on a wide range of browsers, and I recall that was the main reason CKEditor was adopted.

Even then, the main advantage I see coming out of adopting a framework like Bootstrap or Foundation is the wealth of community resources for those frameworks that IP.Suite webmasters would get at their disposal. I certainly wouldn't mind that. :D

The main reason to use a framework is to save time on development. I doubt IPS will go with a 3rd party framework and instead roll their own (like they currently have been).

Plus, Foundation > Bootstrap :P

You don't need to have Twitter Bootstrap to have a CSS customised style. Bootstrap is just a CSS and Html framework you can use which reduces the work for some people. However i don't think it is the best solution out there.

I am confident with IPB developers so that they can create a better framework.

I very much doubt IPB developers can create a better framework than Twitter.

The benefit of Twitter Bootstrap is that because it's so popular there is a lot of support for it - many templates already exist that give a unique look and feel plus the design is very intuitive which allows people to make adjustments and modifications very easily. It is a rock solid framework that works brilliantly across all modern web browsers and devices.

Twitter Bootstrap is just a generic framework to set up some basic styling and layout to get you started. It's not something we really have much need for ourselves. Even if we used it, it wouldn't really give you the ability to take other templates that were created relying on that framework and use them in IPB without any work - there is just too much specifics in a software suite the size of IP.Board+apps that a generic third party framework like this cannot account for entirely.