In this chapter, you will learn how to make the most out of the jQuery plugins that come bundled with Bootstrap. You will first learn why you should go through the trouble of customizing plugins, then understand how to do the actual customization, and finally find out how to extend the plugins properly.
There are basically two different ways to customize the Bootstrap plugins. You can either apply your own style to alter their appearance or you can extend the functionality of the plugins to make them do what you want.
Normally, it is enough to simply apply your own style to the plugins, but occasionally, you will need to extend the functionality of the plugins to produce the desired result. The following are a few advantages to consider when customizing plugins:
- Saves time: Customizing the existing plugins can save you an immense amount of time compared to writing your own jQuery plugins. When you use the Bootstrap plugins, you get decent base styles for the plugins that can easily be modified and you do not need to write the styles from scratch.
- Fairly well written: Most of the plugins that come with Bootstrap are fairly well written and can easily be extended to do more. Back when Bootstrap was new, it was quite hard to customize the plugins, and some of them even came with a few bugs. However, things have changed since then and the plugins in the latest Bootstrap 3 are production-ready.
- Divided opinions: Some developers say that the Bootstrap plugins are bad and should not be used for anything other than prototyping. These developers are missing out because even if they are not the best jQuery plugins, they are still quite decent and are viable options that should be considered.