Why jQuery and Bootstrap Still Matter in 2025

Choosing Boring Technology

jQuery and Bootstrap are old. Everyone knows that. The JavaScript framework of the week club loves to tell you they're obsolete. But here's the truth: they still work brilliantly.

We're tired of complexity. We're tired of build steps that take longer than writing the actual code. We're tired of frameworks that change their API every six months.

jQuery and Bootstrap are boring. And boring is exactly what we need.

The Complexity Problem

Modern web development has become absurd. Want to add a simple dropdown? Install seventeen npm packages. Configure webpack. Set up Babel. Create a build pipeline. Wait for the bundler to compile.

Or you could just include jQuery and Bootstrap from a CDN. Write five lines of code. Ship it.

The second option works perfectly fine. It's been working fine for over a decade. Yet somehow we've convinced ourselves it's wrong.

Why jQuery Still Works

jQuery solved real problems. DOM manipulation was painful. Ajax requests were inconsistent across browsers. Event handling was a mess.

Those problems are mostly solved now. Modern browsers standardized their APIs. But jQuery remains useful because:

• It works everywhere without polyfills
• The API is simple and predictable
• No build step required
• Tiny learning curve for new developers
• Millions of existing code examples

You don't need a framework to show and hide a div. jQuery does it in one line. It's been doing it reliably since 2006.

Bootstrap's Enduring Value

Bootstrap gets criticized for making websites look the same. But you know what? Most websites should look the same. Users understand familiar interfaces.

Bootstrap provides:

• A responsive grid that actually works
• Components that are accessible by default
• Consistent spacing and typography
• Forms that don't make you cry
• Mobile-first design out of the box

Custom CSS frameworks sound exciting until you realize you're rebuilding Bootstrap badly. Why reinvent the wheel when the wheel already rolls perfectly?

Our Boring Stack

At Creative Data Lab, we choose boring technology. Our preferred stack is Django, Bootstrap, and jQuery.

Django handles the backend. It's been stable since 2005. The admin panel alone saves weeks of development. The ORM works. The templating is straightforward. Security features are built in.

Bootstrap handles the frontend styling. Responsive layouts work immediately. Components look professional without custom design. Accessibility is handled.

jQuery handles interactivity. Ajax calls are simple. DOM manipulation is readable. No compilation step slows us down.

This stack is old. It's boring. It works.

Shipping Faster

Modern JavaScript frameworks promise speed. They deliver complexity instead. You spend more time configuring tools than building features.

With jQuery and Bootstrap, you write code and it runs. No build step. No transpilation. No waiting for hot module replacement to reload.

Want to change something? Edit the file. Refresh the browser. Done.

This is how web development should feel. Fast. Simple. Productive.

The Innovation Token Trap

Every project has limited innovation tokens. Spend them wisely.

Using the latest JavaScript framework burns tokens. Learning new syntax burns tokens. Debugging build configurations burns tokens. Managing breaking changes burns tokens.

Before you ship a single feature, your tokens are gone.

jQuery and Bootstrap cost zero innovation tokens. They're boring. They're stable. They're documented. Save your tokens for solving actual business problems.

Real Projects Need Boring Tools

We've built marketplaces handling thousands of users with Django, Bootstrap, and jQuery. Booking systems processing real payments. E-commerce platforms selling actual products. SaaS applications generating revenue.

None of these projects needed React. None needed Vue. None needed a complex build pipeline.

They needed to ship. They needed to work. They needed to be maintainable.

Boring technology delivered all three.

When Modern Makes Sense

Modern frameworks have their place. Building a real-time collaborative editor? Sure, use React. Creating a complex single-page application with heavy client-side state? Modern tools help.

But most projects aren't building Google Docs. Most projects need:

• Forms that submit data
• Pages that display information
• Basic interactivity
• Mobile responsiveness
• Reasonable performance

jQuery and Bootstrap handle all of this perfectly.

Maintenance Matters

Modern frameworks age badly. Code written in Angular 1 doesn't work in Angular 2. React codebases from 2018 look ancient. Build tools break constantly.

jQuery code from 2010 still runs. Bootstrap 3 sites still work. The APIs haven't changed dramatically. Maintenance is straightforward.

When you're building software that needs to last, boring technology wins every time.

The Community Advantage

jQuery has been around since 2006. Bootstrap since 2011. The communities are massive and mature.

Every possible problem has been solved. Every question has been answered on Stack Overflow. Countless tutorials exist. Debugging is easy because millions of developers have hit the same issues.

New frameworks mean new problems. Unsolved problems. Sparse documentation. Smaller communities. More time wasted searching for answers.

Choose Simplicity

The web development community has an obsession with novelty. New frameworks appear constantly. Each promises to solve all our problems. None actually do.

jQuery and Bootstrap aren't exciting. They're old. They're boring. They're exactly what most projects need.

Stop chasing complexity. Stop rebuilding the same components in the framework of the week. Stop pretending your project needs what Google uses.

Choose boring technology. Choose jQuery and Bootstrap. Choose shipping features over configuring tools.

Your future self will thank you.

Our Philosophy

We build real software for real businesses. We use Django, Bootstrap, and jQuery because they work. Because they're simple. Because they let us focus on solving problems instead of fighting our tools.

This stack isn't fashionable. It won't impress anyone at a conference. It won't look good on a resume full of buzzwords.

But it builds working software fast. It maintains easily. It scales adequately. It serves businesses successfully.

That's all that actually matters.

Embrace boring technology. Embrace simplicity. Embrace tools that just work.

jQuery and Bootstrap are still relevant in 2025 because they solve real problems without creating new ones. That's not going out of style anytime soon.