Dave Berning et al. - Creating Interfaces with Bulma

I discovered CSS almost by accident in 2007. During an accessibility class, the teacher was emphasizing the need to separate content from styling, and told us it could be achieved with CSS. It was a breakthrough for me: no need for Dreamweaver and complex table layouts anymore. I could write in a simple language that would translate my rules into visual interactive interfaces. I didnt know this event would eventually define the start of my career as a web developer.

For the next 10 years, while I would teach myself various web development tools (PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, Node...), CSS would remain my strongest skill, and the reason why clients and companies would hire me. In the meantime, new CSS features were being developed and adopted by browsers. I was already pretty happy with shadows, rounded corners, custom fonts, and gradients, since they didnt require PNG hacks or convoluted workarounds anymore. But by the end of 2015, a new layout model was becoming increasingly popular. It was called Flexbox.

Flexbox was a game changer: instead of relying on floats, clears and a complex markup to define columns, you could define a Flexbox container with automatically resized columns and you had yourself a grid system! This solution would also drastically simplify the HTML markup. I knew Flexbox could be used to develop something new, something powerful, something exciting! But I didnt know what exactly.

By the time Id discovered Flexbox, I was already using a small Sass framework Id built and maintained myself over several months. I used it to kickstart various CSS projects, both personal and professional. Flexbox turned out to be the missing piece: the main appeal of a CSS framework is to simplify the process of defining page layouts, and Flexboxs syntax was the perfect candidate for a clearer and more flexible markup. While Bulma was initially a CSS generator I was working on that was making use of capsules (hence the name) as modular components, I decided to ditch the idea completely and rather combine my Sass framework with my recent Flexbox knowledge into a new modern CSS framework. Bulma was born.

Since Ive always been an open source advocate, I decided to post my small framework on GitHub and share it across various tech and social websites. I thought If this small framework I built solves a problem of mine, theres a chance it might solve a problem for someone else too. While the initial launch was really quiet, it suddenly went viral. Bulma was trending on GitHub, reached the Hacker News and Product Hunt homepages, and was shared hundreds of times via Twitter. I realized I had built something not only interesting, but actually useful. I remained cautious though. Maybe Bulmas popularity was only a sudden burst of excitement that would fade away soon. But it did not.

Two years into the project, Bulma has been starred 24,000 times on GitHub, and downloaded or installed more than 1 million times. 150 contributors have helped close 860 issues and merge almost 300 pull requests. It shows how the open source community can turn a small CSS project into a major asset for web developers. And considering how it spawned gorgeous websites and made lots of businesses thrive, there is no question that Bulma will continuously grow and remain a widely used tool in the future.

Ive acquired a lot of knowledge in the process, whether its new CSS techniques or better writing skills. Ive also seen many fans express their love for Bulma, praising its simplicity and ease of use. But I think the best reward for me is to know that Ive been able to help thousands of people make the web a place of their own.

Jeremy Thomas

January 2018