[ruby-on-rails] Installing Bootstrap 3 on Rails App

I'm trying to install Bootstrap 3.0 on my Rails app. I recently finished Michael Hartl's tutorial and am now trying to build my own system using this new version of Bootstrap, but I have a few questions that I'm not sure about.

My system specs:

• OS X Mountain Lion on MBP
• Rails 4.0
• Ruby 2.0

Questions I have:

1. What is the best gem to use in my Gemfile? I have found a few of them.
2. What do I import on my custom.css.scss? I read somewhere that it's different from 2.3.2.
3. Is there anything else I have to do to get Bootstrap to work, or are the remaining steps identical to the ones I followed for Bootstrap 2.3.2?

Edit

Here is what the bootstrap-rails project on GitHub first says to do:

gem 'anjlab-bootstrap-rails', :require => 'bootstrap-rails',
                              :github => 'anjlab/bootstrap-rails'

Then it says to do:

gem 'anjlab-bootstrap-rails', '>= 3.0.0.0', :require => 'bootstrap-rails'

Do they do the same thing, or do you have to do them both?

Twitter now has a sass-ready version of bootstrap with gem included, so it is easier than ever to add it to Rails.

Simply add to your gemfile the following:

gem 'sass-rails', '>= 3.2' # sass-rails needs to be higher than 3.2
gem 'bootstrap-sass', '~> 3.1.1'

bundle install and restart your server to make the files available through the pipeline.

There is also support for compass and sass-only: https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap-sass

For me, the simplest way to do this is

1) Download and unzip bootstrap into vendor

2) Add the bootstrap path to your config

config.assets.paths << Rails.root.join("vendor/bootstrap-3.3.6-dist")

3) Require them

in css *= require css/bootstrap

in js //= require js/bootstrap

Done!

This methods makes the fonts load without any other special configuration and doesn't require moving the bootstrap files out of their self-contained directory.

Using this branch will hopefully solve the problem:

gem 'twitter-bootstrap-rails',
  git: 'git://github.com/seyhunak/twitter-bootstrap-rails.git',
  branch: 'bootstrap3'

As many know, there is no need for a gem.

Steps to take:

1. Download Bootstrap
   • Direct download link Bootstrap 3.1.1
   • Or got to http://getbootstrap.com/

2. Copy

   bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.css
   bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css 
   

   to: app/assets/stylesheets

3. Copy

   bootstrap/dist/js/bootstrap.js
   bootstrap/dist/js/bootstrap.min.js 
   

   to: app/assets/javascripts

4. Append to: app/assets/stylesheets/application.css

   *= require bootstrap

5. Append to: app/assets/javascripts/application.js

   //= require bootstrap

That is all. You are ready to add a new cool Bootstrap template.

Why app/ instead of vendor/?

It is important to add the files to app/assets, so in the future you'll be able to overwrite Bootstrap styles.

If later you want to add a custom.css.scss file with custom styles. You'll have something similar to this in application.css:

 *= require bootstrap                                                            
 *= require custom  

If you placed the bootstrap files in app/assets, everything works as expected. But, if you placed them in vendor/assets, the Bootstrap files will be loaded last. Like this:

<link href="/assets/custom.css?body=1" media="screen" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="/assets/bootstrap.css?body=1" media="screen" rel="stylesheet">

So, some of your customizations won't be used as the Bootstrap styles will override them.

Reason behind this

Rails will search for assets in many locations; to get a list of this locations you can do this:

$ rails console
> Rails.application.config.assets.paths

In the output you'll see that app/assets takes precedence, thus loading it first.

I use https://github.com/yabawock/bootstrap-sass-rails

Which is pretty much straight forward install, fast gem updates and followups and quick fixes in case is needed.

gem bootstrap-sass

bootstrap-sass is easy to drop into Rails with the asset pipeline.

In your Gemfile you need to add the bootstrap-sass gem, and ensure that the sass-rails gem is present - it is added to new Rails applications by default.

gem 'sass-rails', '>= 3.2' # sass-rails needs to be higher than 3.2 gem 'bootstrap-sass', '~> 3.0.3.0'

bundle install and restart your server to make the files available through the pipeline.

Source: http://rubydoc.info/gems/bootstrap-sass/3.0.3.0/frames

I actually had an easy workaround on this one in which I nearly scratch my head on how to make it work. hahah!

Well, first I downloaded Bootstrap (the compiled css and js version).

Then I pasted all the bootstrap css files to the app/assets/stylesheets/.

And then I pasted all the bootstrap js files to the app/assets/javascripts/.

I reloaded the page and wallah! I just added bootstrap in my RoR!

This answer is for those of you looking to Install Bootstrap 3 in your Rails app without using a gem. There are two simple ways to do this that take less than 10 minutes. Pick the one that suites your needs best. Glyphicons and Javascript work and I've tested them with the latest beta of Rails 4.1.0 as well.

1. Using Bootstrap 3 with Rails 4 - The Bootstrap 3 files are copied into the vendor directory of your application.

2. Adding Bootstrap from a CDN to your Rails application - The Bootstrap 3 files are served from the Bootstrap CDN.

Number 2 above is the most flexible. All you need to do is change the version number that is stored in a layout helper. So you can run the Bootstrap version of your choice, whether that is 3.0.0, 3.0.3 or even older Bootstrap 2 releases.

I think the most up to date gem for the new bootstrap version is form anjlab.

But I don't know if it currently works good with other gems like simple_form when you do rails generate simple_form:install --bootstrap, etc. you may have to edit some initializers or configurations to fit the new bootstrap version.