Why should I start using Google Material Design Lite instead of Twitter Bootstrap or Foundation

Question

Disclaimer: I don't want to start any fight against Google Fanboys. I'm just asking because I didn't find a direct answer to my question and maybe someone who already started working with it (or any googledev) can give advice.

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Google recently announced Material Design Lite 1.0 and the project has been starred over 9k times on Github in a few days. I read some posts [1, 2] comparing MDL vs Twitter Bootstrap and I don't understand why anyone outside Google's headquarters should consider start working with it.

As they said:

“We challenged ourselves to create a visual language for our users that synthesizes the classic principles of good design with the innovation and possibility of technology and science.” – Google Material Design Introduction

So, why are they releasing MDL? I just don't see the point on wasting time on learning/switching to a new frontend framework which offers much less than the existing ones. MDL looks different, modern and has nicer transitions. That's all? Is there any technical advantage?

Answer 1

The answer is, it depends on you.

Do you want Material Design at all? If so, MDL is well worth looking at. If you clearly don't want MD, then of course MDL isn't your cup of tea.

MDL is not a full framework. We aren't trying to cover every little thing you do in development. We provide Material Design components as closely as we can to the specification. You need to play around with it and see if it has what you need and whether it fits with your design goals.

The technical advantages... Depends on your wants. The component handler is a really cool way to handle modularizing your JS out. This however isn't close to the only option. There are plenty of other ways out there. So once again, you should play around and see if you like it.

Material Design Lite is very enticing for anyone building a site or application targeted at people who are in the Google-verse as it were. Speaking to Android developers/users? Chrome people? Then MDL is an enticing choice of libraries to apply to your site to make them feel at home. However, anyone else who simply wants to add Material Design to their stuff simply because they like it also would see a big benefit from MDL.

At the end of it all, MDL is a tool to help people who want MD implement it into their sites and applications. If you need to ask why you should care, then it seems MDL just isn't for you. That's fine. There is plenty of design choice out there to chose from. Just be consistent within each project you build.