As a single founder/developer, I'm a huge fan of bootstrap. I can handle making the frontend and backend of my site, but I can't necessarily make it pretty - especially because I honestly have kind of tacky taste. With bootstrap, I can get my site to atleast a passable level of prettiness, and not spend all my time tweaking CSS (which can take so damn long).
The main issue I'm seeing with bootstrap use now is lack of customization - everyone using the default colors and styles - so that when you load one of those sites, we think, "a-ha! bootstrap". It probably takes some of the magic out of a site's novelty for developers with that reaction. I'm not sure it affects non-techie consumers -- maybe it's bad if they can't visually distinguish your site, but otherwise, I wonder if they actually notice.
Nice site! I should definitely change my eating habits for the better.
Makes me want to resume my bootstrap-based sites, that's for sure. I'm a programmer with a very tacky taste. It took me years to figure out that you can improve design A LOT by reading about color theory, color wheels, Adobe's kuler.
I have a small suggestion if you allow me.
I think I took a long time parsing the phrase:
"Want to change your eating habits for the better?"
Maybe you could try:
"Change your eating habits for the better!"
If I'm being asked if I want to change my habits, I'm given a choice between yes or no.
If I'm told that in an imperative fashion, It might prompt me to take action.
I love the site - it actually feels like you're trying to help the user, rather than just providing a data collection tool (which I've found a lot in similar apps).
I wanted to let you know that the big green sign-up button on the homepage doesn't seem to do anything in Chrome. I had to register through Login -> Sign-up.
> I can handle making the frontend and backend of my site, but I can't necessarily make it pretty - especially because I honestly have kind of tacky taste.
That's exactly what I'm like... and for the same reason I think bootstrap is a science-send. It raises the lowest common denominator to something almost respectable.
As someone pointed out above, making use of 'less' allows you to rapidly test different color schemes... thereby controlling potential tackiness.
So, unfortunately, I made the decision to use Sass/Compass for my CSS before I started using Bootstrap, and when I saw that they used Less I considered switching over, but it doesn't have as many features as Compass - like icon spriting. I could complement Less with other tools but I decided to stick with Compass for now. It's actually still pretty straightforward to customize the color schemes without the Less variables.
(Pro tip: I often look at Bootstrap's uncompressed Less CSS to figure out how to customize in the simplest way.)
The main issue I'm seeing with bootstrap use now is lack of customization - everyone using the default colors and styles - so that when you load one of those sites, we think, "a-ha! bootstrap". It probably takes some of the magic out of a site's novelty for developers with that reaction. I'm not sure it affects non-techie consumers -- maybe it's bad if they can't visually distinguish your site, but otherwise, I wonder if they actually notice.
I spent a bit of time customizing the Bootstrap look & feel for my own site - turning that somber black bar into a bright and sunny bar: http://www.everyday.io/ (Screenshot of logged in screen here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10998095/Screenshots/bootstraplogged...) I also use bootstrap for the mobile (Phonegap) version of my site, and it works surprisingly well (http://www.everyday.im/learning/switching-jquerymob-bootstra...).
Thanks, bootstrap team!