Microsoft introduces Office UI Fabric to take on Bootstrap

Microsoft has just released Office UI Fabric – it’s new front-end framework for developers. Office UI Fabric is kind of like Bootstrap, which allows developers to build a website pretty quickly. Microsoft states:

Today we are announcing the general availability of Office UI Fabric on GitHub. Office UI Fabric is a responsive, mobile-first, front-end framework for developers, designed to make it simple to quickly create web experiences using the Office Design Language. It’s simple and familiar to get up and running with Office UI Fabric—whether you’re creating a new app from scratch or adding new features to an existing one.

Office UI Fabric is mainly built for Office Add-ons – however, if you’re a web developer, you can simply use the framework to build websites which include a similar design to Microsoft’s own design for its services such as Office.
For those wondering how Fabric is different than other frameworks like Bootstrap, Microsoft states:

Fabric solves many of the same problems that other front-end frameworks do, in a way that is specific to Microsoft. We have our own design language and interaction patterns that all Microsoft apps share. Like other frameworks, Fabric speeds up development by ensuring that your add-ins use standard typography, colors, icons, and more. You don’t have to spend time overriding the styles of other frameworks. Fabric also includes components the other frameworks don’t have.

The framework is open sourced, as you may expect. If you’re a developer, you can find more info about Office UI Fabric here.