Bulma I am thoroughly familiar with, Bootstrap - not as much. I spent the past few days going over the classes. I was looking for the same kind of foolishness I found in other packages. Looking for useless code. Looking for ways to improve. Looking for bloat.
The result is that I am shaking my head in disbelief that users would leave Bootstrap in favor of, well, anything else. I do get it in one way ... that is the appeal of a more intuitive class syntax. But gheez, in every other way, Bootstrap is so far ahead of Bulma in usefulness that appending Bootstrap with some additional class names makes more sense than switching.
That's what I did. I really like the intuitive class syntax I came up with for my CSS Framework responsive grid. I actually thought about replacing the Bootstrap grid with my own ... but after a close analysis, the one I came up with falls short. It's nowhere near as complete and comprehensive as Bootstrap. So I did the next best thing and modified Bootstrap ... not to replace the class names, but add to the existing grid class names with my own intuitive syntax.
That means I can use Bootstrap templates as is, and any new projects can use my new syntax with the full power and efficiency of Bootstrap.
Yes, I am concerned about the file size. Bootstrap v5.3.3 comes in at 275Kb raw, 228Kb minified. The minified version gzipped comes in at 29Kb. With my modifications, the raw version comes in at 296Kb, minified 247Kb and Gzipped 33Kb. That's getting a bit heavy. My server supports gzip and I don't plan on releasing my customized version of Bootstrap ... still, it's a bit heavy.
This is an interesting exercise. I don't have to maintain my own CSS Framework, I can use a published version. I don't have to reinvent the wheel – or templates. There's a ton of templates, many are free. It's easy enough to either buy more unique templates or hire contractors with Bootstrap experience to create totally unique versions. Now that I've written the software to do my "conversion" to a customized Bootstrap version, I can run it anytime a new version of Bootstrap is released and completely maintain my own "brand" and uniqueness.
I'm ok with this. And, it's a good way of leaving Bulma in the dust. Jump back into the mainstream.
If you are looking for an alternative to Bootstrap, look at modifying what you are already using, already familiar with, already trained in. It's easier to add on to what you already have than to get absorbed in another CSS Framework and, ultimately, a rabbit hole of fixes to get what you want anyhow.
If you need to start anew, look at Tailwind. It's developing a following. Tailwind's market share of the CSS Frameworks is still below 1%, Bootstrap is well over 70%.