Bootstrap 5.0 Released: Goodbye jQuery, Hello CSS Variables

What happened

Bootstrap 5.0.0 was released on May 5, 2021, according to the official Bootstrap GitHub release. It was the first major version of the framework in several years and represented a significant modernisation of both its JavaScript and CSS foundations.

Dropping jQuery

The most consequential change across the Bootstrap 5 line was the removal of the jQuery dependency in favour of plain vanilla JavaScript. The 5.0 release continued refining that JavaScript, decoupling the backdrop from the modal, simplifying the modal and scrollspy configuration, and improving event handling, reducing the framework's footprint and modernising its client-side code.

CSS variables and new components

Bootstrap 5.0 added a new color-scheme mixin and continued expanding the use of CSS custom properties, laying groundwork the framework would build on in later releases. It introduced the offcanvas component, adding an offcanvas-top modifier and vertically aligning offcanvas header components, and made dropdown menus optionally clickable so they no longer close on interaction.

Forms, grid and docs

The release brought redesigned forms and an updated equal-column grid mixin that generates equal columns when no size is specified. It refined validation feedback, made nav-link colors more consistent, added support for dropdown items wrapped in list elements, and shipped a rewritten migration guide and new documentation footer to help users move from Bootstrap 4.

Why it mattered

Bootstrap 5.0 was a defining modernisation of the world's most popular CSS framework. Cutting the jQuery dependency aligned it with the modern JavaScript ecosystem, while the move toward CSS custom properties and new components like offcanvas set the direction for the utilities, CSS-variable and color-mode work that would follow in 5.2 and 5.3.

Related on Skillo

See also: Bootstrap 5.2's expanded CSS variables.

Sources

• Bootstrap v5.0.0 release (GitHub)

Published date reflects the original event date (2021-05-05). This article is original Skillo editorial written from the sources above; facts were verified in September 2026.