on bslib package and shinydashboard

Question

This a question on bslib, by the way, a great package.

I'd like to know if it is primarily intended for shiny and flexdashborad or it will be also operative with shinydashboard.

Thanks!

Answer 1

bslib is not intended to be used with shinydashboard and should instead be leveraged in conjunction with shiny. Granted, you shouldn't have issues using bslib for flexdashboard, please see the Theming {flexdashboard} writeup. To elaborate more on Shiny, some additional thoughts:

• shinydashboard provides new verbs for theming your Shiny apps for use with Bootstrap 3 + AdminLTE v2.4 HTML templates
• bslib makes it easy to customize "stock" Shiny apps with modern Bootstrap 4 (or 5) themes - This is accomplished through the introduction of Sass variables for use with Shiny and R Markdown and bslib pre-packages Bootswatch themes without the need to load other packages
• The customization of your bslib themes can be further expanded by using Sassy CSS (you'll need a custom *.scss file as opposed to a *.css file)

The RinteRface team have done an excellent job developing the bs4Dash package to solve the problem that I believe you're attempting to solve, i.e., using newer Bootstrap themes on top of the shinydashboard framework. More on the bs4Dash package:

• shinydashboard is the basis of bs4Dash with 1:1 support so upgrading your old apps to bs4Dash can be accomplished by simply changing library(shinydashboard) to library(bs4Dash)
• bs4Dash brings Bootstrap 4 + AdminLTE v3.1 dependencies to your traditional shinydashboard templates
• On the Introduction page of the bs4Dash pkgdown site, there is a table comparing the features of shinydashboard, shinydashboardPlus, and bs4Dash (the latter two being developed by the RinteRface team)

If you're seeking a package like bslib specifically for customizing the theme and styling of your bs4Dash apps, check out the {fresh} package from the Parisian dreamRs team!