[Bower][] is a package manager for the user-facing website content
(JavaScript, CSS, media, …).  It's less JavaScript focused than
[[Jam]], so it can't compile optimized JavaScript.  That's not a big
loss though, because you can always use the [RequireJS
optimizer][optimizer] directly.

Following the [docs][] (with my already-configured [[`~/.local`
prefix|Node]]):

    $ npm install -g bower

Install some stuff in your project:

    $ bower install bootstrap d3 requirejs

This automatically installs dependencies like [jQuery][], as you'd
expect from a package manager:

    $ bower list
    bower check-new     Checking for new versions of the project dependencies..
    tmp /tmp
    ├─┬ bootstrap#3.0.0 extraneous
    │ └── jquery#2.0.3
    ├── d3#3.3.4 extraneous
    └── requirejs#2.1.8 extraneous

The package tree is flat:

    $ ls bower_components/
    bootstrap  d3  jquery  requirejs

Unlike [[Jam]], you get a whole host stuff along with the JavaScript.

    $ tree bower_components/boostrap
    bower_components/bootstrap/
    ├── …
    ├── LICENSE
    ├── README.md
    ├── …
    ├── assets
    │   ├── css
    │   │   └── …
    │   ├── ico
    │   │   └── …
    │   └── js
    │       └── …
    ├── …
    ├── dist
    │   ├── css
    │   │   └── …
    │   ├── fonts
    │   │   └── …
    │   └── js
    │       ├── bootstrap.js
    │       └── bootstrap.min.js
    ├── examples
    │   ├── carousel
    │   │   ├── carousel.css
    │   │   └── index.html
    │   └── …
    ├── fonts
    │   └── …
    ├── getting-started.html
    ├── index.html
    ├── javascript.html
    ├── js
    │   └── …
    ├── less
    │   └── …
    └── package.json

That's a lot of stuff!  Define your dependencies for reuse with a
[bower.json][] file:

    {
      "name":  "myproject",
      "version": "0.0.1",
      "dependencies": {
        "bootstrap": "3.0.0",
        "d3": "3.3.4",
        "requirejs": "latest"
      }
    }

Now that you've listed the dependencies, Bower no longer thinks they
are “extraneous”:

    $ bower list
    bower check-new     Checking for new versions of the project dependencies..
    myproject#0.0.1 /tmp
    ├─┬ bootstrap#3.0.0
    │ └── jquery#2.0.3
    ├── d3#3.3.4
    └── requirejs#2.1.8


[Bower]: http://bower.io/
[docs]: http://bower.io/#installing-bower
[optimizer]: http://requirejs.org/docs/optimization.html
[jQuery]: http://jquery.com/
[bower.json]: http://bower.io/#defining-a-package

[[!tag tags/programming]]
[[!tag tags/tools]]
[[!tag tags/web]]