Something that may have been around for a while but I’ve just discovered is the Bootstrap toolkit from Twitter. It was released in August last year(2011) however I’ve only just discovered it.
I have used it on three sites now. One is a very basic intranet (and when I say very, I mean very), nothing fancy at all. Another is a website I’m building for myself and a few family members and friends where can bet about the upcoming UEFA European Championship of this year, and the last one is actually one for a client; the back-end admin to an API.
I have to say, I like it. It’s pretty much complete, uses sensible class names, and it’s very easy to learn. That being said, I don’t think I’d use it on public non-webapplication website, as it’s just too recognizable and simple. But for situations where it doesn’t matter how it looks as long as looks somewhat okay, bootstrap truly rocks!
They’re working on Bootstrap 2 btw, but there is no official release yet, just a git branch https://github.com/twitter/bootstrap/tree/2.0-wip
I haven’t seen it yet though, and I think I’ll wait until it’s finished. I’m very happy with 1.4 for now
I haven’t looked into it a great deal, but what kind of extra work was required for creating something like this? Bootstrap is just CSS really isn’t it? What was on the back-end?
Interesting, too recognizable and simple you say? As in, it’s too obvious for users and clients that it’s created from a template?
Would it be a good base to work from initially? Were I to use it I’d probably end up changing it majorly, but then I guess it’s a wonder why one would bother.
Yes, bootstrap is just some CSS. And a whiff of Javascript if you want to include it, but it’s optional.
The back-end was php – more specifically, Yii.
Yes, and too bland for my taste to use in a public facing website. That’s also what makes it perfect for web applications.
Mind you, I never use default templates for anything, most websites I’ve ever created were custom tailored; both code as well as design. So I might be biased here. I don’t know.
If you’re going to change it majorly I would start out with something simpler, like 960gs. No point in using a fairly complete framework if you’re going to rewrite half and throw the other half away
Yeah, that’s what I figured. I start with the 960gs at the moment anyway, but usually only to the point of using the templates in photoshop for layout.
Really I don’t “use” 960gs, only their psd template coz i’m too lazy to make a psd template to work from myself!
