
Free HTML Starter Templates for Bootstrap - jalan
http://startbootstrap.com/
======
peter_l_downs
This is really awesome, thank you for sharing this! In particular it's great
to see the "Simple Sidebar" [0] example — I was just about to have to build
one of these, so having a complete reference to work from is really helpful.

[0]: [http://startbootstrap.com/templates/simple-
sidebar#](http://startbootstrap.com/templates/simple-sidebar#)

~~~
sushi
Yeah. That is my favorite as well. In fact I created my own version with
sidebar at [http://bootmystrap.com/](http://bootmystrap.com/) to sell.

I find that Twitter Bootstrap is probably not the best framework when you are
designing single page apps but it works.

~~~
sainib
Hey, what are you using for charts? Very cool .

~~~
sushi
Chart JS [http://www.chartjs.org/](http://www.chartjs.org/)

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froh42
For those who want scrolling webpages these seem nice.

But it's scrolling web pages again, which seem to be all the hype in 2013 just
as flash intros have been some years ago. Aren't there any nice templates NOT
following current styles and offering structure for content?

I have to update the web page holding my CV as I have updated it in 2006 the
last time. Woah, how dated would my page look in 2019 if I use a silding page
now.

Oooh, and I just imagine hacker news as "2013-glitz" page. Bling, bling, look
we can scroll stock photos from a cheapo stock photo site. One carousel per
story, two HERO UNIT words of headline. This story would show some cool young
guys at a mac, one pointing, HERO UNIT reads "Starter HTML."

Scroll down half a mile to see the next story.

BTW. any predictions what the post-flat-parallax-photo-sliding web trend will
be?

Sorry to be a party pooper, but I saw one scrolling page to many and I'll rant
about these from now on regularily. The last straw that happened to me (a Java
developer) was [http://spring.io/](http://spring.io/). It's so low on content
that its information-vaccum might endanger the universe by sucking in all
other data leaving all but a low radiation void.

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adamt
Personally I think the Bootstrap templates at wrapboostrap
([http://wrapboostrap.com/](http://wrapboostrap.com/)) look far better and
give you a much better starting point. Sure these are not free, but for a one-
off website typically cost about $20 which is peanuts.

~~~
startbootstrap
Hi. I made Start Bootstrap. I agree that Wrap Bootstrap offers much better
finished products than my tool. The purpose of my tool is to start with a
somewhat blank slate.

Buying a template is like buying a finished painting and sticking it in a
custom frame. Building a site from scratch is like painting your own painting.

Start Bootstrap is kind of like getting a paint-by-number. Some of the work is
done, and the elements are there for you. If you want, you can just use the
default styles and make it look okay, but if you're a bit more experienced as
a painter you can make it look even better by adding some of your own style.

I definitely think that if you're looking for a nice, clean, completed
template then head over to
[http://wrapbootstrap.com](http://wrapbootstrap.com) and check out their
selection! If you're looking for something a bit more barebones, then
[http://startbootstrap.com](http://startbootstrap.com) is built for you! :)

~~~
abhididdigi
Hi, I logged in to thank you for start bootstrap. I'm not from US and 20 $
isn't peanuts its about 1500 bucks with which i can host an entire website for
1 year( in my country). I really love your bare templates, and will start
using them from my next project.

Thanks again for all the good work and keeping them free.

~~~
startbootstrap
That's awesome. Thanks for using my templates. I'm adding more every week, so
be sure to keep checking back!

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startbootstrap
Wow...I'm speechless. You guys are awesome for looking at my site, and jalan
(whoever you may be), thank you for posting a link to my site on HN!

If you have any suggestions for templates that you'd like to see added to the
mix, feel free to let me know.

Thank you again guys, you're all so awesome!

~~~
jalan
Thanks for making such a wonderful initiative. You guys (at Start Bootstrap)
rocks!

~~~
startbootstrap
We're just getting started. My short-term goal is 100+ templates. From there
we'll see where things go!

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at-fates-hands
I always find it interesting when there is a TON of articles on HN about
building things from scratch, doing things yourself and essentially taking the
slightly longer road for a better product.

I see a lot of these "starter templates" coming out almost as fast as new
Javascript libraries. While I can see a benefit for some developers, I often
wonder if the art of building a fast, responsive website from scratch has been
lost in the sea of mass production website building.

Or is this just the wave of the future that I need to just deal with??

*EDIT: thanks for the advice from everyone. It does makes sense to have these ready made solutions so you can focus on what you really want to make great about the site or app you're building.

~~~
hayksaakian
Sometimes you're more interested in building the higher level part than the
lower level part.

If my goal is to build a great CMS for Rails, does it ultimately matter if I
chose to use a Start Bootstrap template for my views?

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X4
I have lots of experience with CMS and have also contributed to a CMS and
still do QA. Yes, Sir it is a very important decision unless you give your
users a very easy way to replace it for the front- and backend. People really
often come and want to extend things in the backend, that leasds to
customizations and some companies prefer white-labeled CMS's.

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alok-g
Some newbie questions:

Why do responsive themes/websites often collapse the top navigation bar into a
menu button a lot before the space available becomes too short to hold it?

It sounds to me that the default action with both Bootstrap and Zurb is to
stack the columns when the width is smaller, or possibly make them disappear
completely. Is my understanding correct? If so, is this behavior customizable?
Could one for example make a right column come on top instead of the bottom
when the columns are stacked?

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sushi
If your column comes before in HTML then it will come before when everything
is stacked up in mobile resolutions.

The behavior to hide something is of course customizable. Bootstrap comes with
certain classes [0] which can hide the content on mobile screens and show on
desktop.

[0]: [http://getbootstrap.com/css/#responsive-
utilities](http://getbootstrap.com/css/#responsive-utilities)

~~~
alok-g
Are you saying (reminder, newbie here :-)) that it is possible to have a
column come before in HTML and still appear right on the screen? Else, this
means it is not possible to change the order in which the columns stack beyond
what can be achieved using a nested grid.

The link above does suggest why the navigation bars collapse too soon
sometimes (and sometimes too late). The collapse event is tied to the
horizontal resolutions at 768, 992 and 1200 px, and does not depend on how
much width the navigation bar actually needs (such that it is collapsed only
when space available for it is too small).

I wonder why things are built this way though.

~~~
sushi
If the column comes before in HTML then it will appear before as well
according to the Bootstrap conventions laid out. However you are more than
welcome to throw that all out and have the column to appear left, right, top,
bottom wherever you want with simple CSS.

In terms of navigation, it is tied to resolution because it's easier to change
code than to change devices owned by your users :)

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scottydelta
There's no sense in using these templates when you can make a template as per
your requirement using template builder like
[http://www.layoutit.com/build](http://www.layoutit.com/build) which lets you
build your template using drag and drop.

~~~
pestaa
I'm not sure, but your comment suggests you might be involved with the
project?

Also, no drag & drop UI is substitute for design common sense and flexibility.

~~~
scottydelta
No, I am not involved in the project, I just like it as I dont have to worry
about my UI while implementing an Idea. I wanted to quote more examples so as
not to sound as if I am advertising it but couldnt find any other free
service, rest all are paid.

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michaelbuckbee
This is great, I'd recommend pairing it with Bootsnipp [1]. It seems pretty
feasible to almost create your own custom theme out of StartBootstrap,
BootSnipp and a few other items from the Big Badass List [2] by just cut-n-
paste - but I wish there were a "real" cross project build system.

1 - [http://www.bootsnipp.com/](http://www.bootsnipp.com/) 2 -
[http://www.bootstraphero.com/the-big-badass-list-of-
twitter-...](http://www.bootstraphero.com/the-big-badass-list-of-twitter-
bootstrap-resources)

~~~
msurguy
Creator of Bootsnipp here, in fact the new Bootsnipp that I am building will
be something along the lines of snippets+ interactive prototyping + hand
coding if needed. Anybody will be able to build up on existing templates right
there on Bootsnipp, no code editor needed.

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sgdesign
Question for people using this: why use something like this rather than a
ready-made professional template from something like Themeforest?

~~~
Wilya
Because you might not have the budget for a Themeforest theme ?

Extended licenses, which you need for a Saas product, are around $800 or $900,
which is affordable for a business (still way cheaper than hiring a designer),
but far from free.

~~~
typicalrunt
That's not necessarily true, as answered here [1]. Choosing the right license
depends on how your SaaS product is setup.

[1] [http://themeforest.net/forums/thread/picking-up-the-right-
li...](http://themeforest.net/forums/thread/picking-up-the-right-
license/34666)

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ktusznio
Does something like this exist for Zurb Foundation?

~~~
zalew
[http://foundation.zurb.com/templates.php](http://foundation.zurb.com/templates.php)

~~~
ktusznio
Perfect, thanks!

~~~
zalew
the templates have been there forever but
[http://patterntap.com/code](http://patterntap.com/code) is a new one and
discovered it myself only today :)

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typicalrunt
This looks great. One issue popped up: a 403 on
[http://startbootstrap.com/templates/business-
frontpage.html](http://startbootstrap.com/templates/business-frontpage.html)

~~~
startbootstrap
Thanks for pointing that one out. I will have to fix that ASAP.

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ChrisArchitect
this is nice, really good examples of base stuff that can be achived with
bootstrap -- but I kinda feel like using these misses the point of bootstrap
in that you should be able to piece together whatever look you're imagining in
your head with bootstrap by hand. Learn the code/use the code & quickly build
stuff -this cuts a corner that could be handy in a super rush but as always,
learning the framework by building yourself can give you intimate
understanding

~~~
michaelbuddy
I'm pretty familiar with foundation, but the other day I found their template
page and was stoked to have a starting point with the header and some divs
already in place for me. It was nice and responsive and I could focus on
styling those areas. The extra push is the entire purpose. And when templates
strike that perfect balance between generic / specific I think it's both time
saving and inspiring.

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weef
Very nice! What would be great is if you accepted contributions from the
community. Also I was looking for a bootstrap template this weekend for a site
with the logo above the navbar but wasn't able to find a good free example.

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hardwaresofton
Really like the site, and love the templates! I definitely went in with the
pre-conceived notion that this was going to be another bootswatch clone, but I
really like it!

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b0z0
I'm not really seeing the point of this per se. Bootstrapping something that's
already called Bootstrap? And then having to bootstrap that to make it unique?

~~~
startbootstrap
Yeah I guess this is the one main criticism that I get with this. The first
few templates that I added to the site were my own personal templates I used
for projects, and I just decided to share them and see what kind of response I
got because I didn't like the amount/quantity of the starter templates that
Bootstrap had to offer. The response was good, so I kept going, but I do see
your point.

I mentioned up in another post that using Start Bootstrap, or using Bootstrap
at all for that matter, will never replace the artistic capability,
uniqueness, and flexibility of designing a project from scratch.

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ateevchopra
I was planning to design my website today. Looks like Universe has responded
!. Thanks for such an awesome templates. Web is a beautiful place because of u
guys !

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GBiT
Congrats! It really good idea to make starter templates. Your project creating
big value and can have good future if you add templates regular.

~~~
jalan
It's not my project. I am not involved with this project, in any way. I just
shared this project, because I found it very useful. Glad everyone liked it.

~~~
startbootstrap
Thank you! I am glad you found Start Bootstrap useful. If you have a personal
suggestion for a template please let me know and I'll build it for you! Email
me at feedback@startbootstrap.com and make sure you mention it's jalan from
HN. I'll make whatever you want to the best of my ability!

~~~
jalan
Thanks a lot. I do appreciate all the hard work, you are putting into open
source community. It's people like you, that make this open source community
wonderful. And yes, will surely ask for your help, as my hands are weak in UI
part. :)

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lilpirate
Thanks! This is awesome. I'm always looking at the official examples whenever
I start a new project. This is so much better.

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shire
Is this cool or what?. Very nice! I can see people learning how to code with
this also by seeing it done the right way.

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mmackh
Congrats, this is very useful. One thing I'd recommend is adding an option to
subscribe to a weekly newsletter.

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Choronzon
Simple template is great for a data driven website.Little to distract from the
graphs/info. Many thanks

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michaelmcmillan
This really helps with shaving of tedious design and layout work for devs who
really just want to ship their app.

Thank you!

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NIL8
Good job! Very easy to navigate with lots of useful items. Thank you.

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ldonley
These look good, thanks for this free service.

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aswanson
Awesome resource, thanks.

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pmtarantino
Really useful. Thank you.

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tsenkov
Awesome!

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MrBra
great! :)

