I’m a new user to BSS, a casual user for my own web sites and some of people I know, and have some simple questions to start out. I’ve purchased and installed BSS, and I see it includes two free templates. Does anyone have a suggestion what I might want to download that would be the most useful from a learning point of view? Or, if the credits never expire, should I just wait until there’s a template that looks right for some future project?
I’ll be creating a new site for my automotive repair business as well as some hobby things, and one for a non-profit that will have a blog and will need to have a Donate button to raise money.
I decided on BSS because I wanted an off-line environment similar to WebPlus, which I used a long time ago, and feels similar to Elementor, which I have learned recently, but I decided I didn’t need the heavy back-end of Wordpress.
For learning, I wouldn’t start with a template: I find them a bit overwhelming and I can’t see the forest for the trees.
I started by reading the BSS help pages. I also went through a video that builds a while site from scratch (like this). That particular video is old but probably still worthwhile; there are more recent equivalents.
I agree with @Gondwana. Ready made templates are great if you want to create a similar looking website, but I’ve found the best way is to follow the along with the videos in the academy, and also on BSS’ Youtube channel.
I haven’t used templates for much else than looking for ideas how to do something, so I thought there might be some that demonstrate all the bells and whistles, but you’re right, it’s best to just start building something. I watched all the academy videos, and a number of others on Utube before deciding to settle on BSS…l guess I should start over now that I can actually work along side with the app!
IMO, templates and Bootstrap Studio are like oil and water.
To me, the great appeal of this program is that makes it easy to use Bootstrap while also being able to build websites that don’t look “Bootstrappy.” It also allow you to really learn HOW Bootstrap works by seeing things in real-time. It’s like a “Bootstrap construction set.”
If all I want is a Bootstrap-based template, there are hundreds of them for sale on places like Envato that are a lot nicer and more sophisticated than the ones that come with BSS.
I think with Bootstrap 5 it’s much less clear when a site has that Bootstrap feel to it. Definitely it can happen, but we’ve so much more utility in 5 than previous versions. Back when Bootstrap was the go-to framework for building a site as fast as possible, where later versions have been much more fleshed out to help design actual sites rather than MVPs.
I always have a gripe with Bootstrap themes sold on third party platforms since 90% of them are using outdated versions of Bootstrap, and frequently they just use Bootstrap for the layout, everything else is custom utility or CSS classes - some Bootstrap already has. And no documentation on any of them.
The ones sold with, and can be purchased for Bootstrap Studio are genuinely pretty good and tick boxes for certain niches. So, I don’t dislike templates in general, just there so few good ones on the market.