Bootstrap

Quick Start
1.2:v4.0.0-beta.2

Created by: Jacob Lett

 Dedicated to my wife Colleen,
Thank you for your persistent love and encouragement.

I would like to thank the following for their advice and support
with this project: Greg Vance, Dan Joseph, Chris of D.A., Max,
and my Parents. Marcus and Joshua thank you for your patience as your
Dad was working on this project. Also my mentors for their wisdom and
inspiration: Zig Ziglar, Dan Miller, Seth Godin, and Matthew 25:14-30.

Finally, thank you reader for purchasing this book.

My hope is to help you be successful in your
web development projects and career.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. The Mobile Web and Bootstrap
3. Whats New in Bootstrap 4
4. The Design Process
5. Build a Homepage: Prototype | Design
6. Build a CMS Dashboard: Prototype | Design
7. Code Challenge
8. Conclusion & Certification Exam Instructions
9. Appendix

2017 Jacob Lett. All Rights Reserved.

If you would like to share this with a group, please contact me for group licensing options. You may print pages for
personal use. Please do not distribute, share, or sell without written permission.

Have a question or found an error? Please email me at https://bootstrapcreative.com/contact

Introduction

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INTRODUCTION

Do you remember learning how to write a

research paper? Perhaps you learned how
to follow the MLA or APA Style Guide. Think
how different the reports would look if each
student made up their own style and format?
Hi.
Using the MLA Style guaranteed consistency for anyone
who followed that same format even if they were My name is Jacob Lett and it's
thousands of miles away or written five years apart. my mission to help you save time
I believe Bootstrap works the same way for web design.
learning how to design and build
It helps developers work more efficiently and write CSS responsive websites.
in a clean and consistent manner regardless of where
you live or who you work for. It also ensures your website I earned a bachelors degree in graphic design
adheres to a mobile first approach and works well across around the time CSS and web standards were
browsers and devices. just starting to take hold. Out of frustration not
knowing how to fix broken websites generated by
I am excited to see what you will build with Bootstrap. Dreamweaver, I learned how to hand code HTML/
CSS. Then in 2009 I got my first job as a web
designer writing a ton of CSS and realizing I had a
long journey of learning ahead.

linkedin
PREREQUISITES

Experience with HTML and CSS is helpful but not

necessary. Even absolute beginners who have never
written one line of HTML/CSS will be able to follow along
the steps. Every line of code should
This training will not require knowing Sass, the command appear to be written by a
line, or Photoshop.
single person, no matter the
Recommended Software and Tools number of contributors.
A code text editor so you can benefit from code syntax
Mark Otto, creator of Bootstrap
coloring and other features that make the job of writing
code easier. You can find a list of text editor options in
the Appendix.

Google Chrome because of their nice set of DevTools to

help you debug problems and inspect CSS styles and
HTML elements. If you do not have this installed you can
do so here. Click here to learn more about things you can
do with DevTools.

live.js Chrome extension to toggle the ability to

automatically reload your browser when you make
code changes.

Web Developer Chrome extension to help you test

responsive breakpoints and perform other developer
focused tasks.
The Mobile Web and Bootstrap

Web designers and developers have had to

quickly develop creative solutions to work
within the new constraints presented by
touchscreens and mobile devices.
Bootstrap has been helpful in solving a
lot of the challenges faced when building
responsive websites.

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THE MOBILE WEB

Building websites today is a lot more

challenging and time consuming than it
used to be. Some of my first websites were
first designed in Photoshop, exported to
HTML tables (yes tables) and then linked
together with Dreamweaver. If your website
did not exceed the width of common monitor
resolutions (1024px by 768px) everything
would work out fine.
Fig. 1: The 960 grid system helped bring consistency
Web standards were quickly introduced because using between grid design in Photoshop and the web.
table markup for grid layout is just bad practice. So
HTML tables were replaced with floated divs and tag
Then in 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the world to the
markup that had meaning referred to as semantics. This
iPhone with Multi-Touch gestures. Now people could
also shifted things away from the majority of the visual
access websites anywhere using just their fingers.
design being baked into images and now relying on CSS3
to create borders, shadows, rounded corners, etc.
Web designers and developers had to quickly develop
creative solutions to work within the new constraints
The first widely used CSS grid system was the 960 grid
presented by smartphones and tablets.
system (Fig. 1) created by Nathan Smith. This 12,16, 24
column grid system was designed to work well for a fixed
These Constraints Include:
desktop resolution of 1024px x 768px. This grid system
was widely used and helped designers and developers Smaller screens
work from the same grid pixel dimensions. Increased pixel densities with retina displays
Ability to switch between portrait and
landscape orientation

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THE MOBILE WEB continued

Multi-touch gestures overcoming low rates of user adoption. Also, any links
Slower data connections to outside pages required them to open in a web
browser window.
Distracted user attention (one eyeball and
one thumb).
Adaptive Design
At the start, the concept of responsive design did not Another approach is to build multiple versions of a
exist. And so mobile devices had to scale down websites website and use server side detection to then present
to fit the smaller screens. For the user, in order to read custom code for that device or viewport size.
the text they would have to double tap the screen or
pinch and zoom. You could decide to have your mobile site on a separate
domain for example m.domain.com. The server will then
Website owners quickly realized it was not a good automatically serve all mobile traffic to that domain.
experience to display their homepage at a zoomed in
level. The meta tag below was introduced to remove this The server could also perform dynamic serving of page
default scaling and give the site creator more control. content so that you have just one domain name.

<meta name="viewport" The downsides to this approach is it requires complex

content="width=device-width, initial- server side detection code and is harder to maintain
scale=1"> multiple site versions.

Mobile Applications Responsive Design

One approach is to build a dedicated experience as a Responsive design was introduced to help designers
mobile app. This gives the developer the most control build one site on one domain that responds to a users
and could utilize the device user interface components viewport. The two necessary elements for a responsive
and to help with navigation. Major drawbacks include: design are a meta viewport tag to disable scaling and
it requires an app developer, considerable amount of media queries to alter the design as the page gets
marketing to direct exisitng traffic to the mobile app, and smaller. Responsive design is a lot less expensive and

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THE MOBILE WEB continued

easier to maintain than the other mobile strategies. This

has added to its rapid growth and adoption.
End-users dont care about
A big challenge with responsive design is finding a
your responsive web or your
balance between the content needs for both mobile and separate sites, they just want
desktop. A desktop site has a lot of visual real estate
that is often filled with carousels, videos, large parallax
to be able to get stuff done.
background images, and large blocks of text. Brad Frost, author of Atomic Design

If you load a feature-rich website on a mobile device you

often increase the page load for mobile visitors. This is
due to the large images and videos which are scaled Mobile First and
down to mobile. Progressive Enhancement
In the desktop first approach, you sacrifice the mobile
Fig. 2 - Desktop First Responsive Site
experience because you have a lot of images and text
content. In an article from Zurb on mobile first design it said,
Desktop Mobile "Roughly 80% of the screen size is taken away when you
start with mobile first design, you have to think about how to
Data Speed Fast Slow
utilize your space in a much more conservative manner."
Width Wide Narrow
Height Unlimited Unlimited A mobile first approach considers the goals of a mobile
user and presents the content to help them achieve those
Retina Display
Medium High goals. It removes all of the fluff and filler content and
Probability
presents a concise collection of content that loads fast
Page File Size Large Large and is easy to use.

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THE MOBILE WEB continued

Fig 3. Mobile First Responsive Site

Screens are small,
Mobile Desktop connections are slow, and
Data Speed Slow Fast people often only give you
Width Narrow Wide their partial attention or short
Height Unlimited Unlimited
bursts of their time. Designing
Retina Display
Probability
High Medium
for mobile first forces you to
Page File Size Small Medium + embrace these constraints
The chart above shows the workflow flipped so the site Luke Wroblewski, Mobile First
is built mobile first and then enhancements are added
as the viewport gets wider. Notice how the mobile site is
loading a small file size on a slow data speed? That is as
The best way to do this is with JavaScript media queries
Google would say, being mobile friendly.
to determine viewport width and then load in content to
But some might say. "Ok now the mobile site looks good the page. I created a small plugin called IfBreakpoint.js
but now the desktop looks too basic and lacks flair." to help detect Bootstrap 4 breakpoints with JavaScript.
I also recommend reading this article on ways to
A great way to solve this is to progressively enhance the progressively load images with media queries.
page as your data speed and screen width increases.
Everything you add to the page will be enhancing the One creative solution that has transformed the web and
design and if it doesn't load for some reason your page is made responsive design easier for web designers has
still usable. been the Bootstrap CSS framework. We will take a closer
look at Bootstrap in the next section.

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BOOTSTRAP CSS FRAMEWORK

Bootstrap Cuts Development Time in Half

I remember building my first few responsive websites. I
wasted so much time writing the same type of styles over
and over for each new project. I also found it difficult to
find plugins that worked well together and had cohesive
design style

I then heard about Bootstrap and I liked how it included

javascript components and had really comprehensive
documentation. The documentation was extremely Bootstrap CSS Framework History
detailed and easy to follow. At first, it was hard to know
Before 2011 An internal Twitter tool
what classes did what but after using it on a few projects
August 2011 Released as open source
I was amazed at how quickly I could create a working
prototype of a design. The time I saved meant I could January 2012 Bootstrap 2
complete more projects in less time and make more August 2013 Bootstrap 3
money in the process. August 2015 Bootstrap 4 Alpha
August 2017 Bootstrap 4 Beta
The more I used Bootstrap, the more I felt like it could
be a global standard because it removes a lot of routine ?? Bootstrap 4
tasks when building responsive sites.

Bootstrap was created by Mark Otto and Jacob Thornton A Toolkit Built in Style Guide Form
at Twitter as a framework to encourage consistency
When Bootstrap was first created at Twitter it was built
across internal tools. It is now an open source project
as a toolkit of reusable components with additional
hosted on GitHub and has seen rapid growth and global
documentation and code snippets on how to use
use in web applications and websites.
them. This helped a team of multiple developers work
on a project and have a cohesive methodology on

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BOOTSTRAP CSS FRAMEWORK continued

how to build layouts. The documentation and ease of

implementation, made it easy to share and reference with
others, regardless of their skill level.

So, the initial intent of Bootstrap was to be a living

style guide documentation for a team of developers to
code in the same way following a set of pre-defined rules
and components.

Today, Bootstrap Can Be Used in Two Main Ways:

1. Linking to a precompiled version via CDN or locally
2. Linking to a customized build using the Sass Fig. 4: The International Space Station is made up of
source files isolated components that perform a specific purpose.
Combined they create a system of linked components.
On the next page (Fig. 5) I explore the pros and cons of
each method and also break them into smaller Since CSS cascades down to child elements, how do
sub-methods to help you decide which is best for your you isolate things and write styles to target specific
project. components and leave everything as is? The solution
Bootstrap presented is the use of prefix class naming and
A System of Components sub-classes for variations.

At this point, you might be wondering what is a Mark Otto wrote on his blog, "Each class name begins
component and why does Bootstrap use them? with a prefix. Class name prefixing makes our code more
durable and easier to maintain, but it also better enables
Well, one definition I found was, "A component is a
us to scope styles to only the relevant elements."
minimal software item that can be tested in isolation."
The keyword in that phrase is isolation.

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BOOTSTRAP CSS FRAMEWORK continued
Fig. 5 - The Different Ways to Use Bootstrap

Method Pros Cons Use Cases

Fast Cases where custom branding
Lacks unique visual style is not a priority
Link to CDN Minified Files Easy to setup
B1a Some code bloat of unused
Difficulty: beginner No preprocessor Backend layouts
components
needed Prototypes

Fast The time to inspect and

Link to CDN Minified Files The method used in this book
Easy to setup overwrite Bootstrap styles
B1b + Custom Stylesheet Production sites that require
Difficulty: beginner No preprocessor Some code bloat of unused
unique branding
needed components

The time to inspect and

Some setup time overwrite Bootstrap styles
Link to CDN Minified Files
+ Custom Stylesheet from You gain the benefits Some code bloat of unused Production sites that require
B1c of Sass with mixins,
Sass Files components unique branding
Difficulty: intermediate variables, and multiple
files. Requires knowledge of Sass
and how to compile it

More setup time

Link to Custom Sass Build Gain the benefits Knowledge of Sass and Production sites that require
B2a
Difficulty: advanced of Sass how to compile it unique branding
Removes code bloat
More setup time Knowlege of Sass and how
Gain the benefits to compile it Production sites that require
Link to Custom Sass Build of Sass unique branding
Knowledge of Jekyll and
B2b + Docs Build
Removes code bloat how to compile it Multiple developers work on
Difficulty: advanced
Create updated Documentation updates a single project
documentation over time

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BOOTSTRAP CSS FRAMEWORK continued

Is a CSS Framework Like Bootstrap

Even Necessary? Documentation is a love
If you are an experienced web designer or developer letter that you write to
you are probably wondering what the benefits are using
Bootstrap in your project. Prior to using Bootstrap, I used
your future self.
a boilerplate I wrote myself that consisted of a reset, Damian Conway, Perl Programmer
basic grid, typography, utilities, and media queries.
Below are the benefits I have experienced from now
using Bootstrap for my projects.
Helps You Avoid Cross-browser Bugs
Helps You Save Time Prior to using Bootstrap I would get the dreaded emails
I admit I was the worst at documenting my own work. I from clients saying their website they just paid me for
would use my boilerplate on a project and then want to doesn't look good on X device. And of course, it is a
make an update to it a month later. But by then, I totally device I do not currently own or have access to. After
forgot my naming convention. So I would have to spend hours or searching on Google you finally find a fix on
time reading my code to try to understand what I did. If Stack Overflow. You find comfort knowing it is a common
I couldn't figure it out, I would add new code and leave problem with Android devices and not something you
the old code alone to prevent breaking something. Yup, caused. Clients assume you know how to fix everything.
sound the code bloat alarm.

Bootstrap has amazing documentation on each

component. So if I want to update a project I worked on a
few months ago that uses Bootstrap I know where to go
to find documentation if I get stuck. Also, the more I use Fig. 6: A large number of contributors helps improve the
Bootstrap the more it is burned into my brain and the less framework over time.
time is spent searching the docs.

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BOOTSTRAP CSS FRAMEWORK continued

Being an open source project, anyone can submit Gather a room full of the smartest web designers and
browser bugs and code fixes for it. This is an extremely developers and let them discuss at length what they think
valuable asset to a developer because you gain is the best way to write CSS and to organize a project.
confidence knowing your code has been improved by a The result being a distilled version of best practices
community to address common browser bugs. No matter agreed upon by a large collection of your peers.
how good you are, there is no way you can be aware of
every browser inconsistency and the fix necessary. Helps You Avoid jQuery Plugin Soup
I know some JavaScript but writing a full-fledged plugin
Helps You Follow Best Practices is out of my reach. So I often collected various jQuery
I studied graphic design in college and self-taught plugins into a project to achieve the look and functionality
myself HTML & CSS from books, YouTube, and blog I was looking for.
posts. This mixture of knowlege worked to some degree
but I know there are a lot of knowledge gaps. I hit my But I often ran into the following problems:
lack of understanding head-on when I first learned 1. Plugins would not work across browsers
Bootstrap with all of the new terminology written for 2. Plugin CSS styles would conflict with other
software engineers. CSS styles
3. Plugins would be dependent on different
Bootstrap is not just a versions of jQuery

framework but a Bootstrap contains a collection of jQuery components

methodology of best
that you know are stable on modern browsers compatible
and works with your jQuery version. Also, the styling
practices for front-end design. matches all of the other components in the your project.

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BOOTSTRAP CSS FRAMEWORK continued

Helps You Get a Job Framework Name # Sites that Use

Bootstrap has 73% of the design framework market
Bootstrap CSS (update to v4?) 12,559,226
share as of May 2017. This popularity correlates to
the demand for people to know the framework to either HTML5 Boilerplate 4,219,959
update existing systems and or create new ones. 960 Grid System 437,120

So this will make you more marketable to prospective Semantic UI 10,803

employers. Indeed.com, a popular job search engine, Unsemantic 74,386
shows Bootstrap has a lot of job postings compared to
other CSS frameworks. Source: BuiltWith as of May, 2017

Summary
When your time is billable, every minute you shave off
will greatly improve your bottom line. Plus it makes
development more fun because you are not declaring
redundant CSS properties.
Bootstrap 3
Aug. 2013 I hope I have shown you how Bootstrap can save you
time and make you a better developer in the process.
In addition, you will be following industry best practices
vetted by an open source community.

Now that you know the history and benefits of using

Bootstrap let's dive into what's new in version 4.
After Bootstrap 3 was released in August 2013 there was
an increase in job postings thereafter. I believe we will see a
similar spike when v4 is released. Source:indeed.com

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Whats New in Bootstrap 4

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FLEXBOX GRID SYSTEM

The most important element of any CSS If you have no analytics to work with I suggest looking
framework is the grid system. The Bootstrap at StatCounter to see the top browsers in your country.
But from my experience, it is best to have a clear
grid has been used on many websites
understanding of your ideal site visitor. Because there are
worldwide which make it extremely stable. a lot of factors, tools like StatCounter do not factor in.
This cross-browser support is why you One of those being corporate environments that are slow
probably are considering using Bootstrap for to upgrade to newer browsers.
your website (it was for me).
One way to get a clear picture of your target site visitor
In this section, I will provide an overview of the grid is through surveys or live interviews. Talk to likely site
and provide examples to help you quickly apply it to visitors and ask them what browsers they use and if
your projects. there are any IT restrictions preventing them to
upgrade browsers.
Important Once you have your data and some assumptions follow
Before you begin a project, you should know what set of the decision chart below (Fig. 7) to determine what
web browsers you are going to support. This will actually Bootstrap version you should use.
determine what version of Bootstrap you use because
Bootstrap 4 is not supported on IE9 and below. Bootstrap Version Decision Chart

What Versions of Internet Explorer Do You Need I need to support IE10+ Use Bootstrap 4
to Support?
I need to support IE9+
So how do you know what browsers to support? If you Use Bootstrap 3
are redesigning an existing site, I suggest looking at your I need to support IE8+
Google Analytics to see what browser the majority of your
site visitors use. Look for trends to determine if it makes
sense to remove support for an older browser.

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FLEXBOX GRID SYSTEM continued

What is Flexbox? If you are familiar with an UL and LI relationship, flexbox

is very similar in how it has sub items or flexbox items
In Bootstrap 3 and for the majority of websites, the only
inside a parent wrapping container. But since flexbox is
way to build multi-column layouts was to set column
a display property it can be applied to any parent and
widths and use floats. Then on mobile, you would just
child HTML elements and does not have its own HTML
remove the float and width property so that it would
element like <flexbox>.
change to be one column.

Fig. 9: One of the most exciting features of flexbox is how

it handles vertical alignment.

Keep in mind, Bootstrap is a CSS framework that builds

upon the core language of CSS. So flexbox is the core
CSS technology that Bootstrap uses for grid layout and
is not a component created by Bootstrap. So it is helpful
Fig. 8: Demonstrates how a flexbox grid adjusts the to know the fundamentals of flexbox in case you need to
height of sibling columns while a float grid does not. Top: override something.
Float columns; Bottom: Flexbox columns
Here are some additional sources to learn more about
Now with flexbox, or flexible box, you will be able to build flexbox: Solved by Flexbox and my Bootstrap 4 flexbox
complex grid layouts with more control and flexibility to utility classes cheat sheet.
adapt the layout as the viewport changes.

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FLEXBOX GRID SYSTEM continued

12 Column Grid
So now that you understand flexbox and why it's superior
to floats for layout, lets look at how Bootstrap uses this Fig. 11: In this example, I changed the column class to
.col-sm-1 instead of .col which restricts the column
for their grid system.
width even after it has been wrapped. Columns widths are
equally distributed to fill the width of the container. Since
The Bootstrap grid system is based on a 12 column grid
Bootstrap uses a 12 column grid, it breaks after 12 and the
because the number 12 is divisible by 12, 6, 4, 3, 2. So remaining columns are equally distributed.
your column sizes inside each row will need to equal 12.
This math makes the grid more flexible for a wide range
of layouts.
The Bootstrap Grid System Has
Common Grid Layout Examples: Three Main Parts: CRC
2 column grid When working with the Bootstrap 12 column grid you
.col-sm-6 + .col-sm-6 = 12 have to keep in mind the order of elements and that
2 column golden ratio grid there are always three parts: a Container, a Row, and any
.col-sm-8 + .col-sm-4 = 12 number of Columns.

3 column grid
Tip: You can remember CRC by thinking
.col-sm-4 + .col-sm-4 + .col-sm-4 = 12
of a Cabin, a Room inside the cabin,
and finally Chairs inside the room.

Fig. 10: By default, Flexbox item widths are equally If you want all of your page content to be constrained
distributed to fill the width of the container. If you set the to a max-width, you would just need one .container
column class to .col it makes each column horizontal at on your entire page. Or if you would like your columns
all breakpoints. So it doesn't respect the 12 column grid like to fill the entire window and have no max-width use
you think it would as shown in this example. .container-fluid. Then use a series of row blocks
with column divs to build your grid. If your design has no

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FLEXBOX GRID SYSTEM continued

horizontal color banding you could set .container to Container

the body tag. However, there is a design trend to have
.container or .container-fluid
horizontal background colors with the content set to a
max-width.
This is the parent container that determines if the
columns should be full-width or not.

Row
.row

The way I achieve this effect is using a section tag with a A horizontal wrapping container for the series of columns
background color set to it. it contains.

section.bg-primary > .container > .row > Columns

.col-sm-6 .col or .col-*

If you are familiar with a HTML table structure the grid A column is a vertical division similar to a table cell. This
system is very similar. is where your content goes and has built-in margin to the
left and right to prevent text and images from touching
For example:
each other.

table > tr > td Columns also have grid tiers which tell the columns how
is like they should look at different breakpoints. In the example
.container > .row > .col-sm-6 below I used .col-sm-6 which essentially says, When
the browser window is 576px or higher make this column
span 6 of the 12 columns. For anything below 576px
make it full width.

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FLEXBOX GRID SYSTEM continued

So when you declare a grid tier you are saying make it

Conclusion
this size for the specified tier and up.
The Bootstrap CSS Grid System is extremely
customizable and helps you be more efficient in building
Fig. 10: Bootstrap Grid Tiers and Breakpoints
page layouts. And now with flexbox instead of floats,
Extra small you will have more control on how your columns are
xs <576px portrait mobile
positioned on the page.

Key points
Small
sm 576px
landscape Uses a 12 column grid and the number of columns
mobile has to equal 12
CRC .container > .row > .col-*-*
Medium
md 768px portrait tablets Most projects will just need one .container unless you
navbar collapse want to do colored row banding
Setting a grid tier like .col-sm-6 says for sm and up
Large Columns have horizontal padding to create the
lg 992px
landscape gutters between individual columns, however, you
tablets can remove the margin from rows and padding from
columns with .no-gutters on the .row.
Extra large Grid columns without a set width will automatically
xl 1200px laptops, layout with equal widths.
desktops, TVs
View documentation

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The Design Process

The design process helps designers bring

clarity to their solution gradually decreasing
the changes of re-work and project delays.
It emphasizes a design strategy based on
research and branding and not on trends.

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DESIGN PROCESS

Before we start using Bootstrap I want you doctor flipped lenses and asked me questions like
to be familiar with the design process I follow "Can you see better with these lenses? How about now?
Better or worse?" With each lens flip, my vision would
for most projects. This four phase process
get clearer and clearer. The design process acts in a
has milestones that require approval by the very similar way in bringing more clarity to the project
decision maker before moving onto the next you are building.
phase. These approvals help to eliminate
costly re-work at later stages, delayed Starting out with a blank sheet of paper can be daunting.
But by asking a series of questions before you start your
projects, and stress.
design, you can begin to bring clarity to the final solution.
For example, changing a navigation item name in the
design phase could break the layout and require time to
re-write styles to accommodate.
Research is the gathering of
facts. In the absence of facts,
you have assumptions.
And assumptions are the
enemy of design.
Mike Monteiro

The last time I was at the eye doctor I was fitted for
glasses. As I was looking through one of these, my

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DESIGN PROCESS continued

Below are the four phases of the design process: These checkpoints or milestones help decrease the
strategy, prototype, design, and delivery. As you progress chances of late changes causing project delays and
through the phases you gain more clarity on the final increased costs.
design solution. Each phase requires client sign-off
before moving on.

1. 2. 3. 4.
Strategy Prototype Design Delivery

Interviews and research You will define the site Work through branding Publish final site and
to define a clear brand architecture, page and visual style. The collect analytics for three
strategy and design naming, and site content client should approve months. Report back
strategy to achieve to be presented. code and not flat and review performance.
business objectives. Photoshop files.

Approvals needed Approvals needed Approvals needed Approvals needed

Brand strategy Wireframe & architecture Clickable design Final signoff
Design strategy Site copy of homepage Analytics report
Clickable prototype Development site

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DESIGN PROCESS continued

Phases Used in This Book

In this book, we will be spending our time
focusing on phases two and three. These
phases are closely related and could also be
broken up into UX and UI. Prototypes focus
on identifying content, naming, hierarchy and
site architecture. The design phase converts 2.
wireframes into final layouts with graphics
Prototype
and branding.

This book will not be able to demonstrate how to

generate pencil thumbnail sketches or perform design
exploration in a graphics program. Both of these require
a deep dive into design theory, branding, and design
software. If you would like to learn these skills, please
3.
email me and tell me this is something you would be
interested in. Design

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Build a Homepage

Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 32

INTRODUCTION

Are you ready to start building something?

To help make the projects you build more
practical, I am going to use my business
name and pretend I am a medium sized web
design agency. I am hiring you to help me Design is the bridge that
design a website to help me gain leads online.
brings the business strategy
On the next page, I provide a sample brand strategy to to life. It can build intangible
help you learn about my company and the people I serve.
Since I already have a logo and other marketing material I brand value for a business,
would like to continue using similar colors and fonts
for consistency.
so the business is worth
more. We all know that the
If you ever end up freelancing, you will often work with
businesses who do not have an existing brand strategy intangible brand value of Coke
and you will need to help them develop one. This initial
project demonstrates your concern for brand consistency
far outweighs the value of its
and how it helps differentiate them from their competition. tangible assets.
In addition, I provide a completed design strategy - Geoff Suvalko
outlining the goals and expectations for the homepage
design. This strategy is what we used to guide us through
developing a wireframe and then a clickable prototype.

Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 33

CREATIVE STRATEGY

Brand Strategy Design Strategy

Web design services company who helps businesses BootstrapCreative would like to attract business
tell their story online. They obsess over the creative opportunities by demonstrating their expertise and past
process to ensure efficiency and accuracy in meeting success with other companies.
business objectives.
Design considerations
Audience Customers are tech savvy and primarily marketing
Local professional service businesses who depend on professionals or small business owners
a steady stream of leads. Marketers who are very data driven and expect a ROI
Businesses who have existing desktop websites and or measurable return on investment
want to redesign to make them responsive. BootstrapCreative spends a lot of time researching
their clients needs and business objectives and
How They are Unique champion craftmanship.
Digital craftsmen who believe design needs to tell a story
to achieve measurable results. Solution
Homepage will feature a carousel to highlight unique
selling points. Article headings will clearly demonstrate
growth and measurable return on investment.
Service offerings will be prominent so it is clear what

#0275d8 #292b2c Lato Bold BootstrapCreative provides. The high quality design
will demonstrate competency and the ability to achieve
Helvetica Neue Regular
quality work.
Helvetica Neue Medium
Helvetica Neue Bold

#636c72 #e2e2e2

Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 34

WIREFRAME

Fixed-top Navbar

Carousel

Services

Wireframing is the most important step of

any design. It forces you to think about how Case Study (text:image)
things will be organized and function.

What content is really needed? What behaviors would Testimonial

someone want to perform on this page? What will they
look for the most?
Case Study (image:text)
Once we have a vision of what we want to build the next
step is to explore the existing Bootstrap components to
see what we can re-use in our project. Blog Posts

Wireframing tools: Balsamiq, Moqups, Powerpoint,

Services
Inkscape, and Google Slides. Site architecture tools:
Coggle and MindNode.
Footer

Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 35

 A
B
BOOTSTRAP COMPONENTS USED

C
Badge Pill
A. Navbar

E
Now that we have a wireframe, B. Carousel
the next step is to select existing
D
Bootstrap components that we can
use in our project. C. Cards

Browse Bootstrap's documentation or if you

purchased the Pro package, the Components
Visual Reference is a handy tool to quickly D. Blockquote
review components.

Make notes of components that need further E. Buttons

customization and those that need to be written
from scratch. This step helps to eliminate code
duplication and saves time in re-using existing C
F. Forms
components in your project.

G. Nav

G F

Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 36

BUILD PROTOTYPE

Step 1
Download the starter project .zip which contains the
folder structure, images, and blank files. Save and unzip
the folder where you would like to keep your website
projects. I personally use XAMPP to run a local server
and generally save all of my web projects in my htdocs
folder that way I can test my projects at localhost/project-

name. If you have never setup a local server before,
you can follow my tutorial to learn the steps.

homepage-prototype Windows - If this is your first time using Sublime Text

css you will also need to right click the files with extensions
.html, .css, .js and hover over OPEN WITH and click CHOOSE
homepage.css
ANOTHER APP to then choose Sublime Text. This will make
img sure these files open in your text editor.
index.html
js Step 2
homepage.js Open index.html in your text editor. Now copy and
defer.js paste the page boilerplate code into index.html and
save. This is a basic HTML page template without any
vendor
reference to Bootstrap or outside scripts.
jquery-3.1.1.min.js

Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp02

Get .zip bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp01

Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 37

PROTOTYPE CONTINUED

Step 3 This snippet also includes a script tag with some

JavaScript code inside. This code loads a JS file
Copy the minified Bootstrap CSS code and paste above the
defer.js after the entire page is finished loading.
closing </head> tag.
This helps increase page load time by removing the non-
critical code from the initial page load. Things like Disqus
Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp03 comment scripts, social widgets, and enhancements
like animations.

Then open your index.html file inside your browser

Step 4 by dragging and dropping it onto a blank browser tab
Next, copy the minified Bootstrap JavaScript code and window. You are now able to navigate your project files,
paste it above the closing </body> tag. edit them, and see the results in your browser window.

This code snippet contains Bootstrap scripts and its

dependencies, which are jQuery and tether.js (which is used
for tooltips).

What's a dependency? In other words, Bootstrap requires

other code to work properly and so depends on additional
libraries created by another developer. Dependencies have
to be referenced/loaded before Bootstrap can run.

Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp04

Your screen should now look like this. I recommend

using this workspace to force yourself to view your
design mobile first.

Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 38

PROTOTYPE CONTINUED

Step 5 Step 7
For our homepage layout, we want some content to Next, copy the image cards code and paste it to replace
be fluid width and some content to be constrained to the image cards comment section.
the breakpoints. To achieve this we will be using the
.container class on a per section basis instead of
Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp07
having all of our body content inside of it.

Example: nav > .container

Step 8
Next, copy and paste the navbar code to add it below the Next, copy the case study code and paste to replace the
opening <body> tag. case study 1 comment section.

Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp05 Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp08

Step 6 Step 9
Next, copy the carousel code and paste to replace the Next, copy the quote code and paste to replace the
carousel comment section and replace this line of code quote comment section.
<h1>Hello World!</h1>.

Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp09

Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp06

Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 39

PROTOTYPE CONTINUED

Step 12
Next, copy the services code and paste to replace the
services comment section.

Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp12

Step 13
Next, copy the brand message code and paste to replace
Your screen should now look like this. the brand message comment section.

Step 10 Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp13

Next, copy the case study 2 code and paste to replace
the case study 2 comment section.
Step 14 Final Step
Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp10 Next, copy the footer code and paste to replace the
footer comment section.

Step 11 Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp14

Next, copy the blog posts code and paste to replace the
blog posts comment section.

Copy Code bootstrapcreative.com/b4hp11

Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 40

SUMMARY

Great job. You now have a working homepage using In the next section, we will write some custom CSS styles
Bootstrap 4. We used Bootstrap's default styles to get a and add some scripts to make everything look the way
working prototype to quickly demonstrate functionality. we want. See you there.
The prototype gets the basic idea down but it needs
some refinements.

Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 41

DESIGN

Where to Start Once you have a sketch you like you can then move to
a design program like Photoshop, Adobe XD, or Sketch.
If we refer back to the design process on page 30, we are
These apps will help you work out aesthetics, colors,
now in the design phase. In this phase, we will explore
typography, spacing, and graphics before writing any
design options and then begin to build a polished design
code. Some designers skip this step and go right to code
that we can use for testing and approval.
and design in the browser. I personally think this limits
your creativity especially if you use Bootstrap. The UI of
Design Exploration - Fast Forward
Bootstrap should not influence your design. Following
Now that you have an approved wireframe, architecture, this progression will greatly reduce the chances of your
and page content you can begin exploring different visual site looking too much like a Bootstrap site.
solutions. Every designer has their own method but I
recommend sketching with paper and pencil first. Since design is such a broad topic and would require a
lot of explanation I am going to skip past this process
and move right to development.

Clickable Design
Before responsive design, it was much easier to convert
a desktop design and convert it to code because
everything was fixed width and not much would change.

Today, we have to design for different breakpoints,

devices, and bandwidths. Each with their own set of
nuances and challenges. Because of this, I recommend
never showing a client a flat Photoshop design. Ok, let's
It is easier to flush out multiple ideas on paper than it is to look at how we are going to improve the design.
draw shapes in a design program. Also, if it doesn't work
as a sketch it will never work as a final design.

Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 42

 A
B
DESIGN WHAT WE WILL CHANGE

A. Navbar Branding
Add blue border to the bottom and change link color C
Badge Pill
B. Carousel Captions
Move the captions to the top
D
C. Image Cards
Adjust image widths
E
D. Vertical Centered Content
Make the text vertically centered with the image

E. Parallax Background Image

Set a background image that is fixed on scroll

F. Add Right Arrow to Nav Links

Add arrow with CSS and not HTML

G. Text Overlay on Image Cards

Add a black overlay on top of the image to improve
text readability F G

H. Nested Columns
Add columns with breakpoints that make sense

I. Muted Form Inputs

The form inputs have too much contrast and are hard on
the eyes I
H
Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 43
SUMMARY

Great job. You now have a polished homepage using In the next section, we will follow the same workflow to
Bootstrap 4. We pushed our prototype of default build our CMS dashboard for this site.
Bootstrap components to match our desired design.

Bootstrap 4 Quick Start : BootstrapCreative Build a Homepage : 46

 Videos & Quick
Reference Guides
In addition to the book, there
are videos and visual reference
guides available to help you save
time and be more efficient.
FontAwesome Icon Cheat Sheet Web Design Primer

Bootstrap 4 Components FontAwesome Icon Cheat Sheet

Visual Reference
Robin - Responsive Breakpoint Google DevTools
Preview Tool - Inspect and Test CSS

And More!

How to Share Prototypes Fast

Buy now and start learning
Bootstrap 4 and responsive
web design basics.

Buy Now