How TO - Make a Website with Bootstrap
Learn how to create a responsive website with the Bootstrap CSS Framework.
Create a Website with Bootstrap
Bootstrap is the most popular HTML, CSS, and JavaScript framework for developing responsive, mobile-first websites. Bootstrap is completely free to download and use.
Note: If you don't know Bootstrap, we suggest that you read our Bootstrap Tutorial.
Example Explained
- The
<!DOCTYPE html>declaration defines this document to be HTML5 - The
<html>element is the root element of an HTML page - The
<head>element contains meta information about the document - The
<title>element specifies a title for the document - The
<meta>element should define the character set to be UTF-8 - The
<meta>element with name="viewport" makes the website look good on all devices and screen resolutions - The
<style>element contains the styles for the website (layout/design) - The
<body>element contains the visible page content - The
<h1>element defines a large heading - The
<p>element defines a paragraph
Creating Page Content
Inside the <body> element of our website, we will use our "Layout
Draft"
and create:
- A header
- A navigation bar
- Main content
- Side content
- A footer
Header
A header is usually located at the top of the website (or right below a top navigation menu). It often contains a logo or the website name:
<div class="header">
<h1>My Website</h1>
<p>A website
created by me.</p>
</div>
Then we use CSS to style the header:
.header {
padding: 80px; /* some padding */
text-align: center; /* center the text */
background: #1abc9c;
/* green background */
color: white; /* white text color */
}
/* Increase the font size of the <h1> element */
.header h1 {
font-size: 40px;
}
Navigation Bar
A navigation bar contains a list of links to help visitors navigating through your website:
<div class="navbar">
<a href="#">Link</a>
<a href="#">Link</a>
<a href="#">Link</a>
<a href="#" class="right">Link</a>
</div>
Use CSS to style the navigation bar:
/* Style the top navigation bar */
.navbar {
overflow: hidden; /* Hide overflow */
background-color: #333;
/* Dark background color */
}
/* Style the navigation bar links */
.navbar
a {
float: left; /* Make sure that the links stay
side-by-side */
display: block; /* Change the display to
block, for responsive reasons (see below) */
color: white; /* White text color */
text-align: center;
/* Center the text */
padding: 14px 20px; /* Add some padding */
text-decoration: none;
/* Remove underline */
}
/*
Right-aligned link */
.navbar a.right {
float: right;
/* Float a link to the right */
}
/*
Change color on hover/mouse-over */
.navbar a:hover {
background-color: #ddd; /* Grey background color */
color: black;
/* Black text color */
}
Content
Create a 2-column layout, divided into a "side content" and a "main content".
<div class="row">
<div class="side">...</div>
<div
class="main">...</div>
</div>
We use CSS Flexbox to handle the layout:
/* Column container */
.row {
display: -ms-flexbox;
/* IE10 */
display: flex;
-ms-flex-wrap:
wrap; /* IE10 */
flex-wrap: wrap;
}
/* Create
two unequal columns that sits next to each other */
/* Sidebar/left column
*/
.side {
flex: 30%; /* Set the width of the sidebar
*/
background-color: #f1f1f1; /* Grey background color
*/
padding: 20px; /* Some padding */
}
/* Main column */
.main {
flex: 70%; /* Set the width of the main content */
background-color: white; /* White background color */
padding: 20px; /* Some padding */
}
Then add media queries to make the layout responsive. This will make sure that your website looks good on all devices (desktops, laptops, tablets and phones). Resize the browser window to see the result.
/* Responsive layout - when the screen is less than 700px wide, make the two
columns stack on top of each other instead of next to each other */
@media
(max-width: 700px) {
.row {
flex-direction: column;
}
}
/*
Responsive layout - when the screen is less than 400px wide, make the
navigation links stack on top of each other instead of next to each other */
@media (max-width: 400px) {
.navbar a {
float: none;
width: 100%;
}
}
Tip: To create a different kind of layout, just change the flex width (but make sure that it adds up to 100%).
Tip: Do you wonder how the @media rule works? Read more about it in our CSS Media Queries chapter.
Tip: To learn more about the Flexible Box Layout Module, read our CSS Flexbox chapter.
Footer
At last, we will add a footer.
<div class="footer">
<h2>Footer</h2>
</div>
And style it:
.footer {
padding: 20px; /* Some padding */
text-align: center; /* Center text*/
background: #ddd;
/* Grey background */
}
Congratulations! You have built a website from scratch.
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