Week 8: Styling Bootstrap and Creating Effective Content

Quinn WarnickWeekly Updates

Next week is spring break, and I hope all of you enjoy some well-deserved rest. At the same time, I hope you won’t forget that you are only halfway through the Responsive Microsite project. At this point, you should be making steady progress on three interrelated tasks:

  • Experimenting with the Bootstrap framework until you feel confident creating pages using containers, rows, and columns.
  • Converting your wireframes into functional HTML pages using Bootstrap components.
  • Drafting and collecting the various content types for your website, including headings, images, profiles, social media posts, videos, etc…

When we return from spring break, you should have a rough draft of your site. It’s OK if it’s very rough, and it doesn’t need to have any style beyond the default Bootstrap theme, but you need some functional pages with real content. During Week 8, we’ll work on refining that content and making your site beautiful. Here’s how we’ll spend our time in class:

  • On Tuesday, please come to class ready to show me a working draft of your Unit #2 site. During class, we’ll experiment with some tools for styling Bootstrap sites and practice adding custom CSS to your site. If you’d like to get a jump start on our workshop, you should familiarize yourself with Bootswatch, Bootstrap Magic, and Start Bootstrap. You might also want to get some inspiration from the Bootstrap sites featured in these collections:
  • I will be at a professional conference Wednesday through Saturday, so we will not have a formal class session on Thursday. However, our computer lab will be available, and I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to meet and help each other experiment with various Bootstrap tools and give each other some feedback on your Unit #2 sites.

Because I’m traveling during Week 8, I won’t be able to hold regular office hours, but I will be available by email. If you have any questions about your Unit #2 project while I’m gone (or during spring break!), do not hesitate to contact me.