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Is there any reason you wouldn't want to do this?

EDIT: More info

I have a website that was built in HTML/CSS and over the years, it's been modified, added to and hacked at to the point where the code is kind of a mess. I'd like to redesign the site using a structured CMS but I want the base HTML/CSS to be well coded and optimized. That's why I'm thinking of building a site using the Bootstrap framework and then rebuilding it in Craft. I realize this seems redundant but I'm not good enough with CSS to just build it from the scratch in Craft. I'm more of the cut and paste kind.

The reason I'm considering Craft is because I like the idea of defining fields and sections I can reuse. I built the site 90% through using ModX, it looked good but the back end and the way it presents Template Variables is not very friendly. I like Craft's approach a lot more.

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  • Updated my answer based on your update – Tyler Willingham Aug 13 '14 at 16:51
  • Hi Henry! Could you consider accepting whichever answer was most helpful? – Matt Stein♦ May 10 '17 at 0:23
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I built Progress.org using Craft and Bootstrap—and it only took me about two months of part-time work. I’d say Craft and Bootstrap together are a match made in heaven. Here’s why:

1) Bootstrap is an out-of-the-box template that gives you great flexibility if you want to design your website how you want it to look. I found other frameworks like WordPress overly constraining.

2) Craft allows for near unlimited customizations as long as you know your front-end HTML/CSS.

If you know your HTML/CSS, then a Bootstrap/Craft combination is ideal, in my experience.

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  • 2
    This answer was flagged as spam, though I'm not entirely sure that it is. Technically it answers the original question. But overly short answers are frowned upon... Would you mind elaborating? How was your experience combining Craft & Bootstrap? Good, bad? Any pointers or suggestions you might have for someone attempting this? – Lindsey D♦ Jun 7 '15 at 5:59
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Bootstrap strictly refers to the front-end framework used as a starting point. It doesn't provide any back-end functionality so there's no clash with what Craft provides.

EDIT: Now that you've provided more details it sounds like Craft would be a fine solution. It's not hard to take your existing code and integrate it with Craft. The learning curve that you may face based on your self-evaluation of your skillset would be tackling Twig and really understanding how twig works for templating. But we're here to help :)

EDIT pt2: This is a helpful resource: http://straightupcraft.com/twig-templating

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Can you add a little more information? I'm not sure I understand the question.

Bootstrap is a front-end framework, it can be used in combination with Craft. Not necessarily replace it. So you wouldn't be "converting it".

Now if you're referring to converting a static site that uses Bootstrap as its framework, it's going to depend on the needs of the website whether you want to use Craft or not. I've found that Craft works well in many scenarios but there are always exceptions.

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I think it's actually a good idea to first build parts of the site with some static HTML/CSS and later implement the Craft code (in form of Twig, the tempting language used by Craft).

You would't need to convert your site for this process, because Craft template files are normal HTML files with Twig code in-between. Yes, you probably want to refactor your code and the template files a bit, maybe make use of includes and blocks etc., but using a static HTML page as a starting point for your new Craft site can be really helpful.

Oh.. and believe me, while you're learning Craft and about all the features, you'll most likely want to refactor parts of your code more than once. :D

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  • That's my plan. I will build static home page and some generic page templates in HTML/CSS then rebuild in Craft. My concern was Bootstrap talks about "compiled" CSS. My understanding of compiled code is that it's machine readable only. I don't know how I would integrate machine code into Craft. But, having downloaded and poked around Bootstrap, it looks like the CSS files are plain text. I still don't know what they mean by "compiled" CSS. – Henry Aug 13 '14 at 18:18
  • They probably mean compiled from SASS or LESS files to CSS. And again, you wouldn't need to rebuild anything, you'd simply add the Twig code to your static site. :D – carlcs Aug 13 '14 at 18:34

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