In the last couple of days, a couple of HTML5 templates have been released, HTML5 Reset and HTML5 Boilerplate. I’ve looked them over and I have to say, especially in the case of HTML5 Boilerplate, they’re pretty solid. But they’re not for me. Why? Well, as soon as I looked at the index file, I went through it thinking “I’d take out that and that and that.” It’s the same reaction I had when I looked at the 960 Grid template and a few others. It’s nothing against them or people that use them, it’s just they’re not for me.
Why not? Over time I’ve just made my own. It’s pretty simple and lean and made for the way I build websites. I’m sure I could take someone else’s more comprehensive template and alter it to fit my needs, but I think that would be more work. I’d rather start from zero and build my way up than to edit one down to fit my needs.
This works for me because I’ve been doing this for a while and when it comes to coding HTML/CSS and even JavaScript or ActionScript, I’m fast and I think a template like HTML5 Boilerplate is just going to slow me down. Maybe if I put in the time to sit down and start using one of these on the next few sites I build, I’d get used to it and it might end up working for me. But I know that the way I do it now works and I’m comfortable with it.
I think every web designer/developer should build their own template. If you want to modify one that’s out there, but change it to fit your style. I’m a huge believer that everything should be about making coding comfortable, from the languages you use to the editor you work in and setting up a template is no different.