In doing some research into Adobe CQ5.5, I came across an interesting article that sent me into a new research mission today. (Whenever I see something new, I just have to research it right then and there.)
So I came across this link in Google: TWITTER BOOTSTRAP FOR ADOBE CQ5.5. I had no idea what a Twitter Bootstrap was, so off to the research mission!
Twitter Bootstrap is described by the developers as “Simple and flexible HTML, CSS, and Javascript for popular user interface components and interactions.” That sounded interesting, so I dug further. Bootstrap is based on HTML5, CSS3, a 12-column grid, some jQuery plug-ins to create a framework for building a fully responsive, run on any browser website. What really caught my eye was that Bootstrap was built by and for nerds.
Bootstrap sounded pretty interesting, so I continued my research mission. Next I found out that Bootstrap was the most watched project on GitHub back in March. It is still generating lots of interest. Its also Open Source, so anybody can participate in building out Bootstrap. If you want to see samples of sites built using Bootstrap, you can see some on Tumblr or go to the Bootstrap page.
Back to Adobe CQ 5.5. So what does Bootstrap do for Adobe CQ 5.5? Well officially nothing. Adobe is not building Bootstrap sites with CQ 5.5. But, a company called Headwire has built an integration for CQ .5.5 to use Bootstrap for the page framework. So using the Bootstrap framework and CQ 5.5, you can easily build sites that use responsive design techniques, are instantly browser compatible, and can take advantage of jQuery, slideshows, tabs, button bars, etc. Headwire also includes a drag and drop editor to create templates based on Bootstrap. By creating templates you can allow your authors to fill in the templates without having to understand all that HTML and responsive stuff.
Yes, you can build these features into CQ 5.5 yourself, but why? It seems to me that Bootstrap is a great standalone product, but when combined with Adobe CQ 5.5, you have an even better experience.
