How to create a BootStrap 3 Child Theme?

[citidm]

Hello,

I was wondering how could I use Bootstrap 3 for the genesis framework as a child theme?

[David Chu]

This question keeps coming back. 🙂 If I wanted Bootstrap functionality, I would actually not use Genesis at all, but simply would code a pretty sparse starter theme using Bootstrap libraries, and there are some of those around. My general thought would be that I'd spend so much time overriding the Genesis original CSS (and other stuff) that it could be a major pain. In fact, I might be more inclined to go with Foundation instead of Bootstrap, which looks pretty nice. Some of the Bootstrap canned elements are already looking a little out-of-date with their gradients and such, although they're working to fix that.

Having said all that, here's a tut that should give you some ideas.
http://devburner.net/howto-the-quick-way-to-use-twitter-bootstrap-with-genesis/

If you put this together well, I'm sure some other adherents would be interested in checking it out.

Good luck,
Dave

---

Dave Chu · Custom WordPress Developer – likes collaborating with Designers

[citidm]

Thanks Dave,

I am going to look at a few options. Genesis is an awesome framework and I like the fact that it's a highly supported framework, Bootstrap has a ton of great features that I'd like to incorporate. Now the two combined would be awesome. If not then I could probably use the underscores theme. I haven't played with foundation much so I will look there too.

Thanks again.

[David Chu]

Glad to help.
Genesis is my favorite, but I've used a lot of systems, including many non-Wordpress ones. It's easy to stay in the ghetto of one's favorite system and just be a cheerleader, but I believe in getting out and seeing the world at large, otherwise you miss a whole lot of the action and develop a narrow viewpoint.

Bootstrap does have a lot of cool stuff in it, no question. Some of the discussions I read have to do with which CSS pre-processor is used, and some will simply choose a framework based on that. I haven't been convinced (yet) that I should go with one of those pre-processors. You probably know that one can also use regular CSS instead in most cases.

Another thing that frameworks will offer are grid layouts with built-in goodies for them. The current Genesis Sample theme does an informal version of this that's very nice, just having lots of column classes and good CSS as a basis for them that's easy to modify, as well as very carefully thought-out usage of REM widths and percentages in general. I am very happy with how nice this theme's code is, and the newer Genesis commercial themes are adopting its features. Of course, there's more to a framework than that, and some people like more full-fledged and strict grid scenarios, which can get very complex.

Many are also turning to Underscores, and for those who like good stuff stripped to the bone, it sounds great. There are some well-known top coders on that project.

With any system you choose, you must buy into their way of doing things. I've seen more newbies showing up and complaining that Genesis doesn't do things like [insert previous favorite theme name here], which I think is funny. As Groucho Marx said, if it hurts when you do that, then don't do that.

Also, support matters a lot to me (at least to the extent of keeping bugs squashed) even though I'm highly self-sufficient. There are some promising frameworks out there, but if I don't see enough discussion or decent documentation, you can end up all alone in silence with tumbleweeds blowing by. 🙂

Dave

---

Dave Chu · Custom WordPress Developer – likes collaborating with Designers

[Author]

Posts