Creative is a free, one-page HTML website theme built on Bootstrap by Start Bootstrap, designed for freelance creatives and agencies to launch a portfolio-style landing page.
What is Start Bootstrap Creative?
Creative is a one-page HTML theme built with the Bootstrap framework, created and maintained by Start Bootstrap — an open-source library of free Bootstrap themes and templates. It takes static HTML, SCSS, and JavaScript source files as input and produces a ready-to-publish single-page website, with precompiled files in the dist directory. The theme is released under the MIT license by Start Bootstrap LLC, so it can be used for any purpose, including commercial projects.
Key Features
- One-page layout — The theme ships as a single index.html page optimized for creatives; the layout includes sections for a nav bar, hero, portfolio or services grid, call-to-action, and contact form, all customizable by editing the HTML and CSS in dist.
- Bootstrap framework — Built on Bootstrap 4 (per the repository topics bootstrap-4 and bootstrap4), giving the theme a responsive grid, utilities, and JavaScript components without extra dependencies.
- SCSS source files — Styling is authored in SCSS inside src/scss and compiled into CSS by the included build scripts; customizing the source and running npm run build regenerates the dist CSS.
- Pug templating — Page markup is written in Pug under src/pug rather than plain HTML; the npm script
npm run build:pugcompiles it into standard HTML in dist. - SB Forms contact form — The embedded contact form is prebuilt with SB Forms markup; after signing up for SB Forms and pasting an API token into the data-sb-form-api-token attribute, the form becomes functional.
- npm build environment — The repo includes a full Node.js workflow:
npm installthennpm startlaunches a live preview in the default browser with file watching and live reload; other scripts includenpm run build,npm run clean,npm run build:assets,npm run build:scripts, andnpm run build:scss. - MIT license — Copyrighted 2013-2023 Start Bootstrap LLC and released under the MIT license, so it's free for personal and commercial use.
Who should use Start Bootstrap Creative?
- Freelance designers and creative professionals — build a portfolio site to display work samples and direct visitors to a contact form.
- Agencies and small businesses — use it as a marketing landing page for a product or service, with the one-page sections and call-to-action.
- Front-end developers — get a Bootstrap starter with a Pug and SCSS build pipeline, then extend the source or reskin it for client projects.
What can you do with Start Bootstrap Creative?
- Freelance creatives: publish a portfolio page in a few minutes by replacing the sample text and images in the dist HTML and CSS files.
- Agencies: create a client landing page with a functional contact form by signing up for SB Forms and adding an API token.
- Developers: use the npm build environment to compile Pug and SCSS changes, with live reload, then output optimized files to dist with npm run build.
- Commercial projects: reuse the theme in paid client work or products because the MIT license allows commercial use.
How does the template work?
The theme supports two workflows. For basic usage, you edit the compiled HTML and CSS files in the dist directory and open index.html in a browser — no build step required. For advanced usage, clone the repository, run npm install, then npm start to launch a live preview that watches the src directory and reloads on changes; running npm run build compiles everything into dist.
Pros and cons
- Pros: free and MIT licensed; no backend required for the core static site; contact form ready with SB Forms integration; source includes SCSS and Pug for developers who want to customize the build.
- Cons: the contact form depends on the external SB Forms service and will not work until you set an API token; the advanced workflow requires npm and Node.js installed.
Pricing
The theme is free to download from Start Bootstrap, and the source is released under the MIT license, allowing free use in personal and commercial projects.
FAQ
Is Start Bootstrap Creative free?
Yes, it is free to download from Start Bootstrap and is released under the MIT license, so you can use it for personal or commercial projects without paying a licensing fee.
How do I install the theme?
You can download the latest release from the Start Bootstrap website, install it as an npm package with npm i startbootstrap-creative, or clone the GitHub repository with git clone https://github.com/StartBootstrap/startbootstrap-creative.git.
Does the contact form work out of the box?
No, the contact form is prebuilt using SB Forms markup. To activate it, you need to sign up for SB Forms, configure your domain, and paste your API key into the data-sb-form-api-token attribute in place of API_TOKEN.
Can I use this theme for commercial projects?
Yes, the MIT license allows you to use it for any purpose, including commercial projects.
What is the difference between basic and advanced usage?
Basic usage involves editing the HTML and CSS files in the dist directory and previewing index.html directly in a browser. Advanced usage clones the source and uses npm scripts to compile Pug and SCSS with a live-reloading development environment.
