Introduction

Get started with Nova - Bootstrap WebApp UI Kit.

Nova is a Static HTML Template

For the time being, we do NOT offer any tutorials or any other materials on how to integrate Nova with any CMS, Web Application framework (including Angular JS, Ruby on Rails and others) or any other similar technology. However, since Nova is a static HTML/CSS and JS template, then it should be compatible with any front-end & backend technology.

Quick start

CSS

Copy-paste Nova stylesheets <link> into your <head> after all other stylesheets to load our CSS.

                      
                        <!-- CSS Nova Template -->
                        <link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/css/theme.css">

JS

Many of Bootstrap's (since Nova runs on Bootstrap) components require the use of JavaScript to function. Specifically, they require jQuery, Popper.js, Bootstrap JavaScript and our own JavaScript plugins. Place the following <script>s near the end of your pages, right before the closing </body> tag, to enable them. jQuery must come first, then Popper.js, Bootstrap's JavaScript, and then our plugins.

Bootstrap and Nova use jQuery's slim build, but the full version is also supported.

All Nova plugins start with hs. prefix.

                      
                        <!-- JS Global Compulsory -->
                        <script src="assets/vendor/jquery/dist/jquery.min.js"></script>
                        <script src="assets/vendor/jquery-migrate/dist/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
                        <script src="assets/vendor/popper.js/dist/umd/popper.min.js"></script>
                        <script src="assets/vendor/bootstrap/dist/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>

                        <!-- JS Nova -->
                        <script src="assets/js/hs.core.js"></script>

Starter template

Be sure to have your pages set up with the latest design and development standards. That means using an HTML5 doctype and including a viewport meta tag for proper responsive behaviors. Put it all together and your pages should look like this:

                      
                        <!doctype html>
                        <html lang="en">
                        <head>
                          <!-- Title -->
                          <title>Hello, world!</title>

                          <!-- Favicon -->
                          <link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico">

                          <!-- Required meta tags -->
                          <meta charset="utf-8">
                          <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no">

                          <!-- CSS Implementing Plugins -->
                          <link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/vendor/nova-icons/nova-icons.css">

                          <!-- CSS Nova Template -->
                          <link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/css/theme.css">
                        </head>

                        <body>
                          <h1>Hello, world!</h1>

                          <!-- JS Global Compulsory -->
                          <script src="assets/vendor/jquery/dist/jquery.min.js"></script>
                          <script src="assets/vendor/jquery-migrate/dist/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
                          <script src="assets/vendor/popper.js/dist/umd/popper.min.js"></script>
                          <script src="assets/vendor/bootstrap/dist/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>

                          <!-- JS Nova -->
                          <script src="assets/js/hs.core.js"></script>
                        </body>
                        </html>

That's all you need for overall page requirements. Visit the Bootstrap's Layout docs our official examples to start laying out your site's content and components.

Important globals

Nova employs a handful of important global styles and settings that you'll need to be aware of when using it, all of which are almost exclusively geared towards the normalization of cross browser styles. Let's dive in.

HTML5 doctype

Nova requires the use of the HTML5 doctype. Without it, you'll see some funky incomplete styling, but including it shouldn't cause any considerable hiccups.

                      
                        <!doctype html>
                        <html lang="en">
                          ...
                        </html>

Responsive meta tag

Nova is developed mobile first, a strategy in which we optimize code for mobile devices first and then scale up components as necessary using CSS media queries. To ensure proper rendering and touch zooming for all devices, add the responsive viewport meta tag to your <head>.

                      
                        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no">

You can see an example of this in action in the starter template.