Jason Leveille's Blog

BluePlate is a set of template files that we use at BlueAtlas to get up and running quickly with a site/template/application build.  We've found that by having this base set of template files, we can get from design to template completion at a much faster pace.  The other advantage comes in the form of consistancy and convention.  By having a consistent set of file names, locations, etc, we can focus our energy elsewhere.

HTML5 Template

For a while now I've wanted to also provide a simple starting point for HTML5 support.  This morning I created our base set of HTML5 framework lite files.  These files provide partial support for the HTML5 spec.

Why Only Partial Support?

You really have 3 options when it comes to working with HTML5:

1. You only modify the doctype to be HTML5 compliant.
2. You modify the doctype, and insert div attributes values that are consistant with new HTML5 element names.  This option allows you to acclimate yourself to the various new and shiny HTML5 elements, without jumping in head first.
3. You dive right in, modify the doctype, and use the new HTML5 elements. Because of issues in FF2 and IE, you'll also need to use an HTML5 enabling script.

If you look at the source code, you'll notice that I went with option #2.  If you notice that I've hosed some things up (or my understading of new element usage is flawed), please let me know.

Credit

BluePlate started in the offices of BlueAtlas during the summer of 2008.  Jeff Brown and I decided that too much effort was being wasted on starting our template builds.  So, we decided to put together a simple starting point.  Over time it has been refined and simplified, however it is most certainly not perfect.  If you notice anything screwy, please let me know.

There really isn't much in BluePlate to be impressed with.  As I mentioned, its primary function is to provide us with a starting point.  With that said, I think it's important to acknowledge Yahoo Grids/Fonts/Reset/Type, which is used in the full version of our template files.  I also want to acknowledge Dan Cederholm, whose book, "HandCrafted CSS" was the inspiration for BluePlate lite, and BluePrint CSS, whose print stylesheet we make use of.