Free website layouts

Short practical guide for anyone still hunting free website layouts years later.

Start by evaluating templates, not just looks. Check the license (MIT/CC and whether attribution is required), confirm responsive behavior, review the HTML for semantic structure, and scan for outdated libraries (old jQuery, flash-era assets). Prioritize templates with clear file structure, small CSS/JS payloads, and basic accessibility (visible focus states, sensible headings). Security note: avoid templates that include unknown third-party scripts or obfuscated JS.

A minimal workflow to apply a template safely:

• Download and unzip.
• Open index.html and look for meta viewport and any inline third-party scripts.
• Serve the folder locally to test responsive behavior and links.

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
# quick local test
python -m http.server 8000

Curated, modern starting points: HTML5 UP for lightweight, creative HTML5 templates; Start Bootstrap for Bootstrap-based starters; HTML5 Boilerplate for a well-tested baseline. Use these when you want current best practices out of the box. If you pick a framework template, read the framework docs first (Bootstrap, Tailwind) so you can remove unused components and keep CSS small.

On this thread: thanks to @daulex for pointing toward template collections, and disregard the spammy posts from @BenDucan. Since @cohen marked the thread solved, note the above checklist before launch: confirm license, remove unused assets, test on real devices, and run a performance audit (Lighthouse or similar) to avoid surprising load times.