These free HTML5 templates will ensure your site looks great, and is bug-free and customisable.
If a website is disorganized, confusing, hard to read or just plain ugly, chances are, you're going to move on. And – if this poorly designed website is yours – guess what? You just lost a potential client.
Thankfully, when designing a website, you don't have to start from scratch. There are literally thousands of HTML5 templates available on the Internet. Some are free; some are not. Some are easy to work with; others – well, not so much.
With so many free HTML5 templates from which to choose, how do you know which one is right? In addition to working well, your template should match your personality and fit your site. If you're a photographer, and you want to showcase your work, look for an appropriate template – perhaps one with a nice image gallery option.
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Why HTML5?
So why choose a free HTML5 template? Simple. HTML5 offers cleaner code. Okay, that's not the only reason, but it is one of the best reasons!
Sure, HTML5 lets you add audio and video support without having to rely on third-party plugins like Flash; it uses local storage; it provides a more dynamic user-experience; and it can even be used for game development; but the fact is – clean code makes me happy and when you start customizing your site, I bet it'll make you happy too.
How were these selected?
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The following list of 10 FREE HTML5 templates are ones I personally like and would use on any of my sites. I like simple, elegant designs. I was on the lookout for features like:
Responsive design
Parallax effects
Ghost buttons
Easy-to-customize
So, without further ado, let's have a look at which ones made the cut.
This is a great free HTML5 template for showcasing your work
This freebie offers responsive design and works best for those who wish to showcase their work. Its vibrant, modern look includes parallax effects, large buttons and an emphasis on topography.
I recently discovered this little gem. They offer a small collection of free CSS, HTML5, and responsive site templates released under the Creative Commons license.
Clearly, my favorite, HTML5 UP offers fully responsive HTML5 + CSS3 templates. Each of their templates are 100 per cent free and licensed under the Creative Commons.
This template offers a clean layout, hover effect, ghost buttons and more. If a simple, easy-to-navigate website design is what you're after, this one if absolutely one you shouldn't pass up.
Dropdown menus, sidebars, large buttons, icons and more. Strongly Typed offers the frequent blogger one heck of a design. While I wouldn't consider this to be my favorite, it is definitely on the top-ten.
Strata was one of the first templates I discovered on HTML5 UP. It offers a stationary left sidebar, parallax effects and lightbox. This template would be great for a photographer or other creative looking to showcase their work.
Our first single-pager in the group, Highlights offers a simple, responsive design. Not only does it look great, but it functions well too. Scrolling is smooth and the background transitions are simply fantastic.
With five unique page layouts, the Halcynoic responsive HTML5 + CSS template feels like the workhorse of the bunch. I'd be surprised if you couldn't find a layout that works for you. The color scheme is easy on the eyes, yet bold; and the slight texture works well.
Okay, I bet my editor is going to kill me since this was supposed to be a '10 best' feature, but there was no way I could write this list and leave this one out.
If you're looking for a simple template you can use to broadcast your next big thing... stop looking! This is the one. In fact, this is the one I'm personally using for just that reason.
Tammy is an independent creative professional, author of Apple Game Frameworks and Technologies, and the maker behind the AdventureGameKit – a custom SpriteKit framework for building point and click adventure games. As an innovative problem solver and industry leader, Tammy enjoys working on projects from content creation – including books, tutorials, videos, and podcasts – to the design and development of cross-platform applications and games. For Creative Bloq, she has written about an array of subjects, including animation, web design and character design.
