OK, so it’s probably not going to come as a surprise to you to hear that startups don’t typically have the money around to invest in a great looking UI. Creating a great product is critical, but often at the expense of a great UI – building a UI from scratch can sometimes be just too expensive for a startup operating on limited funds.
It doesn’t have to be that way, however – today there are ready-to-use themes and frameworks on the Internet that can ease the whole UI process, as well as lower costs.
One UI framework we’ve been highly impressed with is Twitter Bootstrap, which was originally developed at Twitter to include HTML– and CSS-based design templates for typography, forms, buttons, navigation and other interface components.
Twitter Bootstrap gives you access to beautiful responsive designs with many components. Designers can take them and create additional design layers to offer themes according to various wireframes. This means that you can now find packages which offer a complete UI solution, including responsiveness, instead of spending crucial funds on expensive design.
This almost revolutionary UI concept has since become the standard in business systems. If you want a practical, comfortable and efficient system, it’s probably going to be the perfect fit.
If you’re confused about what kind of themes you can choose, check out our tips below:
- Look carefully at the theme’s structure; can you break it into components to use in your specific project? Does the theme match your code? Do a live preview and see if it fits your UX and product considerations. Note that you won’t be done once you’ve chosen your theme – you still need HTML and CSS to modify it for your specific needs.
- Look at the charts the theme offers.
- Be aware of the projected costs: as a “reseller” of the product it can often reach high numbers you might not have anticipated.
- Stick to your product considerations and business goals: do not be tempted to add more funky looking features just for the hell of it. Keep it simple and focus.
