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by necolas 4925 days ago
Hi, I'm part of the team working on HTML5 Boilerplate.

As this featured project is, in some way, defining itself relative to what it believes HTML5 Boilerplate is and should be, I'm going to chime in with some thoughts.

If someone wants to create a new project after their concerns have not been shared by others maintaining a large, existing, community project (e.g., how Lo-Dash came to be) then that's fair enough. But I'm always disappointing to see people do so before raising their concerns and making their arguments. It would avoid the repetition of errors and discussions that have been addressed previously. We could also work together to adapt HTML5 Boilerplate if there is a good case to do so.

Once-upon-a-time, I didn't appreciate the work and community knowledge that went into HTML5 Boilerplate. However, after I started to open issues against the repo and contribute to the project, I realised that it has always been very open to contributions and changes of direction. I had significantly underestimated how much thought and combined knowledge was going into the project, and how much it was constantly evolving.

It's hard to design a useful starting template that's clear and friendly enough for newcomers, documented enough for explorers, and svelte enough for experienced developers. We're always trying to figure out the best way to present the value of the project while not scaring away too many people. Hopefully, we're doing a decent job of balancing those concerns and making people feel welcome in the discussions.

I hope that developers will continue to work with -- and look to join -- the people developing HTML5 Boilerplate at any given time. If you think something is missing or should be removed, make the case for it. We listen and learn; we're constantly evolving the project.

Thanks

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> HTML5 BP is maintained by Google people. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4949018

That's not true. Only Paul Irish works at Google.

> "Slim HTML5 Boilerplate" would be a better title http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4949635

If that's what you're looking for, just delete jQuery and Modernizr from HTML5 Boilerplate :)

2 comments

There's no reason to be bothered by people creating a project in their own vision. No one owes HTML5 Boilerplate anything. FWIW, I'd never heard of it before today, and it looks pretty cool.
I'm amazed anyone would call HTML5BP "bloated".