Aside – Free HTML5 Bootstrap Website Template for Photography

Yes. Aside is completely free and follows the standard uiCookies license, which permits use in both personal and commercial projects; the exact attribution details are listed on the license page. The download includes six HTML pages, the compiled CSS, the SCSS sources, the vanilla JavaScript, the icon fonts, and Unsplash demo photos so you can preview it exactly as shown.

Only a little. Aside is a static HTML template, so you edit the .html files directly in any text editor — change the headings, paragraphs, and image filenames, then save. There is no framework, database, or build step required to publish a working site; you would only touch the SCSS if you want to recompile the styles from source.

The colour scheme and typography live in the stylesheet. The single teal accent (#1FAD9F) is defined as the $primary variable in scss/style.scss, so recompiling the SCSS updates it everywhere, or you can override it in the compiled CSS. The body font is Work Sans, loaded from Google Fonts via a link in each page's head — swap that link and the font-family to use a different typeface.

Yes. Aside is built on Bootstrap 5's responsive grid and is mobile-first. On larger screens the side navigation stays fixed next to the gallery; on phones and tablets it collapses behind a menu toggle that slides the panel in and out, so the layout stays usable at every screen width.

Aside targets modern evergreen browsers — current versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge — which is what Bootstrap 5 itself supports. Because the animations use IntersectionObserver and standard CSS, no polyfills are needed on up-to-date browsers. Internet Explorer is not supported.

No — Aside is a static front-end, so the contact form is markup only and its action points to a placeholder (#). To make it send, connect it to your own backend script or a hosted form service such as Formspree and set the form's action to that endpoint. The template does not include a CMS, database, or any payment processing.

The home and portfolio pages use a full-bleed masonry layout rebuilt with pure CSS columns, since Bootstrap 5 removed the old card-columns component. To show your own work, replace the demo image files in the images folder or update the src paths — each photo flows into the columns automatically and links through to the single-project page. There is no JavaScript masonry library to configure.

No. Reveal animations are driven by IntersectionObserver, which animates elements only as they scroll into view rather than running constantly, and each photo fades in the moment it finishes loading so the grid never flashes empty. The template also respects the prefers-reduced-motion setting, disabling the movement for visitors who ask their system to minimise animation.