ratchet/docs/getting-started.html

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layout: default
title: Getting started · Ratchet
---

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    <div class="docs-sub-content">
      <h2 class="page-title">Getting started</h2>
      <p class="page-description">Once you've downloaded Ratchet, here's what to do next.</p>
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        <h2>Quick start</h2>
        <p class="lead">Quickly get up and running with a Ratchet app.</p>

        <h3>1. Create your pages</h3>
        <p>Use the <a href="/components" data-ignore="push">documentation</a> as a reference for all the available components and piece together the pages of your app. Be sure to look at the <a href="#pageLayout">basic page template</a> and <a href="/examples" data-ignore="push">example applications</a>. Make sure to add <code>ratchet-theme-ios.css</code> or <code>ratchet-theme-android.css</code> to your app's <code>&lt;head&gt;</code> if you have a specific platform in mind.</p>

        <h3>2. Connect pages with push.js</h3>
        <p>Read about <a href="/components/#push" data-ignore="push">push.js</a> then start connecting your pages. Push.js allows you to create a app that feels like a real app when you save it to your phone. Make sure that you have a server running, and that your browser is emulating touch events. <a href="https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/docs/mobile-emulation#emulate-touch-events" data-ignore="push">Check out this tutorial on emulating touch events in Chrome</a> (<a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Responsive_Design_View" data-ignore="push">or Firefox</a>) if you're not sure how to do that.</p>

        <h3>3. Save the app to your phone</h3>
        <p>There are <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/goratchet/IboE6SCMAyw" data-ignore="push">a few ways to do this</a>, but the simplest is to run a local server on your computer, point Safari on your iPhone to your computer, then click the <span class="icon icon-share"></span> button and "Add to Home Screen". For Android, check out <a href="https://developers.google.com/chrome/mobile/docs/installtohomescreen" data-ignore="push">this guide</a>.</p>
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      <div class="docs-section">
        <h2>What's included</h2>
        <p class="lead">Ratchet is downloadable in two forms, within which you'll find the following directories and files, logically grouping common resources and providing both compiled and minified variations.</p>

        <h3>Precompiled Ratchet</h3>
        <p>Once downloaded, unzip the compressed folder to see the structure of (the compiled) Ratchet. You'll see something like this:</p>
<!-- NOTE: This info is intentionally duplicated in the README.
Copy any changes made here over to the README too. -->
{% highlight bash %}
ratchet/
├── css/
│   ├── ratchet.css
│   ├── ratchet.min.css
│   ├── ratchet-theme-android.css
│   ├── ratchet-theme-android.min.css
│   ├── ratchet-theme-ios.css
│   └── ratchet-theme-ios.min.css
├── js/
│   ├── ratchet.js
│   └── ratchet.min.js
└── fonts/
    ├── ratchicons.eot
    ├── ratchicons.svg
    ├── ratchicons.ttf
    └── ratchicons.woff
{% endhighlight %}

        <p>This is the most basic form of Ratchet: precompiled files for quick drop-in usage in nearly any web project. We provide compiled CSS and JS (<code>ratchet.*</code>), as well as compiled and minified CSS and JS (<code>ratchet.min.*</code>). The Ratchicon fonts are included, as are the Android and iOS platform themes.</p>

        <h3>Ratchet source code</h3>
        <p>The Ratchet source code download includes the precompiled CSS, JavaScript, and font assets, along with source Sass, JavaScript, and documentation. More specifically, it includes the following and more:</p>
{% highlight bash %}
ratchet/
├── sass/
├── js/
├── fonts/
├── dist/
│   ├── css/
│   ├── js/
│   └── fonts/
└── docs/
    └── examples/
{% endhighlight %}

        <p>The <code>sass/</code>, <code>js/</code>, and <code>fonts/</code> are the source code for our CSS, JS, and icon fonts (respectively). The <code>dist/</code> folder includes everything listed in the precompiled download section above. The <code>docs/</code> folder includes the source code for our documentation, and <code>examples/</code> of Ratchet usage. Beyond that, any other included file provides support for packages, license information, and development.</p>
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      <div class="docs-section">
        <h2>Page setup</h2>
        <p class="lead">Three simple rules for structuring your Ratchet pages</p>
        <h3>1. Fixed bars come first</h3>
        <p>All fixed bars (<code>.bar</code>) should always be the first thing in the <code>&lt;body&gt;</code> of the page. This is really important!</p>

        <h3>2. Everything else goes in <code>.content</code></h3>
        <p>Anything that's not a <code>.bar</code> should be put in a div with the class <code>.content</code>. Put this div after the bars in the <code>&lt;body&gt;</code> tag. The <code>.content</code> div is what actually scrolls in a Ratchet prototype.</p>

        <h3>3. Don't forget your meta tags</h3>
        <p>They're included in the template.html page included in the download, but make sure they stay in the page. They are important for Ratchet to work just right.</p>
      </div>



      <div class="docs-section">
        <h2 id="pageLayout">Basic template</h2>
        <p class="lead">Use this basic template to get your app started.</p>
{% highlight html %}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>Ratchet template page</title>

    <!-- Sets initial viewport load and disables zooming  -->
    <meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1">

    <!-- Makes your prototype chrome-less once bookmarked to your phone's home screen -->
    <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
    <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black">

    <!-- Include the compiled Ratchet CSS -->
    <link href="ratchet.css" rel="stylesheet">

    <!-- Include the compiled Ratchet JS -->
    <script src="ratchet.js"></script>
  </head>
  <body>

    <!-- Make sure all your bars are the first things in your <body> -->
    <header class="bar bar-nav">
      <h1 class="title">Ratchet</h1>
    </header>

    <!-- Wrap all non-bar HTML in the .content div (this is actually what scrolls) -->
    <div class="content">
      <p class="content-padded">Thanks for downloading Ratchet. This is an example HTML page that's linked up to compiled Ratchet CSS and JS, has the proper meta tags and the HTML structure. Need some more help before you start filling this with your own content? Check out some Ratchet resources:</p>
      <div class="card">
        <ul class="table-view">
          <li class="table-view-cell">
            <a class="push-right" href="http://goratchet.com">
              <strong>Ratchet documentation</strong>
            </a>
          </li>
          <li class="table-view-cell">
            <a class="push-right" href="https://github.com/twbs/ratchet/">
              <strong>Ratchet on Github</strong>
            </a>
          </li>
          <li class="table-view-cell">
            <a class="push-right" href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/goratchet">
              <strong>Ratchet Google group</strong>
            </a>
          </li>
          <li class="table-view-cell">
            <a class="push-right" href="https://twitter.com/goratchet">
              <strong>Ratchet on Twitter</strong>
            </a>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </div>
    </div>

  </body>
</html>
{% endhighlight %}
      </div>



      <div class="docs-section">
        <h2>Community</h2>
        <p class="lead">Stay up to date on the development of Ratchet and reach out to the community with these helpful resources.</p>
        <ol>
          <li>
            <p>Read and subscribe to <a href="http://blog.getbootstrap.com/">The Official Bootstrap Blog</a> (which includes Ratchet releases and news).</p>
          </li>
          <li>
            <p>For help using Ratchet, ask on <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/ratchet-2">StackOverflow using the tag <code>ratchet-2</code></a>.</p>
          </li>
          <li>
            <p>Start a discussion on the <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/goratchet">Ratchet Google group</a>.</p>
          </li>
        </ol>
        <p>You can also follow <a href="https://twitter.com/goratchet">@goratchet</a> on Twitter for the latest news.</p>
      </div>

      <div class="docs-section">
        <h2>Browser and OS support</h2>
        <table class="browser-support-table">
          <thead>
            <tr>
              <th scope="col">OS</th>
              <th scope="col">Browser</th>
              <th scope="col" class="text-center">Supported?</th>
            </tr>
          </thead>
          <tbody>
            <tr>
              <td>Android (minimum version To Be Decided)</td>
              <td>Android stock Browser</td>
              <td class="text-center browser-support-yes"><span class="icon icon-check"></span></td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>Android (minimum version To Be Decided)</td>
              <td>Chrome</td>
              <td class="text-center browser-support-yes"><span class="icon icon-check"></span></td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>Android (minimum version To Be Decided)</td>
              <td>Firefox</td>
              <td class="text-center browser-support-maybe">To Be Decided</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>iOS v7.1+</td>
              <td>Safari</td>
              <td class="text-center browser-support-yes"><span class="icon icon-check"></span></td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>iOS v7.1+</td>
              <td>Chrome</td>
              <td class="text-center browser-support-maybe">To Be Decided</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>Windows Phone</td>
              <td>IE Mobile</td>
              <td class="text-center browser-support-maybe">To Be Decided</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>&mdash;</td>
              <td>Opera Mini</td>
              <td class="text-center browser-support-maybe">To Be Decided</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>&mdash;</td>
              <td>Opera Mobile</td>
              <td class="text-center browser-support-maybe">To Be Decided</td>
            </tr>
          </tbody>
        </table>
      </div>
    </div>

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