Opening a template on your computer

Unzip it and serve the folder over http rather than opening the file directly, or some pages will not load their styles correctly.

Unzip the folder first. Everything the template needs is inside it and the files expect to sit next to each other.

You can open index.html by double-clicking it, and for simple templates that works. It is not the reliable way, though: opening a file directly uses a file:// address, and some browser behaviour differs there, particularly if the folder path contains spaces.

The reliable way

Open a terminal in the unzipped folder and run:

python3 -m http.server 8000

Then visit http://localhost:8000 in your browser. Python is already installed on macOS and most Linux systems. This serves the folder the same way a real host will, so what you see is what visitors will get.

Press Ctrl and C in the terminal to stop it.

No build step

There is nothing to install, compile or configure. No npm, no bundler, no framework. The files in the zip are the files that go on your server.

Still stuck? Email [email protected] and say which template and what you expected to happen.