Framework (bootstrap) or start from scratch?

I'd say it would be smart for you to learn something like Bootstrap. It will be fast for you to get started & you will have the support of a huge community fixing bugs and browser related issues. You won't have to spend time creating different modules (dialogs, menus, etc) that work across devices and browsers.

Don't forget, just because you use a framework doesn't mean you are stuck with those styles only. You could always add your code on top of it to change styles. For ease of use, setup & maintainability for a hobby, it seems like a good choice.

I didn't know much about frameworks when I first started doing web development, so naturally I started learning the language. I think this is the better approach. Of course, it depends on what you want to achieve: If you only need a website you can quickly put up on the web, start with a framework. You can customize it to distinguish it. If you want to learn the language for the sake of learning and understanding, then I would say start with the language. I think that's more valuable. It's fun to know and understand even though you don't think you will be working with it full-time.

Hey Ross, in my opinion starting from scratch offers you more flexibility and gives you the opportunity to bend a framework much more to your will. Some understanding of the development languages, even if it's pretty high-level will help you tons in the long run.

I think when you are starting out you shouldn't make anything in a framework you can't make yourself by hand. Once you get to that skill level if you want to throw up a one-off site for fun, that's what a framework was made to do.

What I did once I got a good understanding of HTML and CSS from here was start off using Bootstrap as you can see really cool features and inspect how they work by curiosity and exploration then you can build your understanding of how this stuff all works, then as a side project I started to create my own framework here my aim was for it to be used for fast prototyping new sites where I could use the SASS variables to create a color brand to elements a container size i define and column count, then it generates the grids for you using em's. I found that trying to do that gave me a better understanding at what goes into a framework and useful shortcuts like having classes generated for buttons, styles and various other things.

So I would go framework(s) first then look at designing a project from scratch just to throw yourself in there and Google your head off. The feeling you get when you get something working is worth the stress of doing it. I also had this feeling with a jQuery plug in i made to pull JSON data from your treehouse account and build charts to show where your points are earned, it was hard with a limited understanding of javascript see it here.

My advice is get a good understanding on here while just exploring with different things, also pick other peoples projects look at the code and try to imagine what the page will look like then check.

Since your doing this for hobby reasons I say go with a framework as it will allow you do lots of cool things and if you really want you can jump in to its code at any time to see how its done and modify things. In away allowing you to hit the ground running.