I have searched for guides on how to use Boilerplate, and have found nothing to really help me out, so I apologize if this has been asked before. I was just wondering how I use Boilerplate? I am a WebDev newbie and I'm not even sure what it is honestly. Is it like Notepad++? I.E. something I can write HTML in? Or...?
A boilerplate is a bunch of files (HTML, CSS, JS libraries, configuration files, images, etc.) preconfigured to set a basic skeleton from which begin to customize and develop your own application (standalone or web).
Examples are HTML5 Boilerplate and jQuery Boilerplate
Usually these boilerplates have to be downloaded and unzipped into your development directory and customized.
Some projects (Yeoman for example) aims to automate the whole process giving you a development structure ready to be customized.
Customization can be done with your usual tools (Notepad, TextMate, Sublime Text, Emacs, Dreamweaver, etc.).
However, it requires a good knowledge of many aspects of development to reach a good customization level (since you'll have to tweak many things in your starting skeleton), so if you're a newbie, I suggest to start with something easier and gradually approach to it.