Just looking into the the purpose of the exercise, I wonder if we are suppose to adjust a template or create a whole new page from scratch with the help of bootstrap components?
For the Tribute page its pretty clear, that we should do everything from page blank, but even the codepen example for Portfolio page builder shows a template from Start Bootstrap, which I can just kind of copy and then adjust.
Did you guys created a page from scratch or did you use any template?
instruction number 10. from the “Build a Personal Portfolio Page” challenge:
There are many great portfolio templates out there, but for this challenge, you’ll need to build a portfolio page yourself. Using Bootstrap will make this much easier for you.
Got it, somehow I missed this 
again, the example codepen confused me a bit.
No worries. It’s good practice.
Sorry but still isn’t very clear to me, should we use bootstrap then or just do it from stratch?
We should use bootstrap, but there are a lot of templates related to bootstrap like this one: http://blackrockdigital.github.io/startbootstrap-freelancer/
The example from the Zipline is completely based off this template => https://codepen.io/FreeCodeCamp/full/YqLyXB/
Therefore I assumed we can use the template code to adjust it in accordance to us and add more elements if needed. However it seems like this is exactly what we are not suppose to do. The problem though is, that coming from the tribute page I have no clue where to start for instance with navbar scrolling to landmarks, thus googling a lot and doing it from scratch.
@QuincyLarson if this is indeed the case, you might consider changing the sample pen again to remove any confusion.
Not everyone used a template to start from. You don’t have to. I did my site from scratch.
“If you photocopy a crossword puzzle, what have you learned?” - projecteuler
Use bootstrap and font-awesome is better if one is learning first e.g tribute page; my opinion
And then popular libraries for more if required such as materializecss for say the parallax effect e.g portfolio page; Just my personal preference.
My understanding is that is what you are supposed to do according to the rules of the zipline. And it makes perfect sense from a learning perspective. But I can absolutely see how that could get muddied if the sample pen was made using a template and not from scratch
And what rule is being violated by doing it from scratch? It doesn’t say you have to use Bootstrap or any library/framework. It simply says that you CAN.
There is no “right” or “wrong” way here, besides not just completely copying someone else’s code and calling it yours. You just have to meet the user story requirements. It really isn’t all that complicated.
I think you misunderstood the question a bit. It is not about copy paste code, rather than:
The example CodePen in the Zipline - which uses some components of a template from StartBootstrap
The purpose of this exercise
I will give you an example, after some googling how to make a scrolling navbar to the page sections I found a code component which is part of the framework. Now the question is - are we suppose to learn how to write these components from scratch using CSS / jQuerry / JS or can we actually use parts of code from somewhere else in order to not re-invent the wheel.
Overall not an issue, just was trying to figure out the opinion of others and how they have built their page.
You misunderstand me. Absolutely no rule is being violated by doing it from scratch. In fact you are probably getting the most you can out of the project by doing it that way! 
The issue is that, as I mentioned above, the instructions for the zipline expressly direct you to not use a template. And this was a source of confusion for the OP because, as he mentioned above, the sample pen seems to have been based on a template.
I believe you may use components, they just don’t want you using a template.
Exactly 
No harm done, again - it was more about opinions how you guys did it. Thank you!
I see what you mean about the template thing on the instructions page. That can cause confusion when you see the example, since it clearly used a template from a site (I’ve actually seen that template). I’ll bring it up on Github issues.
Actually, I was thinking about a previous example they used, which used a template. That one seems to have been replaced. I can’t tell whether the current one, https://codepen.io/FreeCodeCamp/full/YqLyXB/, is using a template, or if it’s just custom work with Bootstrap. Does anyone know?
I just checked it out. here is a template: http://blackrockdigital.github.io/startbootstrap-freelancer/
compare the source. There is no denying it is certainly from a template.