Should I use premade website templates?
One of the great things about web designers is that they often build website templates and release them to the public for use. For the new web site owner these templates are often a great convenience. A template is basically a pre-designed web page, with colors, the layout, and often times images already coded into the pages and ready to use; all you need to do, at a minimum, is replace the default content with your own. The template can be used over and over to create additional pages for your web site. It is usually fairly simple to replace existing images with your own, and edit the content to suit your needs. Most templates are coded cleanly, and utilize onsite search engine optimization within the code.
There are hundreds of websites that offer templates, ranging from free to low cost to premium. Depending on the design you want, and your ability to edit HTML and CSS, you can literally find endless possibilities of templates to choose from. Not only are standard web site templates available, but you can also find templates for blogs and ecommerce systems as well, and these are usually fairly simple to set up on existing sites.
If you have a basic knowledge of HTML and CSS, and can edit or create your own graphics, it is possible to use a template and edit it so that you can recreate the look more to your liking. Most of the original designers of free templates stipulate that their credits (names and website links) remain within the site code or footer if you use their designs, so even if you alter a template, you should be considerate of this. It isn't much to ask in place of using a free template.
Most web site template sets can be downloaded in ZIP files, and are written with .html page extensions, so once you unzip the package, you should be able to see the pages on your PC with no problem. This may not be true for every template set you want to use; some templates for systems like PHPBB, OSCommerce, portals, CMS's, blogs and other dynamic packages often use different method of templating, so for those types of programs you need to ensure that the template was made specifically for that program, however for a standard type of website, these template packages should be fine. it should be noted that standard HTML templates can be edited to include dynamic languages, like PHP, to add more functionality to the site if needed.
Many sites that offer template downloads categorize their templates packages so that it is easier for you to find a template most suitable for your needs. Some older templates may use older HTML techniques, for example the use of HTML tables, which is not used as much in recent years. The prevailing trend is to avoid tables to structure the sites layout, and use CSS instead. While tables will still work, you may want to consider newer templates that follow todays coding practices and standards more closely. Many of the better templates sites will give you a large preview of how the template looks, the age of the template, types of code used (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.), and sometimes inform you if the included images ate Photoshop compatible for easier editing.
Following are the benefits and drawbacks of premade website templates.
- · Quickly set up a professionally designed website with your own content.
- · No knowledge of coding is needed, however some is required to edit layouts.
- · No designer/developer is needed, saving time and money.
- · Quality templates are available for free, and higher end packages are often reasonably priced.
- · Dynamic languages can be included for additional functionality.
- · Often coded for SEO and to meet current design standards.
- · Possibility your site won't be unique looking if templates are used and not edited.
- · Possibility of no support from the designer for free templates.
- · Older templates may not meet current coding standards and trends.
With the large number of sites devoted to offering template packages, this has become a very common way for new website owners to fairly quickly build their first web site with a minimal starting cost.