There are a variety of things to consider when you are selecting a template to begin your
website project:
Do you want:
the page width to fill the browser?
to grab the visitors’ attention with color?
to put the visitor in a specific mood (relaxed, trusting, excited, etc.)?
your visitor to want to read your information?
your visitor to reach for his credit card?
What do you want your website to actually do for you?
Do you need:
an Opt-In Email List?
an autoresponder or manual bulk e-mailer?
to restrict pages to members only?
a way to display lots of images?
a place to just rant to the world?
a catalogue of products for sale?
a way to collect money in exchange for those products?
The web site designers point of view
If you try hard enough, you can probably come up with some funky
style for a page with for example, a new wacky navigational menu.
The problem is that everybody expects to see a web page layout
follow certain basic rules; navigation sections have to be arranged
in a certain way, links have to look a certain way ... being
consistent makes the web site more usable and easier for the
visitor to use.
No worries, you can still be original within the context of a
template; people do it all the time. The web site template serves
as the framework for designers, where it eliminates the grueling
structural work and frees you to develop the subtlety of the web
site’s style.
With so many web site templates to choose from these days, you
are almost guaranteed to find the basic style and layout you are
looking for. You can then build off of that, speeding up the
process - makes good sense for you and your clients!
The business point of view
Web site templates save you time and money; the production cycle
of a web site project is at least cut in half when you use a web
site template. Another advantage of using templates is that you
can show the web site designers what you want rather than trying
to describe it to them. The reverse is also true where the designer
can show the client several templates that he/she can choose
from - this in of itself will always be a great tool!
I have also found over the years that most people don't really
know what they want until they actually see it. Templates allows
the business owner to identify what they really want in a web
site and actually buy it right there and then. They can hand the
template off to the web designer for the personalized touches.
Even the great artists develop a ‘template’ of their own
This is just a side note, but it may be worth considering:
An artist typically becomes known for their style, this style is
consistently applied in their work and it defines their careers.
Picasso is one such artist; if you look at any of his paintings,
you can clearly see that it's a Picasso.
Other examples are found in the music of the Beatles and the
Rolling Stones; you may have never heard a particular song,
but their styles are so well defined you instantly know whose
song it is.
An artist's style is really just a template of what works for
them. In a sense, an accomplished artist creates his or her
own design template and then applies it to their work.
