Website Templates: are they right for you?

If you are novice at website development or even a seasoned expert, a website template can save you hundreds of hours of creative design, not to mention the thousands of dollars to hire a web designer for the task.

But is a website template for everyone?

Depending on the website template you choose and the requirements behind the website being created, this answer can vary considerably. This article will discuss the benefits and also some of the problems you may encounter if using a website template for the basis of your website design.

Unless you have some knowledge of a design application such as Adobe Photoshop, the most you can do with a website template is modify the text within the template. This can be straigh,t forward using a standard text editor or you can use other applications such as Microsoft FrontPage, Macromedia Dreamweaver or any other WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web page editor.

If you need to modify the template graphics then you will need to have some knowledge of a graphics application such as Adobe Photoshop. This can be an expensive option for the novice; a great alternative is to seek website templates which can be edited online through a website browser. This option can save you a considerable amount of time as it eliminates the learning curve associated with using a graphics package or website editor. Site Studio is one package which is offered by a lot of hosting providers, it is a great way for the novice to create a website using the website templates provided by Site Studio. The best thing of all is that it can all be done online and doesn't require extensive knowledge in web design. The only drawback of this approach is that you are limited to the templates which are provided by Site Studio.

Other online website editors have an extensive range of templates to choose from, these are not usually provided by a web hosting company but if you are after a premium website template, that you can author online, you should seek out sites which allow this option. However, most do have a small charge associated with both the purchase of the website template and also utilizing the resources to modify the website template.

For the seasoned website developer or someone with sufficient knowledge to use a comprehensive graphics package such as Adobe Photoshop or Website editing package such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, Website Templates can save you hundreds of hours of work. Most premium website templates come as complete websites with the supporting raw image files provided so that you can easily make modifications to the graphics for the site. Premium website templates which incorporate flash should come with the base flash file which can be edited using Macromedia Flash or an equivalent flash editor.

By having a complete base website, it is quite easy to add additional web pages based on any of the current pages provided in the website template. The graphics can also be easily modified to suit. All decisions on color layouts and flow of the website have also been taken into consideration so it makes the development of the new website a whole lot easier. Before choosing a website template, ensure that all the colors, fonts and associated graphics have been carefully integrated to provide an aesthetically pleasing website, with a premium ,website template this is usually the case as these have been developed by professional designers.

One thing to note is that you do not always get exclusive rights to the website template unless you pay for it, and in most cases there can be quite a large difference between the non-unique price and the unique price. Some website Template providers do not offer exclusive rights to their website templates; therefore you may be sharing the same website design with several other websites. Using a bit of creativity, this should not be too much of an issue as you can modify the graphics to give the website your own unique look and feel.

In Conclusion a website template can save you time and money, it allows you to create a fully functional site in days compared to weeks or even months when you create the site from scratch. Premium website templates should provide all the resources to allow you to quickly and easily modify the website template to suit your requirements. If you are just starting out with website creation it is recommended to try creating your website using online tools such as Site Studio and its range of website templates. You can even try an online website builder provided by some Website Template sites. There is a huge learning curve when you first start out but the results are rewarding once you have created your first site. For someone with experience developing websites, you can save on the huge costs of website design, and with a little bit of creativity you can easily modify the website template with its own unique look and feel.

Depending on your budget and your experience a Website Template can be a fast and effective approach to getting a website online.