In this article I’ll try to briefly explain website templates in layman’s terms. The reason for the article is two-fold. First I happen to get a lot of visitors to my website who are looking for information or resources that might help them build their own website, so this will help them understand what a website template is, (or is not), and how to use a website template. Second, since I build websites from templates, it helps my clients understand how I use website templates to build a website.
Website Templates
What website templates are: I’m not sure if there is an actual definition for website template. The term website template is used rather loosely in my opinion and to make matters worse, there are definitions for website template, or rather explanations of what a website template is, which are actually more deceptive than anything else. For example I found a wikipedia article that attempts to give a definition for website template:
A web template is a tool used to separate content from presentation in web design, and for mass-production of web documents. It is a basic component of a web template system. Web templates can be used to set up any type of website. In its simplest sense, a web template operates similarly to a form letter for use in setting up a website.
The above definition for website template is inaccurate in my opinion, because while a website template is a tool used for producing web documents, it does not necessarily “separate content from design”, because the design and content of a site are most often integral. Its not limited to mass production of web documents either, because a website template can and should be setup for every website, regardless of the site being two pages or 2 million pages. Really the only thing remotely accurate about this definition is that web templates can be used to setup any type of website. The last part of the definition which would lead someone to believe that a website template operates like a form letter is completely wrong however, because they certainly do not. As a matter of fact, this is most likely the biggest source of confusion for do it yourself website builders.
I will try to explain what a website template is so that my readers can get a better understanding of it:
A website template is actually just a website. Its an electronic document made to be visible on the World Wide Web. Its written in code called “html” which stands for hyper text markup language. A company or designer who produces the website template is producing something which looks and feels just like a website, because it is a website. The only difference between a website template and a website is that the website template it typically populated with generic text that reads something like “Lorem Ispum, blah, blah, blah” and it has stock photography and artwork instead of photos, logos and artwork that are made for a specific company or business. Many of the links on a website template don’t link to anything either. Aside from that, you can upload a website template to a web hosting server and it will look and feel like a website.
How to use a website template
In essence, a website template can be used “as-is”, or only used as the skeleton or layout for a website. This latter method is how I use website templates. Selecting a website template to use for website project is a matter of finding a template that best suits the design goals of the project in terms of the layout and general aesthetics. Other than that, the website template will most likely need to be customized for the web project. Sometimes there is very little customization, other times a great deal of it. From the width of the template to the graphics, photos and color scheme used in it, many aspects of it will most likely be changed. Page names and navigation also obviously change. For example, by the time a web designer gets done with the website template customization, you may not even recognize it as the website template that was originally selected for the design.
Example of Website Template Customization
To provide a better visual idea of how website templates can be customized to suit a particular design goal, look at the following websites which all look markedly different, yet are all based on the same website template, (actually the same template that is shown on the top of this article).
Creating web pages from a website template
Perhaps the most confusing part of all for a non-designer, is figuring out that the template they just downloaded can’t simply be used as the generic definition of website template suggests… Like a form letter or like you just somehow open some program, fill in fields and then publish the whole thing to the web. There is a whole bunch more to it than that and here is why:
To open and customize a website template, you need software to do it. You’ll need a website design software, which allows you to see both the html code as well as the design view. For example, I use Macromedia Dreamweaver 8.0. With the website design software, you will create editable regions, or designate certain areas of the website as something which can be altered, like a certain area of text or a photo. The web design software will also enable you to convert the template design into an actual template that you can apply to the various pages within a website. In other words, after the template is customized, it has to be “saved as” a template, so that brand new pages can be made based on the template design.
The web design software will most often also have a built in file transfer device so you can connect to your web hosting server and upload the files. The web design software also allows you to make changes and updates to the website and synchronize the local version with the remote version of the website.
Customizing a Website Template Using Graphics, Images and Photographs…
You’ll also need graphics software to work with the artwork, graphics and photos in a website template or on the individual new pages created from the website template design. For example, I use Macromedia Fireworks to produce and modify graphic images. I used my graphics program to create the images you see throughout this website and in this article as well.
Defining a Website As A Website… Directories and Publicly Accessible Pages…
So far, you’ve learned that a website template is actually just a website that someone made which contains generic information. In order to be used, the template must be customized and then saved as a template, allowing the web designer to create new pages built on that template’s design. While this is all necessary, by no means does it result in a website – the way most people envision a website, which is a group of web pages that all share the same design look and feel and link to each other with a “home page”, “about us page”, etc.
In order to create a website, a web designer uses their website editing and designing software to “define” a directory and all the cohesive web pages contained in that directory which make up the “website”. Then, the web pages and all the various image files that make up that website are transferred to a web hosting server where they are publicly accessible and can be visited when someone types in or clicks on the URL or domain name of the website.
Where to find a website template
There are literally 1000′s pf places online to find website templates. The main thing that needs to be considered is what type of website template you’ll need, (For example, in most cases I employ transitional html, CSS based templates). There are also website templates for Flash Websites, Joomla Websites, WordPress Websites, etc. The other thing you’ll have to consider is how much you’re willing to spend on a website template. There are free website templates and premium website templates. The free website templates are – well – FREE. In some cases they are pretty decent and in other cases they are junk. Premium website templates might be great or just as crummy as a free template, the exception is that you are paying for the right to use that template design with what’s referred to as a user license. Premium templates typically come with some level of technical support in case there is something wrong with the template. They won’t tutor you on how to use a website template of course, but they will offer a fresh download or an updated version of the template if something is technically wrong with it. Expect to pay $50 – $150 for a single use license for a premium website template. There are also companies and freelancers who offer templates you can buy the copyright to, (this means that you can literally purchase the template design and they don’t resell it to others). Expect to pay $2000 – $3000 for the copyright. Lastly, there are also designers who will design a website template for you. Expect to pay $2000 – $5000 for a custom designed website template from a freelancer.
Website Template Based Editors and WYSIWYG website builders
As one last note, I’ll mention that this article focuses on website templates as they are most often used; a pre-designed website that can be customized, modified and used to create a website. To add to this dizzying array of choices and information surrounding traditional website templates, its important to note that there are also website template based editors and template based WYSIWYG, (what you see is what you get), web builder softwares. Some examples of this would be Intuit’s homestead websites, GoDaddy Website Tonight websites, Netfusion Websites, Yahoo Websites and there are more… Lots more. There are also “theme” based websites, such as WordPress websites. The template based editors are primarily focused on the do it yourself market and I don’t recommend them for commercial use, although they can be used this way if you’re willing to put up with the pros and cons of template based editors. In the future, perhaps I will dedicate an article to the template based website builders.
I hope that this article on website templates provides you with some answers to questions you may have had.
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