Website Templates - Who Benefits?
by Eric Lester
Published on this site: August 26th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
Some new to the world of website hosting may find it easy
to come across sites that offer the ultimate short cut to
a "professional" website. Usually this shortcut
will be a template. On screen the template will look great
with its images, placeholder text, and unbranded graphics.
The lure of the template for the novice user will be strong.
Most template sites hit all the right buzzwords, "free",
"customizable", "ready-to-use." Unfortunately,
to a novice, what they get when they take the bow off their
new package may make little to no sense at all. This article
will go over the common structure of templates and provide
some insight into what skills and programs are needed before
a template really can be considered "ready-to-use."
Basics- Text Editing
At a very basic level, template users will need a way to
edit the text content of a template. More likely than not
the new template will be brimming with paragraphs beginning
with "Lorem ipsum dolor" or similarly incoherent
gibberish. Replacing that with your business copy can be achieved
in a number of ways. Anything from a simple text editor like
Notepad in Windows to more advanced packages like FrontPage
or Dreamweaver can be used to edit the text. Using simple
editors like Notepad will require at least a rudimentary knowledge
of HTML, if only to know what to avoid changing in the template
while adding text. Advanced editors usually provide a more
"word processor-like" feel with graphical onscreen
display that attempts to mimic the output on the final product.
Your choice of design software is generally a personal one
and beyond the scope of this article. It is preferable to
have a basic familiarity with the chosen software before jumping
into template editing, as template HTML can be complex and
intimidating to the novice.
Graphics
Things only become more complicated beyond text. Your website
design software may allow you to change text and move graphics
and images around on the page, but it will not allow you to
modify the content of the graphics or images. In most cases
templates have graphical headers or graphics over images and
logos that will contain similar placeholder text. This kind
of "text" cannot be edited via Notepad or any other
web design software because it is actually an image. Virtually
every template package available today will come with large,
editable graphic files in a format called "PSD."
These are "PhotoShop Documents", and may only be
fully edited by the industry standard Adobe Photoshop program.
PhotoShop is the 500 pound gorilla of graphic design, it can
do just about anything with the humble pixel. This kind of
power comes with a high price tag, though. Coming in around
$500-$600 street price, that's just the first investment Photoshop
requires. The second is the time and effort to learn the effective
use of the program. Opening a template's PSD file will likely
result in a cascade of "layers" and "slices"
even an experienced Photoshop hand would take time to digest.
Few other options for editing the provided PSD files exist.
Only using the native program will allow full advantage to
be taken of the file's information. Some programs can open
PSD files but cannot edit them. Some may be able to import
the layers of a PSD file into their own native format for
editing. A freeware alternative is "the GIMP". GIMP
stands for "GNU Image Manipulation Program". The
GIMP can import and read PSD files, though it may have trouble
keeping text in an easily editable format. Other options are
Macromedia Fireworks and PaintShop Pro. Though cheaper than
Photoshop, Fireworks is still on the expensive side of the
spectrum. Coming in around $100, PaintShop Pro is a cheaper
alternative to Photoshop or Fireworks, but will also require
some time and effort be devoted to learning its capabilities.
Again, it's important to point out these programs will not
replace Photoshop as the ideal editor for the native PSD format.
They will likely not support advanced features of the original
PSD files and may not even be able to open some PSD files.
Flash
Similar to PSD files and Photoshop, templates that advertise
Flash elements also require their own editor. It is beyond
the scope of this article to discuss the wisdom of using Flash
in the first place, but as a general rule of thumb, keep Flash
use to minimum. Unless the template is for a complete Flash
site, it will likely contain a "non-Flash" version
of the template. Generally Flash is used for navigation and
headers in templates, so if don't wish to use the Flash elements,
check to see if there is a "non-Flash" version that
uses gif/jpeg graphics instead. Otherwise a Flash editor will
be required as well as some more time and effort to learn
the editor and Flash. Ironically, templates can be a useful
learning tool for Flash, since seeing how they are laid out
and scripted can provide an understanding of how the animations
work.
SEO/Structure
A final note on templates in general. Those willing to buy
the software, take the time to learn it, and use a template
should be aware that many templates are not "well coded."
For the most part this may not effect or even matter to the
template buyer. They will have a website and it will "work".
Anyone who is also attempting to optimize their site for search
engine placement, or who wants to make their site more efficient
and use less code, should pay attention to the structure of
the HTML files provided in the template. Many, though by no
means all, templates, use a "tables" based layout
that could be improved upon to make it more code efficient
and make search engine optimization easier.
Conclusions
Templates are "short cuts", but a short cut the
novice user may not wish to take. Most templates require a
particular, and generally expensive, set of tools to fully
customize. Prospective template shoppers may want to consider
hiring an outside design firm to actually do the work on their
selected website template. Some designers recommend this method,
as it provides a basic short-cut in terms of rudimentary layout
and design that can be invaluable. Pay attention to the template
site's terms of service, though, as many will require the
end user directly purchase the template and deliver it to
the designer themselves in lieu of the designers making the
purchase.
Eric Lester, Apollo Hosting, Inc. Mr. Lester has served
for 4 years as the webmaster for ApolloHosting.com, http://www.apollohosting.com,
and previously worked in the IT industry an additional 5 years,
acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and search engine
optimization. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce
hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range
of customers. Click for more hosting articles: http://articles.apollohosting.com/
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