by Stephanie Ly

Created on: April 01, 2010   Last Updated: April 02, 2010

Using web templates have become increasingly popular over the last few years for more reasons than one. It allows the building of websites to be completed in a much more easier and efficient manner. Where website developers use to have to spend hours and hours writing out the HTML code building a website, today’s webmasters have luxury of software programs and editors as well as thousands of readymade web templates both free or at affordable prices. However, are web templates a good web design shortcut for webmasters or do they cause more problems. Here are some common mistakes to avoid and how to use web templates properly.

One of the main problems with using web templates is the lack of uniqueness. Most people tend to choose a template that is already very popular. This is not a problem if you know some basic HTML and can change some parts of the template to make it more distinctive and unique. Unfortunately, many new website owners lack the HTML knowledge to do this and as a result their website resembles a copycat. A consequent to this is a lack of credibility and trust from your visitors and potential customers.

The second problem with website templates is evident when website owners who have learnt a bit of HTML and programming go to customise their website, but go overboard. People usually use templates for 2 reasons. It saves them time and it saves them effort. Unfortunately, some people can spend more time and effort customising their chosen template to look so different that they end up with a completely different looking website. Thus, the time wasted in choosing a nice web template and then editing that template cannot be justified. The time would be better used working on the development of your website from scratch instead of trying to iron out the parts you don’t like in an existing template.

Customisation of web templates may also raise other issues that can be time consuming and frustrating. One of these is the flexibility to change the layout. Most of the graphics that come with the template have set dimensions and look good they way they are. Often if you try to increase or decrease the size of the image, you may cause the template to change its looks completely. Not only does this put restrictions on your site if you wanted wider text are or wider image areas, but in some cases if you are not experienced with style sheet layouts and HTML, you mind end up doing more damage and wasting more time fixing up the errors.

Overall, using web templates does have many advantages and act as a shortcut for your web design process, but only if you know to avoid the common mistakes. Best advice is to try and use a template that is not too popular. There are a two ways you can do this. One is to buy a template instead of using a free template or two is to buy a premium template that is only sold to one or a handful of website owners.  If you know some HTML up your sleeve then you can still choose a popular template but you may want to change the template just slightly to make it more unique than the original one. Changing the logo, title, images and basic layout would be sufficient enough for a unique look and not too time consuming.

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