Use
A Web Site Template?
Make It Original!!
©
John Dow
A lot webmasters go for the
ease and speed of using a web site template of some type to
get a fast start. And a web site design template, whether
you buy it or make it can be a big time saver. But you also
always want to make sure that you customize each one enough
to stand out from the original.
Especially when you use a professional template bought
through the Internet. There are a lot of good designs out
there that can fit multiple subject areas. The color and
design are well thought out and have a lot of visual appeal.
Even if you use a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get)
editor like FrontPage, a custom web site template can speed
development.
One of the toughest things in creating a web site is to get
a good clean design that has good navigation and attractive
color schemes. And you don’t want to make any changes that
have a negative impact on the user experience. Always keep
user navigation in mind.
One of the must haves in any good design is for the user to
easily find the information they want fast. Whether it’s
details on your product and service or even how to buy, make
it as simple and easy as you can for the customer. Many
times I tone down the design by removing some illustrations
or graphics that aren’t necessary.
I’m not particularly sold on things that make noise (audio
is meant to be used sparingly and totally at the users
discretion). There’s nothing more irritating to someone in
a quiet environment (like an office cubicle or library) when
they visit your web site than loud music or weird noises.
Many times I may like one particular element of the web site
template and just use that for my current project. For
example, a menu design, color combination, or maybe a
specific layout. Your content should be the focus, not your
design. Most web sites are designed to inform, sell, or
communicate with the user.
If you look at the major web sites like Yahoo, Amazon, and
Google they all have a very clean and easy to navigate
layout and design. No fancy graphics, noises, or special
effects like Flash. Now if you are designing a web site for
a Multi-Media company, then it might be appropriate but
other wise stick to the basics.
You can also use templates to help you come up with new
ideas that fit a special design requirement. Position and
layout are key factors in keeping the user interested and
can help with the flow of information. You normally have
about 5 seconds or less to engage the visitor so it’s
necessary to grab their attention fast.
So your web site content should be the first thing a user
sees, not some twirling illustration. And if you are
selling, the headline is the element that will keep the
visitor reading, not your design. Graphics are great to
illustrate a point, establish a brand, or provide a visual
of your product. But if over used, they can destract from
your message.
If you want to see how a typical visitor views your website,
check out the Google Adsense Heat Map. It shows the natural
travel of any visitors eyes and where they often look first,
second, and third. The heat map was developed to help
Adsense users but the same principal applies to all
information displayed. If you keep that in mind while
designing the layout, you can increase the visibility of
important elements of your message.
You can learn more about the Google Heat Map here:
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=17954
It’s also a good idea to change all the names of any
graphics used from a template. There are two reasons, one is
it’s a good SEO (search engine optimization) tactic to
keep names within subject matter and use alt text feature
too, and plus this also keeps your website looking like a
duplicate to the search engine bots that review all web
sites.
A good set of website templates can help both with design
ideas and speed up the development process. And this can
help you give a client a better product in less time. Always
try and add some changes and don’t copy a website template
exactly. Make enough changes to any website template to keep
it original and insure that the content is the focus point.
You can see the best collection of website templates here: HTML
Website Templates
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