Web Template Design

25 Questions to Ask a Web Template Designer

This article is the third in a series where we will discuss common myths about shopping for a web site template. We felt that consumers should be aware of what to look for in a quality design that encompasses everything from metas right down to copyright footers. Naturally, we would love for our visitors to purchase our templates, but the long-term goal of this series is to educate consumers about what templates are, what they should provide the end-user, and what to be wary of when shopping.

If you have not read our first article, " How to Spot a Good Web Template Design " , you may want to read it first. Then take a natural progression onto our second article, " Multi-Page Template Packages: Do you Really Need Them? "

So let's get right to the top 25 questions you should ask your web template designer *before* you make your purchase. Ready for an eye opener?

1. Do they have more than five years of web design experience?
2. Do they have more than five years of "web" graphic design experience?
3. Have they personally designed more than 1000 templates utilizing *external* CSS and not redundant HTML, inline or internal CSS code?
4. Have they personally designed more than 100 fully functional web sites for clients?
5. Have they been personally designing "web site templates" for more than five years?
6. Is web template design their core competency and commodity?
7. Do they have Fortune 500 customers or members?
8. Are they the actual designers (not a third party reseller)?
9. Can they offer timely service after the sale?
10. Do they have in-depth web design industry knowledge (beyond HTML)?
11. Do they keep up with all the latest technologies in web design (not just graphic design)?
12. Do they offer *free* customer support?
13. Do they keep all customers, members and other personal data private?
14. Do they offer user friendly navigation of all their templates for visitors, customers and members?
15. Do they publicly publish their prices upfront (instead of hiding them at the bottom of the page or is it not visible until after you hit the buy button)?
16. Are their designs diversified for a wide audience range?
17. Are their web template designs fast loading, effective and functional for the majority of web site requirements?
18. Are their prices affordable, realistic and fair for all parties involved (for a non-tangible product)?
19. Are their web templates designed to be compatible with most HTML editors?
20. Are their web templates strategically designed to easily aid the end user?
21. Do they include original PSD files or offer them for sale as an add-on at a discount price?
22. Are they open to helping their customers and members further develop their own design skills by offering tutorials, how-to's and other helpful resources.
23. Do they offer *affordable* customization services?
24. Do they provide their customers and members multiple ways to supplement their income through affiliate, partners or other type programs?
25. If they say yes to these questions, can they prove it?

If you ask BasicTemplates.com , the answers are all YES and we can prove it!

My guess would be that you never realized there was so much involved in selecting a web template from a qualified designer. For some site owners, it may not be that important. It really depends on your site objective or your target audience. However, the majority of sites online today who are serious about their online ventures, do require a level of professionalism to be successful. Competition is tough out there and if you use a poorly designed web template, it could seriously effect your traffic, sales and reputation. But that certainly does not mean you have to shell out large amounts of cash for an overpriced product either. Since May 2002, there has been another option: BasicTemplates.com, Web Site Templates with External CSS via a Membership or only $5.00 USD per Template

If BasicTemplates.com does not have what you are looking for in their 600+ design layout selection, let us know. We will put you in touch with experienced web template designers who can provide you with quality website templates so you can design your site properly the first time, affordably and effectively.

Site Navigation in Web Templates Design

The #1 Most Overlooked Element:

When determining the utilization of links within your web site's template, don't forget to include a "Home" button or link. As simple as it may sound, it is the most overlooked element. Your web template (or variations of it), should be used on every page of your site. This gives your site an overall consistent appearance so that your visitors have no doubt that they are still at your site. Remember that the web template you may have purchased or that you may be shopping for, must have the ability for your site visitors' to find your home page from any page within your site. Your visitors will not always find your site through your homepage and even if they do, they may want to go back to that page eventually.

Static vs. Dynamic Navigation:

Effective site navigation is critical for the success of any web site no matter how large or how small. As your site grows, changes to your navigational system may be needed to keep information flowing smoothly to your site visitors from any page they may access or find your site through. For very large sites, you may opt to include dynamic drop-down menus within your template. However, keep in mind who your main site visitors will be. If your visitors have scripting disabled on their systems or are using older browsers, and you have no other form of navigation available to them, they will not be able to navigate your site.

Textual Links vs. Graphical Link Buttons/Image Maps:

The same is true if your only form of navigation is through image maps and/or graphical buttons. If your site visitors have graphics disabled on their systems (and many folks surf this way to speed up page load), they will not be able to quickly find the link they need. They could become completely lost and frustrated if you do not use alt tags for your images AND hide the link path with a status bar message! You might as well kiss your visitors good-bye if you use a "no-right-click" script on these pages too. Not only can they not find the link path by visually seeing it on mouseover, but you have further frustrated them by a "Sorry, you don't have permission ... " popup box when all they really wanted was the direct link path to a page of information on your site.

Moral of the Story:

So what is the best form of navigation? The best form of site navigation is generally a combination and always includes textual links as one of those within the combination. For example, when we design a web template we consider what navigational elements we will be using. If we are using an image map with hot spots, we always include a textual navigational bar.

Stategic Planning:

Professional template designers take into consideration that most of their customers will not be obviously aware of this critical factor as well as other important design plans. At BasicTemplates.com we strategically design our templates for an effective site layout and do not take for granted that the end user already has this knowledge. It takes planning to build an effective web template that is resourceful to the end user. We could design some awesome eye-appealing web templates that could easily have the knock-your-socks-off effect on your site visitors, but if it is not realistically functional for site navigation, we would not dream of offering it to our customers.

When shopping for the best web template for your site or your clients' sites, think about how the site will be structured. Will you have sections within subdirectories? If the website will be small, you may not need subdirectories. If you know it will grow, then you might want to plan ahead and structure it so that it will be organized in a fashion to accommodate the growth. Always be sure the most critical links are accessible on every page. But do not subject your visitors to link overkill either. Too many links can be confusing and overwhelming.

If you have a web template with a planned out site structure, and you want a professional opinion as to whether it will be effective for your needs, contact us. We would be happy to help you. That is what BasicTemplates is all about: "helping web designers build affordable and effective sites for their clients"

Cookie-Cutter Layout Web Templates Design

What exactly is a cookie-cutter layout? If you have been designing websites for any length of time, you have likely run into this terminology. In most cases it is a term used to describe predesigned web templates. Generally, the person using this terminology is promoting their own product or service and is trying to sway your intuitive logic toward a mind-set that will benefit them even when it isn't to your advantage. What do I mean?

If you are up for a challenge, I'll give you one that will blow the lid off the cookie jar in regard to the term "cookie-cutter" layouts. Hey, someone has to tell the truth, so why not us?

Are you ready? Go to any web page on any web site. If you want to stir the cookie-batter bowl a bit, go to a web page created by someone who discourages the use of cookie-cutter designs and save the page to your hard drive. [ File > Save As ]

Now open this page into your HTML editor and strip it clean of all graphics, css, Javascript, etc.

What's left? Well, if you said HTML code, you would be right. Web page layouts are in fact just HTML code. They are the structure of your web page's design. Everything else within a web page is simply cosmetic (graphics/css) or interactivity functions (scripts). The truth is that regardless of whether you use a predesigned web template or develop your own design from scratch, there are only so many ways to effectively layout your web page's structure, no matter how you slice or dice it.

Try this challenge on a dozen or so websites and you will find that you are left with mostly HTML tables that may or may not be nested and all of them are very similar.

So are your ready for the truth? The truth is that ALL web sites' layouts are indeed cookie-cutter (if you want to use that terminology) regardless of whether you start with a web template or create your own website from scratch. But then your intuitive logic already told you that, right? You also likely saw through the transparent marketing technique of those who tout against the use of web templates.

If you try this challenge and you are not left with pure HTML code, then the structure of the web site you analyzed is likely not effective for a diverse group of traffic. An example would be a site that was designed with pure CSS. For more information about pure CSS, read our article, " Should you Use CSS-P (Table-Less Layouts) on Your Web Site? " .

If you didn't know this, don't fret. Now you know the truth and as Paul Harvey would say, "... the rest of the story." So now what? As a web designer or a webmaster, you really only have three logical choices.

1. You can develop your own HTML layouts with graphics and spend many hours doing it.

2. You can purchase web templates that are basic (BasicTemplates.com) and which were built correctly with External Cascading Style Sheets and which many have the ability to swap out graphics, if you wish. This saves you tons of time which in turn saves you money. BasicTemplates designs can merely be a time-saving starting point or your site's entire, final design.

3. You can purchase web templates that box you in to using one design layout at a high-end price. What do I mean? BasicTemplates.com is currently the ONLY web template design site that provides designs utilizing external CSS and swap-out capabilities. These concepts quickly enable you to change your website's cosmetics (colors/fonts/graphics/etc) within seconds to change your site's theme or appearance at either no additional cost to you or for a small fee (if you purchase our graphics packages). BasicTemplates were strategically designed in this manner from the first day we developed our designs. Therefore, we were thinking outside of the design box and giving YOU the design freedom you deserve at a fee affordable to everyone regardless of your country of origin.

Is this article just another marketing sales pitch? Yes and no. Yes, because we are only once again explaining the sheer advantage of using a BasicTemplates.com design which could be defined by the perspective of some folks as a marketing tactic. No, because intuitively you already knew that the "cookie-cutter" terminology you may have read about defies web technology logic.

I'll leave you then with one final, entertaining thought. ;)

"Use a BasicTemplates.com design to step outside of that narrow design box. Then sweep those cookie crumbs into the recycle bin where all crumbs really belong."