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In today’s digital-first environment, businesses must establish a strong online presence not just to compete but to thrive. The choice of the right web development tool is crucial, as it directly impacts the functionality and aesthetic appeal of a website.
For business owners having made the decision to build a website it makes sense to undertake some research to familiarise your self with the subject before you start.
To the uninitiated it could easily be seen as a daunting task because there are not only a vast number of website builder programmes available on the market most require a level of competence and expertise to use the programmes.
So what are your options;
Start from scratch and use a blank canvas
Use a free pre-designed website template
Buy a bespoke industry specific web design
What is a blank canvas?
Basically a blank canvas is a minimalist layout theme, designed for single-page websites. Its single post and page layouts have no or a base header and footer, navigation menus, or widgets, so the page you design in the editor is the same page you'll see on the front end.
What is a website template?
Website templates provide pre-designed layouts and elements. Thus, eliminating the need to build a site from scratch and the steep learning curve associated with web design. You get a functional and visually appealing site up and running in a fraction of the time needed to custom design every aspect.
Understanding how to choose a website template that's right for you is an important step in getting your site up and running. Selecting the right website template can make a big difference in the overall look and feel of your site, as well as its functionality and usability.
Website templates serve as a blueprint for website creation, outlining the structure, design elements, and functionalities. With this pre-defined structure in place, this significantly speeds up the development process and provides design and fulfilment teams with a head start when designing individual sites.
When you choose a Website template, you essentially acquire a pre-built website framework. This template, whether free or premium (for which you'll need to pay), is added to your website designer programme dashboard as a completely new site. This new site includes all the template's pre-designed pages, layout elements, and styling, providing a solid starting point for your web project.
Starting your project with a well designed website template from reputable companies like Wix, Squarespace and Webflow etc you will not only find it easier to figure out how to design a website you will be using the structure and layout that will meet web design standards acceptable to search engines like Google. Template offerings crafted by these companies have set goals,
Attract customers to their ranks
Ensure standards are maintained.
It's important to note that while many templates are available for free, some may require you to subscribe to a paid site plan before unlocking access to all of their features. These paid plans vary in terms of pricing and capabilities, so it's essential to do your research and choose one that aligns with your project's needs and budget.
Template benefits:
Offer stunning designs
Allow wide-ranging flexibility for customization
Provide a smooth and intuitive user experience for website visitors
With these in mind, they set out to create the next generation of website templates with some of the best website designs out there. They address a broad scope of website genres and industry fields. While these templates are highly customisable and adjustable and can be edited to fit a large variety of purposes they still require a web designers input with a basic knowledge of how to use the design platform to truly reflect the nature of any given business activity.
Template shortcomings:
Unless you are conversant with the basics of using web design platforms customising templates could become a real challenge which could lead you to becoming extremely frustrated and questioning your decision to use a template. There are many other factors worthy of consideration namely disrupting the templates built in layout design, features and functionality these can lead to frustration, mistakes which negatively impact your websites performance and user experience.
One of the most critical issues when designing a website is to ensure your website is found online by search engines, (search engine optimisation) SEO.
In general website templates are not optimised for SEO and have major shortcomings in the realms of SEO, responsiveness, and overall performance, these errors can raise major issues for web owners later after launch date.
The inappropriate use of elements and animations often used by web designers to sell the templates can have a detrimental effect on a websites load times and hamper effective SEO. Search engines rely on text-based content to index websites effectively, making the misuse of images a critical SEO drawback.
Responsiveness is a cornerstone of modern web design, ensuring that a website functions seamlessly across various devices and screen sizes. Unfortunately, not all templates are fully responsive, or they exhibit poor responsiveness development. This can lead to a frustrating user experience on mobile devices and negatively impact a site's search engine rankings, as Google considers mobile-friendliness a ranking factor.
What is a bespoke industry specific web design?
A bespoke industry specific web design is an advanced version of a standard website template.
The main distinction lies in the fact that they offer users all essential native elements and components needed to operate and market a business. These templates are pre-designed for a particular industry market and are ready for immediate use. Additionally, they address any worries regarding SEO and responsiveness that are common with standard templates.
To customize the design, customers just need to include their own images, text, and logo, making sure it doesn't disrupt the website layout.
Bespoke website designers conduct extensive research on the selected market to comprehend its operations before incorporating the gathered information into the web design process.
Conducting thorough research can offer additional advantages, such as identifying a business's main competitors, understanding their offerings to potential customers, recognizing their unique selling points (USPs), and assessing their online ranking.
Custom web designs involve not just determining the necessary applications to spark interest in the product/service, but also focusing on effectively marketing the product/service through the website to attract customers.
Product positioning is a crucial aspect of marketing and involves determining and conveying the desired perception and emotions towards your product within the market. Effective product positioning necessitates clear articulation by your design team:
How your product can solve your customer's problem.
Why it is a better solution than its competitors.
The following elements form a key part of custom web design;
Industry specific with advanced features
Product market positioning
Optimised for multi devices
Custom built
Ready to go
Summation:
Templates enhance flexibility, are simple to update, and ensure consistency throughout the project. They can be regularly enhanced to align with technological and instructional demands, as well as the client's preferences. Tracking and updating them is effortless.
They are easy to use:
Accessing a library of templates provides the freedom to select from a wide range of preconfigured interactions without the requirement to code or set up anything. This grants you increased control, a broader selection, and greater autonomy, ultimately enabling a vast number of individuals, whether professionals or not, to engage in design.
Provide consistency and uniformity:
Standardization plays a crucial role in website design, aiding users in navigating and utilizing the site effectively. When referring to standards, we are talking about elements such as colours, fonts, sizes, and layout.
Reduce rework time:
By having pre-made templates available, you can avoid spending time on constructing or designing websites from the beginning. Simply utilize the necessary templates based on your requirements, and reuse them multiple times!
Speed-up development time:
Templates enable organizations and individuals to create websites in significantly less time compared to traditional methods (utilizing templates can reduce labour costs by at least 50% and development timelines by up to 75%, consistently). Templates are an ideal choice for swiftly launching a website.
They apply best learning practices:
Templates offer a seamless method for structuring information, enabling learners to steer clear of information overload. The design process integrates top usability practices right from the beginning.
Let you focus on what’s really important:
Another significant advantage is that you can now dedicate more time to the learning content and less time on designing a page layout, button, or site appearance.
Great way to ensure effective content; and also good design:
Templates can enhance the appearance of your website quickly and without the need for programming skills, providing it with a polished and professional look.
Are a great source of inspiration!
By using a template, you can easily arrange elements and content without spending time on placement decisions. Having a variety of design ideas readily available allows you to quickly create a visually appealing website without much design consideration.
In conclusion
In this examination of template usage, we have highlighted some reasons to rethink their use in your web design endeavours. Although templates provide convenience and a jumpstart in creating websites, they also present a number of constraints and difficulties.
Whether you choose the convenience of templates or the endless possibilities of starting from scratch, the important thing to remember is to make your choices thoughtfully. By being aware of both the benefits and limitations of using templates, you will be better prepared to design websites that not only fulfil your requirements but also surpass your audience's expectations in the ever-changing digital world.
End.....
Acknowledgements:
Mike Fox Nex Design Agency
Karla an Inbound Marketer @Aura Interactiva
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