Website templates have been around for some time now, and they are here to stay. A professional web designer would tell you never to use a website template, use your creativity, he’ll say. But sometimes you’ll be swamped with work and the only way to make the deadline is to cut corners and use a template. You got to do what you got to do.
Question: is it ethical for a professional web designer to use templates? Of course, it is! But you have to consider the pros and cons, such as…
Pros of website templates:
1. WYSIWYG – With templates, what you see is what you get. You don’t have to envision what the finished website would look like. Sure you can make alterations here and there, but the overall design is done and ready to use.
2. Speed – For a web designer, time means money. The more websites you deliver your clients, the more cash flows in to your bank account. A website built from scratch can take months to prepare. But a template, it should take you no more than a few hours or days to get done.
Cons of website templates:
1. Non-exclusivity – Simply put, templates aren’t unique. Period. The template that caught your eye could’ve been used by another web designer a few weeks ago, and would be used by another designer several months from now. If you want a unique website, templates aren’t the way to go.
2. Limited customization – You can customize templates, sure, but only up to a point. Most if not all website templates offer limited customization. For example, a certain template can only accommodate huge blocks of text in a certain fashion. So if you like the look of that template but the content of your website is a Leo Tolstoy novel, then forget about it, it simply won’t work. You either have to adjust your content or pick another template from the bunch.
3. Image optimization – Templates aren’t always optimized to load pages quickly. Especially if you’re going to be adding images, you need to set aside time to make sure pages load as fast as possible, or else lose your visitors to another quicker website with similar content.
At the end of it all website templates are a double-edged weapon. You either use them to your advantage or you don’t, and get hurt in the process. Consider these pros and cons before deciding to use a template.