sabartech technology articles

By: Salim Vasani for Sabartech

Use the following basic guidelines to pick your website template

1. Technology: There are a number of different technology platforms available for a website template. The most popular ones include HTML/CSS, Flash and PHP-Nuke. There are other CMS (Content Management Systems) gaining popularity such as Joomla and Mambo. My personal favorite is the use of pure HTML and CSS because of their ease to learn and use, global platform compatibility and customization power. Your choice of a technology should depend on the following technology constraints:
   1. Knowledge: Before you choose a technology ask yourself how comfortable you are with a given technology OR how easy it is to learn and implement a certain technology. For example, if you decide to use an HTML/CSS template, you can find numerous sources on the web that provide basic and advanced tutorials for free and also provide sample codes for some of the common tasks. On the other hand for example, if you decide to use Flash, a steep learning curve is involved; in addition, for modifying a core flash file, you will need to purchase an Adobe product such as Adobe Flash Lite or Flash CS3 Pro. If you decide to go with Flash, you can get a free 30 day trial to try and see how it works for you. Tutorials for all the above mentioned technologies are available for free. The most popular source by far is w3schools. Here are links for W3’s Flash, HTML and CSS tutorials.
   2. Compatibility: The next technology consideration is platform compatibility. All browsers support HTML and CSS. Viewing Flash requires a Flash player. However, most browsers come preinstalled with Flash. As per w3schools, in September 2000, NPD Research, the parent company of MediaMetrix, conducted a study to determine what percentage of Web browsers have Flash preinstalled. The results show that 96.4% of Web users can experience Macromedia Flash content without having to download and install a player. The Player can be downloaded for free from Adobe’s site.
      In addition to the above, you need to also check the compatibility of your scripting language if you are using one. Scripts are pieces of programming code that add dynamics to your site. In many cases snippets of code for common tasks are available for free on the web. Some of the popular scripting languages are PHP, javascript and ASP. Before using a script, check with your hosting provider if that language is supported. For example, if you decide to use ASP, you might have to go with the Microsoft IIS Server. The most popular Web Server is pobably Apache. However, the base Apache Server does not suport ASP.
   3. Customization flexibility: A web template by itself is not a complete solution. Once you download a template, you WILL have to modify it based on your business, product, service, etc. You might want to add your logo, modify the navigation menu or even cange the color scheme. These changes can be made very easily in HTML and CSS. Customization of a flash file might require some expertise.
2. Navigation: Navigation menus allow your vistors to travel through your site. A good navigation system not only makes finding content easy but also adds to the user experience. Nobody likes a site where a user might have to look at ten different places to reach the page or content he wants. You will need to consider the following Navigation factors in selecting your site.
   1. Layout: Navigation menus can appear on the top, sides, bottom or a combination of the same. Your choice of a template depends on how your content would lay out.
   2. Levels: Secondly, you need to consider the level of navigation menus. For example, would you need a multi-level menu where user clicks on the ‘Clothing’ menu tab opening sub-menus for ‘Men’s clothing’ and ‘Women’s clothing’.
   3. Size: Some templates are designed by default with a large number of navigation items. These templates are great for some sites such as content based sites providing a variety of articles or a site selling a variety of products. On the other hand, some sites might require only a few menu items such as a religious organization only interested in publishing it’s address and service timings or a service provider only interested in listing it’s services. You do not want too many redundant links on your website. At the same time you do not want a user to dig through several pages to find a popular section that might have been better off listed as a navigation item.
3. Appearance: The following items make up the overall appearance of a site:
   1. Columns: How many columns do you need and and how much space should each column take? Both two and three column sites are equally popular. I personally prefer a three column site where your left column holds your navigation menu, center column holds your content and the right column can be used for a number of things such as displaying ads, a second navigation menu, a slideshow of images, posters, search, etc.
   2. Content: Your content could be pure text such as this article, a combination of text and images or a number of sub-sections. If your content is sparse, go for a graphic intensive template. However, if your site is going to be verbose, avoid too much clutter, use templates that give more space for your content, use small headers and footers allowing reading with minium scrolling.
   3. Graphics: Your choice of graphics should be based on your priority. For example, if you are a fashion designer selling products, then layout and appearance of images is more important than that of text. Also pay attention to file sizes and formats of images. Large image sizes take longer to download and too many of them on one page can make the site really slow. In general jpg files are usually the smallest but compromise on the quality of an image.
   4. Color combination: Even though this can be configured easily, try to pick a color combination that you like to begin with. A template designer is like an artist and he would have given attention to a lot of minor details such as how the naigation link looks when a mouse rolls over or when it is clicked. To change this color scheme and achieve a pleasant combination of colors for all the various tags can be a daunting task.
4. Search: Is your site only for a niche of users coming through a referral or it is for the masses? Does your business depend on providing service for a select customer base or getting new visitors to your site? In general, try to avoid flash sites if you are going to target search engines. Try to stick to pure HTML as much as possible. Also, when you have a choice of using javascript or PHP for dynamic content, use PHP. Search engines do not parse javascript but can scan through the html presentation generated by PHP.
5. Time to deploy: A web template is not an instant solution. Templates just help you get a jump start doing the ground work you. However, you will have to spend time and energy to customize a template to make it your own site. Make your decision based on the amount of time you have at hand and your deadlines. If you feel that you won’t be able to devote too much time to your site or you have a short deadline, pick a template that is as close to your needs as possible. Initially, go with the defaults of the template. Then build and customize gradually. There are some templates that are available with prebuilt ready made pages. Use them to your advantage. There are also providers that sell templates to you with basic customization already done for you for a fee.
6. Cost: Selling website templates has become a very common business. This has increased competition and brought down costs. A template like painting is the work of an artist and there’s no yardstick to measure it’s worth. Templates are available anywhere from free to thousands of dollars. The only suggestion I can give you is that if you are willing to spend a lot of money, you would be better off having a professional design your site rather than buying a template.
7. Terms of use: Make sure to read the ‘Terms of use’ before you start using a template. Most free template providers require that you leave the link back to them intact. Some providers allow you to remove the link back for a small fee.

Good luck with your template hunting.

Salim Vasani