Web Design - How to Customize Templates
A Web Hosting Article Contributed by Raj Rao
Web Design - Starting from Scratch
The best way to design a web site is to start from the scratch. You take a clean slate and put all the graphics, text, photographs and multimedia elements in a nice design. But, can you realistically do this without past experience and training in web design?
When you start designing a web page from a blank page, you need to think about the overall look and feel of the website, the navigation, placement of the text, placement of the links to related content, placement of the triggers for action like the buy button etc. Can you realistically do this on your own?
For those who cannot do web design from a clean slate, there are Templates available. Templates are nothing but pre-designed webpages that you can customize for your own use.
What are Templates in Web Design?
Templates are pre-designed by somebody else, who has all the skills required to create a web page from scratch. Templates are available for different purposes as well as for different tastes.
Templates help in Web Design, just as you would use a stencil to create a drawing. The Templates are ready-to-use with some changes to the text and replacement of the logo and photographs.
However, you can also customize the Templates completely as per your requirement. This requires extensive knowledge of the tools available for Web Design. Particularly, graphic designing software like Photoshop and Web page design software like FrontPage.
Templates are available for a specific industry like Health care or for a specific purpose like selling products online. They are also available in different styles like Contemporary Designs, Traditional Design, Corporate Design etc.
Tips for Customizing Templates in Web Design
It is recommended that you browse through the Internet and identify the style and design concepts used by your competitors and web sites within your area of interest.
Choose a design that is closest to the design used by our competitors or representative of your industry. This will ensure that your customization requirement is limited.
Always ensure that you get the original design files in raw graphics format in addition to completed web pages. This will give you the flexibility to modify the original design and recreate the web pages.
Before you start making changes to the original design, it is advisable to back-up the design. Start by changing the Web Pages in a Web Design software like FrontPage.
In most cases, you may need to modify just one or two graphics to replace your logo and company slogan. However, if you do wish to modify the color scheme, stock photographs or any other layout of the web design, you will need to use graphics design software like Adobe Photoshop.
Whichever method you decide to customize the Template, it is always a good idea to look at the underlying HTML code and ensure that there are no hidden text left behind in the web design.
Finally, if you are using a free Template, please respect the copyright of the owner.
