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Website Templates - Pros, Cons, Creating and Finding

Website templates are pre-designed web pages created for you to use as a basis for fast web development, saving you lots of time on website designing. You add your content text and pictures to the designs and you have a functional website, ready for upload. If you search the Internet for website templates, you will be amazed by how many different companies offer free templates and also sell templates.

There are many pros to using a template:


Templates save time and energy. Many suggest what content to add and where.
You have the basic design for each page of your website.
Because the design is the same throughout, you have the consistency that will hold your site together.
Updating your website is straightforward.
Templates cut out the chance of destroying layout, because they usually have un-editable and editable regions.

There are, however, just as many cons to using templates:


Many that are free on the Internet are database driven, so do not show up in search engines (for example, Tripod has many good looking templates, but all are database driven).
You have little or no leeway in changing the pre-designed format.
After looking at many of the templates offered, I found that very few offered a design that I would be proud to call my own.
The better designs are used over and over again by many others, so your site is not unique - this will be obvious to those who surf the net often.
You don't have the advantage of working with a designer who will answer your website questions and help you with a custom-designed website.

Rather than purchasing a pre-designed template, create your own.


In most web-authoring programs (including Front Page 2003 and Dreamweaver MX, MX 2004, and now 8), you and/or your designer can tweak and re-design the layout for your final template until it is exactly the way you want it. Then, you save it as a template to be used over and over again.
The added beauty of this method is that if you have a change later to that template (and change is always happening on the Internet), you can update the template and the program will update every page that uses that template if you want it to.

Where do I find templates?


If you are using a web authoring program like Dreamweaver or Front Page, you will find a variety of templates that serve as a beginning - these can be changed and tweaked easily.
Contribute, Macromedia's program that helps with website maintenance also includes many templates that may be used as new pages.
If you do a search for templates, you will find more sites than you can imagine.

As with any other Internet topic, there is much more that can be written about templates. I have only scratched the surface. I do know, however, that since I started using templates that I have created, my website designing has become even more of a joy than ever before.

Chris King is a professional website creator / designer, storyteller, writer, free agent, and fitness instructor. You will find her business website at http://www.creativekeys.biz and her information website at http://www.creativekeys.net

Interspire Templates - Is it Free? Choosing the Best Website Template Company For Your Success

As a business owner or website operator, once you have made the decision to use a template to create your own website, it is imperative that you choose just the right company to purchase your template from. The company you choose should have a wide range of products and fit just about every need you could possibly have with regards to your website ideas. They should offer you support if, and when, you need it. Their templates should be a high quality, professionally designed and not look like a carbon copy of every other website on the Internet... you are, after all, spending your hard earned money for a product and it should be as unique and exceptional as you are. And speaking of hard earned money, you should not have to pay an enormous sum in order to have these things, either. Now, you may be wondering just where you are going to find all that without spending a lot of money -- the answer is simple: at Interspire Templates.

Interspire Templates are not like any other website template company on the Internet today. They employ professional website designers that create quality templates so you can rest assure you are getting a solid template and not one that has a bunch of code just thrown together randomly. Their templates encompass a large variety of needs from Flash and animation websites to Office, PowerPoint and Word templates; they also offer general website templates that do not have frills, just in case that is your current need. Additionally, Interspire Templates provides a fabulous customer service team -- that can actually be reached -- should you have any questions or need any help with the template navigation.

Now, about that little matter of your hard earned money? You will be incredibly happy to learn that Interspire Templates does not engage in taking advantage of their customers. They do not have to; their products speak volumes about their quality and professionalism. To that end, rather than pay a fee per template download, you pay zero fees for unlimited access to all the free templates -- which is well over 1,000 that Interspire Templates currently have to offer. Yes, this site includes the complete template downloads, too! Their only stipulation is that you can download no more than 10 templates per day, but with everything you get from them, that is a small concession. You owe it to your websites to check out Interspire Templates and see what they can do for you.

Check out premium website Interspire Templates by going here today! And find lots of the Best Website Templates that are offered there at affordable prices as well.

4 Reasons to Use Website Templates For Your Internet Business

Contrary to popular belief, website templates are very professionally designed templates by professional designers and others.

Many people have a belief that website templates are just "cookie cutter" templates that all look and feel the same. Well yes and no. Some website templates are the same template but in various colors.

However, some templates are as different as night is from day. Very unique in the design and feel of the website.

Here a 4 reasons why you should definitely consider using website templates when building your next internet business.

Reason #1 - Not all website templates are your so called "cookie cutter" templates. Most templates are unique and distinguishable from others designed even by the same designer. There are templates that are basics templates that only vary by color, theme, and web copy placement. This should not deter you because all templates are editable to fit your needs.

Reason #2 - Templates can save you money. If you are not a web designer but can type in a word document then web templates may just be your answer for you internet business or businesses. Templates give you a visual guide to what your website will look and feel like. Yes, there is feel to a website.

Reason #3 - Most basic HTML templates are easily edited in an HTML editor and by using a basic photo editing software program. This helps to keep cost low for the new internet business owner. Some computers have HTML editors like Microsoft FrontPage® included in a Microsoft package, which is a plus for the new web designer. If not, there are free HTML editors that can be downloaded to edit templates and a favorable HTML editor most designers like Adobe Dreamweaver®.

The website templates are already HTML coded with table placement, image placement, navigation, color schemes, header and footer, columns, and web copy placement. This gives the designer an indication of the flow of the web page and how others will see their web page.

Reason #4- Using a website template to create your website can speed up the process of getting your website on the internet quickly. If you are designing the website using a template, you have full control of the website and the timetable of completing the site and publishing the site. If you have a designer develop you site it may be weeks before your site is built and on the internet. It all boils down to "time is money".

Note: If you are using a designer, set a timetable for your site to be complete and ensure the timetable is adhered to by the designer. This is your business and your money.

Website templates are a great alternative for the new internet business owner who wants to save money and design their own website.

Pat Turman is a successful internet entrepreneur. She holds a BBA from an accredited University and numerous awards and certificates. Visit Niche Business 101 for more information on website design.

Quick, Effective Web Design: Templates?

When deciding on a web design it is important to know your competition. What do you like about there site? What could be done better? Are there certain aspects of the site that would appeal visually? Are there certain aspects of a competitor's site that have helped in organic SEO/SEM? Are there certain aspects/offers on a competitor's site that may draw people in? I think these are all important factors to keep in mind when visiting the competition in the pre-web design phase. However, this article is going to focus on another aspect: Namely, is there repetition in style amongst your competition? If you where starting a business to rival NetFlix & Blockbuster movie rentals online, you would immediately become aware that the two look very much identical except for the color scheme. In a similar respect, you may even find two websites using the exact same design in the same industry. Then you may find the exact same web design on a web design template site! This situation is the low point of template web design buying. If you decide to use a template (and I will argue that sometimes this is the way to go) you MUST KNOW YOUR COMPETITION!

If nothing else, template web design can spark ideas. There are many template sites out there like BoxedArt.com and TemplateMonster.com, and even a variety of free ones, with decent web site designs. When browsing through these sites it can be very helpful for sparking the idea in your head of what you may want your web design project to be like. Adversely, many of the templates found are also very generic to a certain point. There tends to be an overwhelmingly corporate feel to a high percentage of templates on the market. Not all web designs call for a corporate look but just simply need to look professional to gain credibility. Take aspects that work from different designs and merge them with the current identity you are looking for. Don't get carried away with this process though, if you take away a little from each one you may get a very disorienting look and feel to the site as each design may vary. Likewise, when I say take it is important to emphasize that I am not talking about stealing. These template designers have spent time and expect return, however if you find a font you like and match something as simple as this to a similar font that would fit in with your design then use the idea. Don't directly take images or color layouts. This browsing of templates for ideas is very much like browsing your competitor's websites for ideas and scoping the market.

If you are looking at purchasing a template make sure to follow these guidelines:

1. Know that your competitors are not using this template. If you are a national chain, you will probably not be reading this as you may very well have your own unique design team. For everyone else, how far does your competition boundary spread? If you own a local hot dog stand, you may only have a handful of competitors in your area that are branding themselves. Buying a template that can be purchased by the public even after you purchase it may be ok in this instance if the hot dog template is a great design. In this case it would be a perfect fit for a low priced design that may be high quality. If however you may run into multi-state or national competition for your product then you may opt against the generic template as a foundation to your design.

2. Make sure the template is only the foundation to your web design building. This may mean that you use the overall structure of the design, but change all the graphics to make the design more personalized. Often times this also means that you will change the color scheme to fit with your current identity or logo. Also, maybe only a portion of the template should be used. Does it have a great looking header or search box, but the rest of the site is left to be desired?

3. Always make sure to follow the guidelines of the company your purchase your web design template from. This is important as certain amount of "redesign" of the template is most likely expected in the user agreement.

Templates certainly are not for everyone, however when small business owners are just trying to get there feet wet online, a template may be the best choice. They are typically professional looking, well thought out (in many industry themes), require less knowledge to build from than a web design from scratch and most certainly more affordable than starting a web design from scratch.

As a side note: There are many web template sites out there that also sell limited download web design templates for a little more money. These are templates that once purchased a few or one time are taken from the template library and now longer available for purchase. These can keep branding in house and save time and money if the design is what you are looking for.

Todd Levi has been designing websites for 5 years and is currently owns http://LeviSolutions.com which is a Fort Collins based Web Design Company serving the Colorado area.

Website Templates - Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using a Template

Using website templates can be an affordable option, as well as, save you a lot of time, effort and money, when you are ready to create a new layout design for your website. However, if you do not know what you are doing when it comes to editing your template, or choosing the best template for your design needs, the finished website may turn out to be something that you did not have in mind.

Below are some general guidelines to help you avoid the common template editing mistakes:

The biggest mistake you should be aware of is not to pick a template that is very popular. If there are a large amount of people using the same exact template, your website will appear to be generic, not unique, and not very credible. In summary, your website will appear to be just another cookie-cutter website.

The purpose of using a web template to design your next website is to save you time, money and effort. You simply edit the title and other content details to fit your needs and you're finished. The most common mistake with editing a template is to over edit the template beyond recognition. Even though editing the template to fit your design needs makes the template more unique, you are defying the very purpose of using a template to begin with-- to save time, money, and effort.

Take time to make any changes to the template to fit your design ideas and theme. For example, you can find a template that is suitable for your hobby site, the only problem is, the template has an image of pigs in the header. You can simply find images that are relevant to your website, and replace the graphics to suit your needs. However, to avoid any coding issues, do not redesign the entire template, make only the necessary changes needed.

Often, people make the wrong choices when it comes to picking a website template. When designing and editing your website template, be sure to select a template that will be suitable to the audience you are trying to reach. Do not choose website templates that are solely pleasing to the eye, pick a template that will serve the purpose of your website.

And now we invite you to take advantage of the affordable website design services offered by The Freelance Squad. Visit http://www.thefreelancesquad.com, let us guide you through the web design process at an affordable rate. You can afford good design and not the use of a template, by using your affordable outsourcing solution, The Freelance Squad.

How Do You Make a Free Template or Skin For ArticleMS?

I decided to write this article after spending many, many hours unsuccessfully trying to make myself a new template (skin) for my ArticleMS website. Now after much trial, and plenty of errors, I have finally succeeded, and achieved what I had begun to feel was not possible before. I have now made my very own ArticleMS directory template.

I had previously used the "default" template, which is nice, but I felt that I wanted the site to look more customised and different from the rest, so I attempted the changes. I might add that this is not being written by a "techie", I do know a "little bit" about editing through using MS FrontPage HTML editor, but if I have not got this exactly right, you coders out there, then please forgive me. What I do know, is that it works fine and my site now looks great.

What do you need?

Html Editor:

Obviously the first thing you will need will be some type of html editor, like either MS FrontPage, Dreamweaver, or something similar.

CSS Template:

Why CSS template? Because that is really all you need initially, no idex.html, no header, footer or anything else, just the css style file, as the rest will all be made for you on installation. I will explain more about this later.

There are many free css templates around, just enter the search term "free css templates" into Google, and you will see millions of websites where you can view them, and download for free. The only condition that they have normally is that you leave the link back to the designer in place, normally in the footer of the page.

Before downloading the new template, it is important to find a design that you like, and one that you think will also fit in with your site. I chose a three column layout, which did prove a "little difficult" to say the least, but there are many types of css templates that you can select from. I wanted to make a "similar" template to that of an existing AMS Skin AmsNonZero, which I like, but with a different column layout.

As an example the current "default" skin used in ArticleMS 2.0 is a "two column" design, so if you selected another two column template design, with different colours, then it would be reasonably straight forward to implement your new template into your ArticleMS site.

After downloading your choice make sure that you have a file that says styles.css. If it does not say that, but something else.css, then copy the existing.css file, and then name it styles.css (this is important).

Install File:

In your existing website template files (default, AmsNonZero etc.,) you will have a file that says install.php. This file does it all for you, but you do need to edit it first!

So now you have your new template downloaded, let say it is in a folder that you have called "mysite", copy the install.php file from either your default or AmsNonZero template folder to your "mysite" folder. I used the copy from AmsNonZero, and also copied over the "fancybox" folder, but not sure if I needed this or not. So might be an idea for you to do so as well.

So now you should have at least the following files in your folder "mysite".

images folder

fancybox folder

index.html

install.php

styles.css

Editing, before installing:

Ok, now we are ready to edit the install.php file. I know very little about php files, and as I said earlier the change of templates was achieved by me after a lot of trial and errors. However, MOST of the templates that you will need to edit later will be installed into AMS Admin by this one file.

1/. First check the version that you are using of the install.php. You must have a 2.0 Version install.php file for Ams 2.0. So check to make sure that line 3 of the install.php file says this: $version = '2.0';

2/. With the install.php file open use the "find & replace" function in your editor it will save you a lot of time!

Find AmsNonZero Replace mysite

What this does, is goes through the install file removing the previous template name, and then inserting your new template name in it's place. Under Replace use the name of YOUR template. Under Find insert the name of the file that you have copied it from (ie.default, AmsNonZero etc.,)

3/. About half way through the php code of the install.php file you will find text that will say something like this: This is the frontpage of your new ArticleMS installation.

You do NOT need to edit this now, you can edit later via Admin AFTER you have installed your new template.

4/. The following you WILL need to edit.

This depends on the install.php file that you are using, but between line 800 and 900 you will find the following code:

$queries[] = "INSERT INTO {$this->pre}blocks (block_name, block_owner, block_set, block_parent_name, block_display_name, block_url, block_description, block_active, block_type, block_html, block_php, block_cache_settings, block_settings) VALUES ('main', 'default', 'universal', '', 'Main', '', 'Global Template', 1, 2, '

Right under this code will be a selection of php code that you WILL need to edit in order to MATCH your styles.css file. The following code has been taken from the AmsNonZero, install.php, and will change with different templates used. You will need to edit the code marked.

{\$this->site_name}

By-Line goes here

{\$Blocks->mainmenu}

{\$this->output}

{\$Blocks->Ad_Google_Sky_Text}



{\$Blocks->topauthors}

{\$Blocks->Ad_Google_Sky_Image}



{\$Blocks->Ad_Google_160_Link}

', '', '', '')";

I changed the code to match MY styles.css file as follows:

{\$this->site_name}

Article Directory

{\$Blocks->mainmenu}

{\$this->output}

{\$Blocks->Ad_Google_Sky_Text}



{\$Blocks->topauthors}

{\$Blocks->Ad_Google_Sky_Image}



{\$Blocks->Ad_Google_160_Link}

', '', '', '')";

Make sure that you do NOT change anything other than the text highlighted. Save the install.php with all of the changes that you have made, and that is it finished.

Installation:

Ok now you are ready to install your new template.

1/. Upload your new skin/template in the folder marked "mysite" to the "skins" folder on your site. CHMOD the new "mysite" folder, and all files in it to "777" (So you can edit it.)

2/. Go to your Admin Panel select "Manage Skins". Where you should see your new template listed. Click "install", and all being well, it should install it for you onto your site.

Final Editing:

With your new AMS template installed all you now need to do is to edit it, and then view your changes. This is done in the same way as you edited your site previously, under "Edit Templates", but make sure that you select the newly installed skin to edit.

Then insert the blocks where you want them.

I hope that you find the above useful, I do know that if I had known all of this several months ago, it would have saved me an awful lot of work. I hope it helps you too.

Author's Details

John Hayward is both a regular Author of Internet Marketing Articles, and also the owner of several free Article Directories, including http://www.directoryarticles.com. John has recently set up a new Internet Membership site http://www.john-hayward.com that offers a wealth of advice, great products, and help for all Internet Marketers.

Why Use a Web Design Template?

What is a Website Template?

Many smart and savvy businesses are choosing to use a website template, and avoiding employing a professional designer. Why? Well, there are clear benefits: saving on cost, saving on time, and ensuring quality.

Web templates close the gap between the amateur website owner learning to create his/her own website, and a one-off custom design.

What is a website template? A web template is a ready-made design for your website, including images, some navigation, preferably several sample pages and in some cases Flash animation. However, it has no content related to you or your business - that must come from you! Remember that a web template must be customized / modified (to whatever degree you are comfortable with) to turn it into your very own website.

What about hiring a website designer, or using a quick-and-easy tool to build your own website?

The answer to this question is easy - your, and your business', professional image. There is no other way to say this - if you do not have appropriate web / Internet design experience, don't put together a quick and dirty website and expect it to be a professional portrayal of you / your business!

So then do you have to spend a lot of money having a website custom designed for you? Well, you could. But you no longer need to!

A low-cost, but professional design

While selecting a ready-made web design template, you will probably browse through a collection of different website designs until you find one (or a few) that you like.

Expect to be able to at least see a screen capture of what your web page will look like, and hopefully a "see-in-action"- which lets you see exactly what you will be getting.

Choose your template carefully, and you will have a professional design, executed by a qualified designer with all due attention to accessibility, standards compliance, browser quirks and a lot of other things that you would not want to have to learn about from scratch, yourself! All for a fraction of the cost of hiring a custom website designer or design firm.

Avoid the common mistakes made when choosing a website template

Don't assume that every last thing within the template can be changed, easily. Of course anything can be changed if you have graphics knowledge, but for the novice, if you're unsure whether a particular graphic used can be easily replaced by your own image, ask the template designer! This is why it is best to choose a template store where the template designer provides personal support for his / her designs.

Sometimes one or more elements of the template design are intrinsic parts of the template, and cannot just be "swapped out" without technical knowledge. Good, professional template designers will offer a customization service to perform this kind of function for you.

What a template is - and isn't

The website template you have chosen is a look-and-feel for your site. Some high-end templates have database back-ends and so on built in, but straightforward website templates are generally a "shell" for your website. Adding the content which is specific to your website, and "making it your own", involves editing the template.

Fortunately, these days html / web editors are very easy to use, but be aware that you will need to do add content to the template to make into your website.

You will want to add your own text, set your meta tags (keywords and description), and possibly insert some product images into your product listing pages (if applicable).

Not the only one!

Most website templates are sold more than once - which technically means that you won't have the only website on the Internet that looks like yours. However, don't consider this a problem - with Google having over 8 billion sites (May 2005) in its inde, the chances of someone seeing another site that looks like yours are tiny. However, if you need a copyrighted design, ask the template designer about buying the template for exclusive use. This will increase the price though, and also depends on the template not having been sold before.

Web site templates are a cost-effective way to produce an attractive, professional website at a fraction of the cost of hiring your own web designer.

Julia Jackson is the owner of Xenon Web Services, specialising in website design and database design, as well as an online store of original, professional website templates.

http://web-site-templates.info
http://websitetemplates.co.za

Website Templates - Who Benefits?

Are templates the shortcut of your dreams, or a complex design nightmare in the making? Find out what's really required to effectively use most website templates.

Some new to the world of website hosting may find it easy to come across sites that offer the ultimate short cut to a "professional" website. Usually this shortcut will be a template. On screen the template will look great with its images, placeholder text, and unbranded graphics. The lure of the template for the novice user will be strong. Most template sites hit all the right buzzwords, "free", "customizable", "ready-to-use." Unfortunately, to a novice, what they get when they take the bow off their new package may make little to no sense at all. This article will go over the common structure of templates and provide some insight into what skills and programs are needed before a template really can be considered "ready-to-use."

Basics- Text Editing

At a very basic level, template users will need a way to edit the text content of a template. More likely than not the new template will be brimming with paragraphs beginning with "Lorem ipsum dolor" or similarly incoherent gibberish. Replacing that with your business copy can be achieved in a number of ways. Anything from a simple text editor like Notepad in Windows to more advanced packages like FrontPage or Dreamweaver can be used to edit the text. Using simple editors like Notepad will require at least a rudimentary knowledge of HTML, if only to know what to avoid changing in the template while adding text. Advanced editors usually provide a more "word processor-like" feel with graphical onscreen display that attempts to mimic the output on the final product. Your choice of design software is generally a personal one and beyond the scope of this article. It is preferable to have a basic familiarity with the chosen software before jumping into template editing, as template HTML can be complex and intimidating to the novice.

Graphics

Things only become more complicated beyond text. Your website design software may allow you to change text and move graphics and images around on the page, but it will not allow you to modify the content of the graphics or images. In most cases templates have graphical headers or graphics over images and logos that will contain similar placeholder text. This kind of "text" cannot be edited via Notepad or any other web design software because it is actually an image. Virtually every template package available today will come with large, editable graphic files in a format called "PSD." These are "PhotoShop Documents", and may only be fully edited by the industry standard Adobe Photoshop program. PhotoShop is the 500 pound gorilla of graphic design, it can do just about anything with the humble pixel. This kind of power comes with a high price tag, though. Coming in around $500-$600 street price, that's just the first investment Photoshop requires. The second is the time and effort to learn the effective use of the program. Opening a template's PSD file will likely result in a cascade of "layers" and "slices" even an experienced Photoshop hand would take time to digest.

Few other options for editing the provided PSD files exist. Only using the native program will allow full advantage to be taken of the file's information. Some programs can open PSD files but cannot edit them. Some may be able to import the layers of a PSD file into their own native format for editing. A freeware alternative is "the GIMP". GIMP stands for "GNU Image Manipulation Program". The GIMP can import and read PSD files, though it may have trouble keeping text in an easily editable format. Other options are Macromedia Fireworks and PaintShop Pro. Though cheaper than Photoshop, Fireworks is still on the expensive side of the spectrum. Coming in around $100, PaintShop Pro is a cheaper alternative to Photoshop or Fireworks, but will also require some time and effort be devoted to learning its capabilities. Again, it's important to point out these programs will not replace Photoshop as the ideal editor for the native PSD format. They will likely not support advanced features of the original PSD files and may not even be able to open some PSD files.

Flash

Similar to PSD files and Photoshop, templates that advertise Flash elements also require their own editor. It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss the wisdom of using Flash in the first place, but as a general rule of thumb, keep Flash use to minimum. Unless the template is for a complete Flash site, it will likely contain a "non-Flash" version of the template. Generally Flash is used for navigation and headers in templates, so if don't wish to use the Flash elements, check to see if there is a "non-Flash" version that uses gif/jpeg graphics instead. Otherwise a Flash editor will be required as well as some more time and effort to learn the editor and Flash. Ironically, templates can be a useful learning tool for Flash, since seeing how they are laid out and scripted can provide an understanding of how the animations work.

SEO/Structure

A final note on templates in general. Those willing to buy the software, take the time to learn it, and use a template should be aware that many templates are not "well coded." For the most part this may not effect or even matter to the template buyer. They will have a website and it will "work". Anyone who is also attempting to optimize their site for search engine placement, or who wants to make their site more efficient and use less code, should pay attention to the structure of the HTML files provided in the template. Many, though by no means all, templates, use a "tables" based layout that could be improved upon to make it more code efficient and make search engine optimization easier.

Conclusions

Templates are "short cuts", but a short cut the novice user may not wish to take. Most templates require a particular, and generally expensive, set of tools to fully customize. Prospective template shoppers may want to consider hiring an outside design firm to actually do the work on their selected website template. Some designers recommend this method, as it provides a basic short-cut in terms of rudimentary layout and design that can be invaluable. Pay attention to the template site's terms of service, though, as many will require the end user directly purchase the template and deliver it to the designer themselves in lieu of the designers making the purchase.

Mr. Lester has served for 4 years as the webmaster for ApolloHosting.com and previously worked in the IT industry an additional 5 years, acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and search engine optimization. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting [http://www.apollohosting.com], ecommerce hosting [http://www.apollohosting.com/e-commerce], vps hosting [http://www.apollohosting.com/virtualprivateservers], and web design services to a wide range of customers. Established in 1999, Apollo prides itself on the highest levels of customer support.

Create a Professional Website Using Ready-Made Templates

If you are a business owner and want to expand your clientele and market-share, and create a place where potential and current customers can go to learn more about your company and easily find contact information, what you need is a website. If you are a small start-up looking to begin an online venture, you need a website. And most likely, you want to achieve your business goals within a reasonable timeframe and for a reasonable price, without skimping on quality. After all, you need more than just visitors to your website. A successful business requires visitors who turn into paying, repeat customers and trust your company. The best way to do this (in addition to offering a quality product or service) is by producing a professional website.

In the past, online businesses were given little choice when it came to creating a high quality website. You could either hire an expensive professional web designer or web design company to make the entire site for you or you could produce the website on your own. The first choice would cost you big bucks - anywhere between $50 and $200 for only one web page! The second option required at least a small knowledge of HTML and design elements as well as a large chunk of your time - something most business owners don't have.

Luckily the times have changed and web entrepreneurs have a lot more choice when it comes to creating a professional website with or without all the bells and whistles (depending on the type of site you plan on having). In fact, a growing trend in website design is the use of ready-made website templates.

What exactly is a template?

Website templates are basically ready-made web pages that you can download from a template design company. The HTML code is ready to go - all you have to do is choose a template that suits your business and customer base, download it and then edit according to your specifications. Most companies showcase all the available designs on their site for you to preview before downloading, so you'll know exactly what you are buying beforehand.

A website template is almost like a hybrid creation, perfect for online businesses because it is so flexible. With a template you have the best of both worlds - the professional image and functionality that normally come from a website designed by a hired designer coupled with the affordability and flexibility of a DIY web design project. One such website template company I found that offers reasonably priced, quality templates is http://templatedogma.com/.

Once you have the basic design in your hands, editing is a cinch. Editing involves adding your own content, logos, pictures, graphics and more to the template to make it unique. Keep in mind that a template will not usually come with ready-made content or other features, as this is something that must be created afterwards. Good website templates can be edited with a variety of popular HTML editors, so make sure you purchase website templates that mention the editing programs with which the templates are compatible. Search for website templates that can be edited using software such as DreamWeaver, FrontPage, GoLive and Photoshop. Most people either already know how to use these simple, user-friendly editors or can learn very quickly.

Another option is to have someone edit the template for you. If you really have no clue when it comes to web design, even with a prepared template, most website template companies also offer a custom design service. This keeps the cost down, which is the main benefit of utilizing a template in the first place, while still letting you enjoy the perk of having someone else do the editing.

The Price is Nice

Arguably, the most popular selling point of website templates is the price. For as low as $20-$40 you can purchase a template that looks just as good or better than a "professionally" designed site costing you much more. Many web designers charge thousands of dollars for website creation that simply isn't that good. And working with a designer takes a lot more time - hence the hefty price tag. You have to work back and forth over a period of several weeks just to come up with a design that works best for your company. Website templates are much more cost-effective to produce, which is how the prices are kept so low. And of course, you save time as well as money. You can literally have a website up and running - earning you revenue - within a few days or less. Website templates make setting up your online business as easy and efficient as possible.

Flash Websites

What if you require more than a simple, straightforward website? Perhaps you want a flash-based design for your site? No problem - flash website templates can also be purchased for a decent price without sacrificing quality, simplicity and usability. Many template designers offer a wide range of template styles, so don't fret if you require something a little more complicated than the average website. Website template designers offer the consumer a lot of choice, making it easy to create a website that will work for your business.

In addition, businesses that want to buy a template no other website will use in the future (a unique site) should purchase a copyrighted template. When you opt for a copyrighted template you receive all rights to the site design and can be sure it will not be re-sold to another business. On the other hand, the rights of non-copyrighted templates remain with the template company, and as a result, anyone can buy the same one. If this won't interfere with your business buy non-copyrighted templates and save some money, but if you want an entirely unique site, spend a little more for a copyrighted site that won't be found anywhere else on the web.

Whatever you decide to choose, website templates are the future of web design. You can't go wrong - nothing could be more cost-effective or simple.

This article was written by Andrew Maidla of http://templatedogma.com/

Template Dogma offers a huge selection of professional, ready to use website templates and custom products too. Build your professional website in minutes with the help of Templatedogma.com.

Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to http://templatedogma.com/

What is TYPO3 Template?

The so-called template (TYPO3 template) is the heart of a CMS website. It consists of several files (HTML, CSS, images) to determine the basic structure and layout of the page. It will put special markings, which are later filled automatically by the CMS with the appropriate content. The overall visual appearance of an Internet presence can be defined in a single static template and thus guarantees a uniform build. Of course, but can if required also for different areas (eg pages of a presence, various templates) are created. Suppose you are planning an online magazine for different sports, for example, can the rubric of "Winter" a completely different layout and color system to get than the rubric of "Water".

We can create TYPO3 templates from

? New Design to TYPO3 templates

? PSD, AI or any other source design file to typo3 templates

? HTML templates to TYPO3 templates

There are many methods to implement template.

1. Standard Typo3 Templates

2. Auto Parser Typo3 templates

3. TemplaVoila Typo3 templates

1. Traditional Templating

Defining the areas in your template whose contents or functionalities are to be dynamically replaced by your content inputted into Typo3 back end. To let TYPO3 know what parts of your template to replace you have to include special placeholders in the HTML template. Two types of placeholders are available for this: subparts and markers.

Subparts are used in pairs to enclose sections of the HTML template that are replaced by the output of your TypoScript configuration.

The name of the subpart is enclosed by ### and subpart name is case sensitive.

Example:

... This text would be replaced by Typo3...

Markers are enclosed by ###, they are used as single tags and distinction is made between upper and lower case. Example:

###BREADCRUMBS###

Main difference between the two is that you can enclose HTML comments inside subparts.

2. Template Auto Parser/Modern Template Building

The modern approach to template building is to keep the site design separate from the site engineering. This is epitomised in templavoila. A slightly earlier and more restrictive approach, which many users nevertheless advocate, is provided by the Template Auto Parser.

TYPO3 provides four page divisions which (if turned on) are traditionally configured separately and processed in order to generate a main, left, right and border "columns" for the page template.

The template auto parser removes the spatial relationships between these elements, and attaches them instead to ids in the HTML template. In this way, at least four variable content areas can be defined in any HTML page, without disrupting the HTML layout.

As with templavoila, the content elements can be anywhere on the page; the key limitation is that, without hassle, only four such areas are available for the page, and this may not be enough. However, the HTML template can be designed with dummy content, enabling the work of the page designer to be separated from that of the site engineer.

3. Templavoila typo3 template

TemplaVoila is an extremely powerful templating engine for typo3. With it you can use virtually any html page(s) as the basis of the template(s) for your site, and change the template of any given page and its descendents very easily.

In particular the problems that TemplaVoila addresses are how to create more flexible page structures than currently known in TYPO3s concept of "columns". Further, it integrates traditional templating on the content element level but with a far more flexible point-n-click style than seen before.

TYPO3 Templates - Typo3Techie offers complete TYPO3 services in India like TYPO3 Template Design & Development, TYPO3 CMS Website Design, TYPO3 Extensions Development, TYPO3 Programming, TYPO3 Customization, TYPO3 Support & Maintenance etc.

Are Web Templates Bad?

In short, web templates are bad for business. If asking for a personal or family website, go web template all the way and never look back. We deal with businesses and like I said, web templates are bad for business. Before I explain all of the different components and characteristics that make web templates so horrible, let me clear something up first. Often when I tell people that web templates are their worst nightmare, they stop me and ask, "Then why do sell them on your web design company's website?" The answer to this is two-part. The first reason is simply a cost issue. Many new businesses and a select few established businesses simply either cannot afford completely custom website design or they cannot justify the price. Our templates afford them an opportunity to present an effective web presence at much lower costs. The second reason requires you to understand the nature of our web templates. Our web templates still require you to possess graphic design, slicing and web programming skills. By purchasing a template from us, you can save a lot of money on a website because you've cut out the bulk of our graphic design department work. However, we still customize our web templates to cater to your business and our programmers will ensure that a template based design from us doesn't lack functionality like other web templates do.

With that said, let's focus on the reasons why web templates are bad for business:

Web templates poorly represent your business.

Life would be excellent if competition didn't exist and you were the only business around offering your products and services. However, we know that isn't life and businesses have to communicate to potential clients what differentiates them from their competitors and why the potential clients should choose them. Templates don't effectively communicate your brand and competitive advantages due to fact that they are pre-designed and have no association with your business. One of the best ways that I've heard this put is like this, "Template web sites are designed to be sold to you and not to your customers, and many business owners get into the trap thinking that if the template looks good to you it will look good to your clients." The problem with this thinking is it's too singular. The point of effective website design is not only to look good, but also to look unique. If you're working from a template that has been resold to thousands of other businesses, you complete lack uniqueness and regardless of the number of times your web template has been resold, a web template will never set your business apart from your competition. Period!

Web templates are often over done to make them more appealing to you.

Remember, the he designers of website templates are designing a product to sell to you. That's why they over pack them with flash, sounds, graphics, icons, and bullets which may in the end actually detract from the usability of the website. Yes, all of these things seem cool and they may lead you to believe that the template is going to make your business look great but think again. You don't need your website to be the most graphically designed website on the web. You need your website to be functional first, and then professional. 90% of the time, anything other than is simply excess.

Speaking of flash, what's with all that flash?

Once again going back to the the idea of template designers designing them to sell to you and not your customers, they often jam pack their templates with tons of flash design elements. I mean, who wouldn't want their website to be a super cool flash site? That'll impress your customers right? Well, not if they can't find your website. We only recommend flash website to well established companies who have no need to be found. Everyone knows who Pepsi is and there aren't many people searching the internet trying to figure what Pepsi is. Bottom line, flash animation is not good for search engine optimization (SEO) and the often most often flash animated sections of web templates is the navigation menu which is a crucial SEO component. So by choosing that beautiful flash animated website, you in the end could be costing yourself traffic to your website.

The Logo Space

It's actually pretty easy to spot a web template when you see one by the logo. The logo believe it or not, is one of the most critical parts of your website design because of its branding power. You can always tell when the logo design and placement was an afterthought which it is in a website template. The design was not created for your logo, and your logo most often won't fit in without it being resized, the colors changed, or done away with and replaced with text.

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How To Set Up A Professional Website On Your Own Using Web Templates

To create professional websites is not an easy task by any means. There are many things that you got to take into consideration like easy navigation, strategic links, clean coding, professional layout, easy downloading, scanability, usability and so on. These are the elements that differentiate a professional website from a mediocre one. So in a way it’s not designing the website that counts but how the website is designed.

The only option that most of us have in order to design a good website is to hire a web- designer. Web-designers can help you come up with a great website that looks professional and is coded to perfection, but what about the time factor, leave alone the costs. Here’s where web templates come to the rescue.

What are web templates?

Wondering what web templates are? Well, to put it in simple terms, web templates are semi-finished, pre designed web pages that can be used to create and host websites in less time. They are coded and have everything from graphics to logos and can be customized if required to add new pictures, content etc.

Why are web templates considered semi finished WebPages?

Web templates are semi finished in the sense that they are not ready to upload as they are. You need to add certain elements to make them look complete. Some of the main elements that you need to add include

Links
Page content
Page titles/header/footer and tags
Company Logo, images etc
After adding these details the web template becomes ready to be uploaded using a web host for the world to see.

What is the price range of web templates?

Web templates range in price depending on the type of templates, terms of usage, package deals, membership deals, files provided etc. Typically a professional template with non-exclusive rights could cost you anything between $20 to $100. This is way lower as compared to what a web designer would ask you for designing your website, not to mention the time factor. Copyrighted templates with exclusive rights could cost you anywhere between $350 to $1800 per template. Some template providers like http://www.buytemplates.net can offer you high quality templates for much lower costs.

What are the files I should get with the purchase of a template?

The files that you get on the purchase of a template differ from vendor to vendor depending on the type/feature of the template. Regardless of the type of template some files that should accompany your purchase are as follows,

Index.html file
Jpeg/gif image files, font files
External CSS Style sheets
PSD files
In addition to these some other files such as .js file (for templates that use JavaScript) and readme.txt files can also be provided. Generally these files are provided in a .zip format and you may need to unzip them for usage. You can make use of unzipping software like WinZip to unzip the files. This software can be downloaded from winzip.com.

What kind of rights do I get over the web templates?

Basically there are two types of templates; exclusive (copyrighted) templates and non- exclusive (non-copyrighted) templates. An exclusive template gives you ownership rights over the template whereas a non exclusive template does not give you ownership rights but only usage rights. Exclusive web templates are a bit costly and will ensure that the template is not resold to any other customer. You may use the template as your like and even resell it to other customers. A non-exclusive template on the other hand is cheaper and gives you only usage rights over the template. This means you can modify the template as per your needs but cannot resell them to a third party. Non-exclusive templates also mean that the same template can be resold by the template provider to more than one customer.

How do I edit the web templates?

Basically editing involves inserting the content, changing the style and adding/changing graphics. This can be done using the psd, index.html and other files that the web-template provider gives you on purchase of specific templates.

Editing images and graphics

You would require PSD files in order to edit images and graphics like change image color; add/remove image layers etc. PSD files are those created using Photoshop and can be edited using Photoshop, ImageReady, imac or other image editing software programs. You can also change images to your liking. The best place to look for quality images for your templates is 'gettyimages.com'.

Editing content

If you only need to change/insert content of the template, you can go for editing the index.html file. The index.html file is provided by all template providers and can be edited using Html editors like FrontPage, Dreamweaver, Golive etc. You can also edit content using text editors. Index.html can also be used for removing/replacing images, changing links, adding meta-tags, adding alt texts, adding title and changing image sources.

Editing layouts and styles

For editing layouts and styles you would require a CSS style sheet. A CSS style sheet is a document that lets you make changes like text color, text/paragraph spacing, headings, links etc to multiple pages. Always ask your template provider to give external CSS style sheets as they are easy to edit. CSS can be edited using any HTML or text based editors.

In case you find the editing part difficult you can make use of web template customization services that are provided by most template providers.

Domain registration and hosting

Domain registration and web hosting are crucial for your website to appear online. There are many template providers who offer allied services like domain registration and hosting. Some even provide services like content development and search engine optimization. So be sure to buy templates from template vendors who offer these additional services. Some template providers like ‘buytemplates.net’ offer template related services irrespective of where you actually purchased the template from.

Where can I find quality web templates?

The internet is filled with websites that offer web templates. All that you need to do is insert a keyword like ‘corporate web templates’ in google or yahoo! to get a SERP crammed with web template providers. But finding quality templates from this crap is a bit difficult. A template many look glossy on your screen but may contain bad coding and low grade graphics. Some may be cheap but will have bad or no service associated. So how to find the best web templates in this heap load? The best way is to ask your-self these seven questions before making a buying decision.

Questions to ask before buying web templates

Are the templates conversant with my company objectives and goals?
Will they appeal to my end users?
What kind of support does the web template provider offer?
Does the web template provider offer complimentary services like hosting, customization, SEO etc?
Is the template compatible with all editing software programs?
What kind of files does the template vendor offer me?
What are the membership options available?
Best web template providers online

Some of the best web template providers online who offer high quality web templates at affordable costs are www.buytemplates.net (Buytemplates.net offers quality templates at affordable rates. They also provides allied services like template customization, content insertion Search engine optimization and web hosting), http://www.templatemagic.net (offers quality affordable templates), designgalaxy.net [http://www.designgalaxy.net] (this site also offers logo designs, flash intros, Photoshop designs and PowerPoint templates along with web templates.) and interspire.com (This site is a must visit for anyone looking for free website templates. Their free templates are of good quality and are updated regularly. You can also get hold of free newsletter templates and logo designs here)

About the Author

http://www.icongalore.com is a quality web portal that offers high quality professional XP icons. Their XP application icons come at extremely affordable prices and can be used for web designing, software applications and print media.

Quilting Templates - How to Use Them to Cut Perfect Quilt Block Pieces and Avoid Frustration

Quilting Templates are used to mark and cut fabric into units to be pieced together into quilt blocks.? These blocks are then sewn together to make up the quilt top.? It is essential to use only quilting templates which are 100% precise to ensure that the units will line up correctly when pieced together.? Nothing is more frustrating than cutting all the units for a quilt block and when pinning or basting them together discovering that they do not line up properly!? Imagine how nearly impossible it would be to measure out several hundred 12 inch by 12 inch squares with a ruler onto your fabric and have every one of those squares come out to be exactly 12 inches by 12 inches when cut.? Even more impossible would be to measure several hundred 12 inch curved patterns free hand.? As you can see, the use of quilting templates is absolutely essential!

You can make your own quilting templates from paper, cardboard, poster board or flexible plastic, which is sold in many quilt and craft shops specifically for use in making templates.? To make the template you must first choose the quilt block pattern you are going to use.? There are many free patterns available online or you may choose to buy a quilting book which will many times have not only different quilt patterns but instructions on what shape and size templates will be needed to make up the quilt blocks along with guidelines on how much fabric to purchase.?? These books often have drawings of the quilting templates in various shapes and sizes that you can trace to make your templates.

Once you have selected your quilt block pattern and located the quilting templates needed, place the template material over the diagram of the template and trace the outline using the thinnest possible drawing pen.? If you are not using clear template material, it is helpful to place the diagram and the template material over a lightbox so that you can see the outline of the diagram. ?If you do not have a lightbox, you can tape the diagram with the template material placed on top of it onto a sunny window so that the light behind it will enable you to accurately trace the diagram of the template.

If you have used flexible plastic to make your quilting template, it should hold up for multiple uses.? However, if you have used paper or cardboard or any such material whose edges will wear out quickly, be sure to replace these templates very frequently.? Paper templates are good for one use only whereas cardboard or posterboard templates can be used several times before becoming worn out and unusable.? Remember, precision when marking and cutting your units is crucial to the successful piecing together of the quilt block.? It is best not to try to save time and money by reusing slightly worn templates - they will only result in inaccuracy which will produce disappointing results.

You can also purchase premade templates.? When purchasing ready-made quilting templates it is best to select those made of sturdy acrylic that have been laser cut which ensures precision.? ?These premade templates are available in many shapes and sizes both online and in quilt and craft shops.? They will save you a great deal of time over using homemade quilting templates, will be 100% accurate and will last for a very long time.

To mark and cut your fabric into units lay the well-ironed fabric on a flat surface wrong side up and place the template on top of the fabric being sure that the template grain line lies parallel to either the lengthwise or crosswise grain of the fabric.? If using a scissors, trace the outline of the template onto the fabric, using a pencil or fabric marker that makes a very thin line.? Then cut out the units, being sure to use very sharp scissors that you? have reserved for use only with fabric.

To save time and eliminate the need for tracing the template over and over, use a rotary cutter and mat.? Rotary cutters come in various sizes.? The small ones are good to use when cutting curved patterns whereas the large ones are excellent for cutting large, straight lines and for cutting through several layers of fabric simultaneously.? Once again, lay your well-ironed fabric wrong side up on a flat surface on top of a rotary mat to protect the surface, place the template on top of the fabric, and proceed to cut using the rotary cutter.? No need to trace around the template.? All you need do is cut around the edges of the template with the cutter.

Once you have all your units cut you are ready to begin sewing.? If you have used precise quilting templates and have carefully marked and cut your fabric, you should have no trouble piecing together units and having them line up 100% accurately to produce beautiful quilt blocks.

Patricia is an avid crafter and has made a number of quilts and quilted pillows over the years. She enjoys writing about and sharing her knowledge of quilting with interested others. Whether you are an avid quilter or new to the craft, visit her blog at http://www.quiltingtemplates.org for more tidbits of info on quilting.

Template Routing in Woodworking - Getting the Basics Right

Experienced woodworkers know how difficult it can be to guide routers for achieving the perfect cut. The easiest way to avoid mistakes with routers is to use a template. Templates are simply patterns of the shapes that are required to be cut. Templates allow woodworkers to repeat cuts and shapes perfectly, however it is important to remember to use the same bit with the same collar and the same depth. This information must be recorded on the template.

The Ideal Material For Making Precise Templates

The best way to get the basics right is to start by making some simple templates. The most difficult part of template routing is making the template itself. All the important information about the final shape you want to rout should be encoded in the design of the template. The more accurately a template is made, the more time will be saved in the long run. In this way less time will be spent in sanding, fitting and fudging later in the manufacturing process.

Sawing, rasping and filing are time consuming and tedious to way to make templates. It is also difficult to make a perfect curve with hand tools. Accurate templates are most easily made with sanders and routers.

Templates should be dimensionally stable, durable and capable of taking the fine details. Solid wood is a poor choice for templates as it is not dimensionally stable. While steel is stable and durable if you accidentally touch a spinning bit to a template made from steel, you will probably wreck the bit and the template. Acrylic is transparent and allows for visibility of the work beneath but a slow bearing can generate enough heat from friction to melt a template made out of acrylic. Although all of these materials can be used, Medium-Density Fibreboard (MDF) is probably the best choice and has shown to produce great results.

Templates For Repeatable Shapes

A furniture maker might be able to make a single curved shape like a decorative shelf support, using a scroll saw and an oscillating sander, just as fast as using a template router. But this would only be an initial occurrence. If the process is to be repeated template routing will be easier and faster. A router bit leaves a much smoother edge than a scroll saw and the edge will need a loss less sanding. Make the template using smooth gradual curves on MDF, by sanding to layout lines on a stationary belt sander.

For this type of work it is easier to use a straight bit with a collar guide because you can adjust the cutting depth to match the thickness of the shelf support stock. Collar guides will displace the cut from the exact edge of the template. With straight lines this merely entails positioning the template at the offset distance from the layout line so that the layout lines are just as straight.

Curves are a bit different. A collar will make the bit cut a slightly larger radius on outside curves and smaller radius on inside curves. The result will be a finished piece slightly different from the template, but not consequential. To find where the bit will actually cut, run a pen in a loose bearing with the same offset as the collar along the template to draw the layout line.

Cutting Shallow Mortises and Tapers on Small Pieces

Cutting shallow mortises that are clean and evenly deep such as those for butt hinges is a difficult task with traditional tools. A router guided by a template will give more accurate cuts faster and with less variation. Router stability on the template is essential to an accurate and safe cut. A router that wobbles with a lot of cutter engaged can break the cutter, tear the stock and template or even cause a kickback that can cause the router to fall to the floor. The machinery has to stay flat and stable at all times.

Some workpieces are too small to rout safely if they are sandwiched between a workbench and template. For instance to taper legs for a coffee table you can build a template that holds the workpiece in place with toggle clamps. Guide blocks can be used to position the side and end of the leg leaving enough room behind them to clamp the template upside down to a workbench edge. To get a smooth taper, the guide blocks must be secured at the desired angle in relation to the edge of the template. As the router follows the edge, it cuts the taper angle of the blocks in the leg.

Using a template frees the woodworker from following the edge of the workpiece. The router becomes capable of two more fundamental woodworking tasks: joinery and milling repeatable patterns. The initial investment of time to make a template for a precise task is well worth it. Your router will perform the task faster and a lot more reliably than other tools can.

Tamara Korremans, 3D Analyzer Software

3D Analyzer Software Website: http://www.3danalyzersoftware.com

3D Analyzer Software Blog: http://www.3danalyzersoftwareblog.com

Follow us on Twitter @ 3danalyzer

5 Important Things to Know About Dental Website Templates

Dental website templates are a great way to save time and money when designing a website for your local dental practice. Here are 5 things to consider when purchasing a dental web template.

1) Most require basic knowledge of HTML and image editing

A dental website template gives you a great head start on designing your dental website. Website colors, layout and HTML code are already completed for you.

But in order to make the template your own, you will need enough knowledge of HTML to add your own text, and a basic image editing program to properly scale your logo to fit in the space provided by the web template.

If you're considering purchasing a template that uses Flash, plan on getting professional assistance. Customizing Flash templates is not a do-it-yourself proposition for 99.9% of dentists.

2) You need a place to host your template

In order for your new dental website to be visible on the internet, you need a domain name (.com) and place to host your template. A "web host" is a fancy term used to describe a computer with special software that stores your website in a place where everyone can see it.

There's no shortage of web hosting companies willing to assist you. At last count, Google listed over 54 million results for "web hosting companies" so you might want to start there.

3) Web templates are not unique

Would you be embarrassed if you showed up at an event wearing the same outfit as someone else? Don't make the same mistake with your website.

Dental website templates are not unique. And although the odds of another dentist in your area using the same design as you are very low, you'd be wise to spend a few minutes checking out your competitors' sites before purchasing your own dental web template.

Another way to avoid this problem is to avoid dental website templates that you see available for purchase on more than a handful of template websites on the internet. The more widespread the product is, the more likely it will show up in your neighborhood.

4) Not all templates are created equal

When buying a dental website template you need to consider, not only the appearance of the template, but also the code behind it. Since you don't get to see the code before you buy the template, look for details in the template's description.

Good words and phrases to see are, "tested in such and such web browsers", "optimized for search engines", and "css tableless design".

If you have limited knowledge of HTML, another good tip is to avoid dental web templates with complicated page layouts. The more elaborate the page layout, the more difficult the template will be to customize.

5) You don't have to set it up yourself

If all of this sounds like too much work to handle on your own, there are professionals that can help you. Most websites that sell dental web templates offer customization services and web hosting packages to go along with them.

Find a template that you like, write down its name or number, and look for a link on the page that says, "template tuning" or "template customization". If you don't see one right away, keep looking. You're likely to find some form of customization offer in the details or checkout pages to follow.

If you're looking for an affordable alternative to custom website design, consider dental website templates. With your newly acquired understanding of how templates work, you're sure to find a design that meets your needs, tastes and budget.

Find limited edition dental website templates, affordable dental template tuning, web hosting and internet marketing packages at DentistMarketers.com.

Using Templates With Your Website

Designing a website can be a daunting time consuming task. Many people hire professional web designers to avoid the hassle. Unfortunately, web designers can be very expensive, and for those just starting out or those looking for a cost effective solution, templates can be the answer. Although, free templates are available on the internet, they can be also be costly.

Free Templates May Not Be Your Best Choice.

There are millions of free templates readily available on the internet. The problem can be that many do not look very professional. Would you really want to use a template on your website that screams "amateur"? I really doubt it. Most webmasters want their websites to look professional, clean and sometimes maybe even a little cool.

Although, many HTML editors, like XSitePro, come with many free templates. These templates are a much higher quality and don't scream beginner, plus they are designed to work with your specific HTML editor. There is an issue with these too though, and that is they may leave your website looking like many other websites. It can be very alarming if you come across a website that looks just like yours. One possible solution is to alter the template enough that it becomes unique and only you will have it.

Low Priced Templates

You can expect a higher quality template when you have to pay for it. The higher quality is usually due to the fact that a professional designer has created the template, this helps to keep the price low. This creates a win win situation for everyone as the consumer receives an economical price, the designer can sell as many different designs and never have to deal with the customer, and the company selling the template can sell the template as many times as they wish. So everyone is happy and more importantly the website owner purchases a professional looking template that is reasonably priced.

Of course this there can be pit falls too. As more and more entrepreneurs are creating websites and purchasing low priced templates, you may run into the same problem of too many people using the same template as you. This will be more of a problem if you purchase a template from a website that sells millions of them. Although if you choose your template carefully you may just end up with professional design that won't leave you broke.

One Of A Kind Templates

The websites that sell inexpensive templates have come to the realization that many people don't want to see their template being used on another website, so they now offer another option, exclusive templates. Exclusive templates have become very popular among websites that sell templates.

Even though exclusive templates have become very popular, they may not be the best option for you. Before purchasing an exclusive template from a website you should really get a few quotes on having one professionally designed for you. You may just find that it will be a better fit and more cost effective to pay a designer to create the template that you want, instead of choosing a pre-made one.

Visit Easy Website Builder Design today and see just how easy it can be to build your own small business website. While you're there be sure to pick up your free copy of Search Engine Optimization Made Easy ebook.

Small Business Can Save Big Money With Templates

In the business world, time is a valuable asset and A great way to start saving time in developing your business is to use ready-made templates. Templates can be used to quickly develop websites, ad campaigns, business cards and more. In most cases these templates can be purchased from large wholesalers online for penny's on the dollar. The quality and type of templates available will vary greatly, but below are descriptions of the most often used types of templates and those that can often save you the most money.

Website Design Templates:

A web design template is a pre-built website where the design work and coding has been completed, but the content still must be integrated into the pages. A simple web template may cost under $20 dollars, but a well-designed professional e-commerce website may cost upward of $200. These prices are based on high volume template warehouses. A custom developed template solely for your business alone may cost in the thousands. Webmasters, either novice or expert, can easily save thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours by using website templates. In addition when purchasing your template from A professional website template reseller you will often be purchasing designs of a much higher quality than your are capable of creating on your own.

"I want an original design" - Often this is what people think when considering the purchase a website template. They feel that having a design that might be used by others is not a viable option for their business; however, most professional template distributors offer a "unique bid". This special price is offered to those who wish to purchase the design for their use only. If the special price is paid (which is often as much as 20X more than the normal purchase price) then the template will be removed from the sellers database and from any and all affiliate websites which might also sell their products. In this way you have purchased the design you wanted for much cheaper and faster than had you hired someone to develop a custom design.

Business Card and Logo Templates:


For most small agencies, using business card templates is a wonderful tool to easily make custom business cards. Templates usually come in two main categories. Program source files (Photoshop or Illustrator files ready to accept your personal information) and "online development programs " which allow you to choose images and layouts online and simply input your personal information through an interface on the seller's website. Either way works well and can often give you a high quality, professional looking business card in a matter of minutes. The design can then be used to purchase cards directly through the template seller's website or you can take the files to your local printer.

PowerPoint Templates:


The third most popular category of business templates are PowerPoint designs. These templates allow you to quickly put together a good looking presentation as fast as you can copy and paste your content into them. These are great for unexpected meetings and spontaneous presentations. You can make it look like you had all week to prepare when actually you threw it together on the plane.

Summary:


The real story behind using templates to start your business off right is the cost savings combined with the huge time savings. Together they allow small start up companies to have the same opportunities as the big boys who have designers on staff. I cannot think of a more accessible way to level the playing field so keep them in mind the next time someone quotes you a ridiculous price for design services. This author has built his own business on the backs of template designers I have never met.

Written by Gene Torrey
Lead developer for BGM design
To learn more about saving money with website design templates follow this link. Copyright ? 2005 Blue Gel Media This article may be reproduced if all content, links and byline remain intact.

Blue Gel Meida is a webmaster software and design resource center

What to Ask Yourself About Brochure Templates

When choosing brochure templates, there are things that you must be sure of before committing to just one of them. You cannot just use brochure templates randomly without considering its effects on your whole brochure printing process.

This is because unlike other printing templates, brochure templates have a few crucial elements that you cannot just ignore or smooth over, as your printing process gets more specific. If you are just about to choose your brochure templates yourself, first try out asking a few of the questions below to help yourself with the decision.

How is the template set to fold? - The big question that you must ask first is what kind of folding technique is the brochure set at? While by default most people use the tri-fold brochure template, there are still other folds like the French fold, the gatefold, the accordion fold etc.

Each of these folds has very specific differences and if you want to download a template in the Internet, you must know what kind of fold your template is using. Many people make the mistake in downloading templates en masse only to find out that they can only use a few because of "fold" considerations. So make sure you ask yourself first, how the template is set to fold. This should save you a lot of time scrounging through your different brochure templates.

Is the flow of the template content appropriate? - Also, for each individual template, the flow of text and content can vary throughout the panels. Some brochures can be read from left to right across panels, while others need to be read top to bottom for each panel before moving on to the next. In addition, there are still others that can be quite confusing, especially the ones with exotic or unusual folding techniques.

Your choice should depend on the content you will be placing in the brochure. If you require contiguous text, they you might want a brochure format that allows for the free flow of large type information, just like in fully opened French fold. However, if you just want to give short snippets of listed information, a tri-fold template might be better. Therefore, it all depends on the flow of your content, if a brochure template can work. So make sure you add that to your list of considerations.

Is there space for what you need? - Next, you should also take into account the length of your text and images and the available space in the template. Some templates can have large design objects and elements that can limit the things that you can put on to it. So always, try to add in some draft content into the brochure templates so that you can judge if you do indeed have the space for your content in the template. Otherwise, you have to switch to another one.

Will it expensive to print the template? - Also, you need to ask if printing the template is expensive. You might not know it, but different types of brochure templates can have different printing quotations. This happens because some brochure templates are more elaborate than others are in its designs and the folding requirements. So always ask for a quotation to check if your particular template is expensive to print or not.

Can your printer print the template? - Finally of course, you need to ask your printer if the template can be produced in their machines. As was touched on above, not all brochure templates are created equal and some may need attention in printing more than others. If a printer cannot handle a particular exotic template, you may need to change your designs or change your printing service. Whatever the case, it is always better to choose a brochure printer that can do almost anything with its brochures.

So what are you waiting for? Start asking these already and get that piece of mind in using brochure templates.

Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of the developments in brochure templates and brochure printing.

How Dreamweaver Templates Work

This article describes how Dreamweaver implements templates. Technically, to use Dreamweaver templates, you don't need to know any of the information given in this article; but it is handy to know something about what's going on under the hood in case you need to troubleshoot a Dreamweaver template based document.

Templates are a tool that is used in many computer applications including Microsoft Word, AutoCAD, and other office automation and design products. Templates are useful when you have a group of documents that share many similar design features. You implement the common features one time in the template, and then just customize the template with the individual features of each document.

Templates are Used Only at Design Time

It is important to understand that Dreamweaver templates are totally a design time construct. Only two things separate a Dreamweaver template from any other HTML document:

1. Dreamweaver template documents have a ".dwt" extension.

2. Dreamweaver templates contain specially defined HTML comments that define the editable and non editable area of the template.

When you create an "instance" document that is based on a Dreamweaver template and store it on a web server, the web server is completely unaware that the document was based on a template. It treats the document the same as any other HTML document, and ignores the template comments in the document the same as it would ignore any other comments in an HTML document.

Similarly, a web browser would be completely unaware that a document was based on a Dreamweaver template, and would also ignore the template comments the same as it would ignore any other comments in an HTML document.

Tag Syntax

Dreamweaver has two sets of tags:

* Template Tags are used in template files (files that have suffix .dwt).

* Instance Tags are used in the "instance" documents you create that are based on a template file (files that typically have a suffix .htm or .html).

Dreamweaver defines about thirty different template tags, but all of them have the following syntax:

where TEMPLATE_TAG_NAME and the parameters are replaced with an actual template tag name and actual parameter names. For example:

In the above example, the template tag is a TemplateBeginEditable tag named "Region 1".

The syntax of instance tags is quite similar:

Tag Pairs

Many template tags are paired, having an opening and a closing tag. For example, the "TemplateBeginEditable" tag described above always starts an editable region that is ended with a "TemplateEndEditable". The two tags come as a pair, defined as follows:

-- HTML Code goes here ---

How Dreamweaver uses Template Tags

One of the simplest and most important things that Dreamweaver does with Template/Instance tags is to define what regions of an instance document (document created based on a template document) can be edited. BUT BEWARE . . . If you use Dreamweaver to open a template based document in CODE VIEW, you can edit any part of the document in any way you please -- but this is generally not a good thing to do. In Dreamweaver document design view, Dreamweaver respects the instance tags that are included in a document; for example, it will only allow you to edit areas of the document that begin with an "InstanceBeginEditable" (or similar type) tag.

When you have finished editing your web page, the Dreamweaver Instance Tags will remain in it, but as previously stated, these tags are ignored by your Web Server and your Browser.

Finally, if you update a template in Dreamweaver, all of the documents based on the template will be updated too.

Conclusion

Dreamweaver templates work by using specially defined HTML comment tags to mark regions of Dreamweaver template documents and instance documents. You should recognize Dreamweaver template and instance tags, and understand what they do, but you should only edit them in Dreamweaver Design View, not in Code View. For more information on actually using Dreamweaver templates, see my upcoming article "Dreamweaver Tip: Build Better Websites Faster with Templates".

Sam Mela tutors math and does web design in Springfield Virginia. His web site is http://www.WeekendSuccess.com

Website Template Guide - Introduction and More!

Q.) What are web templates?

A.) Web templates are readymade web-pages. They make the job of putting web pages on the internet really quick.

Q.) How do the templates manage to do it so easily?

A.) Web templates perform as html coded dummy web pages that carry model content. These templates can be edited with ease and can be customized. You can add content, graphics, logo, pictures etc. to create master web pages in no time.

Q.) How do I edit web templates?

A.) That's very simple! Almost all web templates can be edited. You can use common html editors like FrontPage, DreamWeaver and GoLive along with image editors like Photoshop. These editors are user-friendly and have an easy to use interface. One doesn't need to be an expert in html editing to use them. But if you want to add minute details and perfect them, opt for template customization services that are offered by most web template providers.

Q.) But why will I use web templates - does it do me any other good?

A.) Web templates can in fact lend a fair bit of hand to save lots of money and time. The blend of these two with expertise makes web templates - the best option. A web designer can ask for anything in the range of $50 to $200 for designing a single web-page and he will take 15 days minimum.

With a web template to create a website, it would come around $40 max and save 12-13 days. Isn't that a deal? Websites designed with web templates can go live within a day after editing and pasting graphics. Now, you don't need to be an Einstein to figure out which one is the cost-effective and time-saving option. Do you?

Q.) What about Flash websites?

A.) Have you ever been to one of those famed jewelers websites - if you have been you will know how much time they take to open up? With an average time span of 14 secs as attention, not even 5 out of 10 people will wait for them to open up. Designing a flash website costs you money and consumes a lot of your time. This extra time is saved using web templates. But if you are really rigid on getting one, look for the template websites that offer flash website templates of good quality @ low-cost. Insert content and put 'em up.

Q.) I need to create a copyrighted website. Help!

A.) Almost all website template providers offer an option of copyrighted or non-copyrighted templates. The difference is that the copyrighted templates are sold only once. If you buy one, as the owner of the copyrighted template you will get all user rights over it.

In the case of a non-copyrighted website, the rights of usage are reserved with the template ownership company - which they use over and over again. So in a sense, a copyrighted website is unique as it uses unique copyrighted website templates.

Q.) All this is very theoretical...just tell me how do I find a quality template?

A.) There are little things to keep your eyes on.

Good quality web templates have the following:

- These web-templates are editable

- The web templates are 100% compatible with popular html and image editors

- The coding is uniform and friendly. This means that there is no change in the structure of the template on content or graphic inserts when you customize.

- The web template should be easy to upload on the web

- A webpage created by a web template should download in any browser minus hassles

NOTE: If you buy templates that don't meet the terms above, sorry but your deal was a bad one. The said web templates are of poor quality.

Website templates are easy and fun. They give you flexibility and help you host your website.

There are many good web template providers on the web. Some of the ones I have had memorable experiences are buytemplate.net, templatemonster.com, templaterover.com and trendytemplates.com. They provide high-quality web templates that are easy on purse and work beautifully.

The author, Sharon Anderson is a Content Developer at TemplateWorld.com [http://www.templateworld.com]

For further information visit TemplateWorld.Com [http://www.templateworld.com]