What is a Template and Why Do I Need One?

Metaphorically, a template is like your house: built to be attractive and functional. You can have it custom built, choose your own floorplan and paint, and decide where you want all the electrical outlets. Or you can choose a house already built. Either way, remodeling is expensive, so it's important to choose well.

Content is like your furnishings and possessions, which can be easily changed, replaced, and moved around to suit your immediate purposes and mood. This is where daily life is lived.

In website terms...

A template contains:

• Banner (logo, graphics and website title, usually at the top of the page).
• Footer (links, copyright notice, etc.)
• Layout: 1-column, 2-column, 3-column or mixed-column.

A template also defines:

• Text style, size and color.
• Heading style, size and color.
• Link style and color.
• Emphasized text style and color.

Content contains:

• Text, headings, links (the words themselves)
• Photos and graphics inserted that illustrate text
• Forms, surveys and other interactivity

In our design process, we design template first, and you, the site owner, approve it.

We then insert content, following the rules already set in place by the template.

What does this mean for you?

You should change content frequently, but not your template. Plan ahead when you design your template. Template revisions later affect every page on the website, and what's more, they can be expensive.

One way to have more control over the template of your website, and save cost, is to choose your own.

You can find hundreds of templates at templatemonster.com. Or if you prefer a website that you can update yourself, choose a free Wordpress template. We can customize it for you to serve as a professional website.