Creating a Basic Web Design Template
A "template" is simply a design format which you can apply to all (or most) of the pages in your web site. The first advantage of using a "template" system is that it allows you to make your most important design decisions at the beginning, and then just focus on content. The second advantage is that it allows you to quickly create new pages based on your standard design. The disadvantage is that many template-based websites look homogenized and seem to lack a unique character. Designers who sell templates tend to use the same formats over and over again, insert the same generic images, and use the same techniques. Just as important, templates are often not ready-to-go right out of the box. They almost always need modification, and often modifying a professionally prepared template is difficult because the designer will have used techniques you may not fully understand or are specific to the tools he or she used to create it. So it is preferable not to think of a web template as the kind of thing you buy from an online template store. Rather just think of it as a basic page format that can be used over and over again. The best template is therefore one that uses "standard" techniques that can be modified without the use of specialized tools or programs (like Front Page or Dreamweaver). Creating a Basic Template If you are not familiar with web design, try working with a "bare bones" template to begin with. There are two ways you can go. You can work with basic html and tables, or you can create your basic template with CSS. Since CSS is rapidly becoming the new standard, it is probably better to begin with CSS -- especially if you have not yet become used to constructing web pages with tables. CSS stands for "Cascading Style Sheets", but at the beginning it is not important to understand what that means. What is important is to understand that CSS allows you to create a set of formatting parameters in a "style sheet" (a seperate file) which you then can very easily apply to your individual pages. In other words, you seperate the "style" from the "content". A simple style sheet can contain just three or four design elements. Here is an example which you are free to copy (right click and "Save target as" to a location on your hard drive, then change its name to "sample-1.css".) Style Sheet Sample (be sure to change its name to "sample-1.css"). This template contains a definition for the body text, a header component (with a background image), a "navbar", and a definition for two headline styles, h1 and h2. Now that you have a style sheet you can begin building your web site by creating a basic home page. Here is an example which embeds the style sheet referred to in the previous paragraph. You can get the html code by just opening the page in a browser window, looking at the "Source" code, and saving the resulting file on your hard drive as, for instance, "sample-1.html". Now you should have two files in the same location on your hard drive -- "sample-1.css" and "sample-1.html". You can get the image file by just right clicking on the image in the sample page and saving it to the same location on your hard drive. Your second step will be to create the pages referenced in the "navbar", so make sure you think of names for these pages before proceeding (e.g., howitworks.html, products.html, about.html, sitemap.html, contact.html). Then build your hyperlinks into the navbar. (Look at the code of the sample file to see how it is done.) Once you have your basic home page with links, this then becomes your template. Just save it as "howitworks.html", "products.html", etc., and make the changes to the specific pages. The result (once you upload it all to your host server) will be a basic, functional website containing a number of properly interlinked pages. It will also be search engine friendly because the design is not cluttered with scripts, and the most important elements are clearly laid out at the top of the page. For more web design tips and techniques see the Linknet Marketing Resource Library. Rick Hendershot is a marketing consultant, writer, and internet publisher who lives in Conestogo, Ontario, Canada. He publishes several websites and blogs, including The Linknet Network of Websites. This network provides an inexpensive way to advertise your website, and get as many as 100 low cost links.
MORE RESOURCES: “Mobile First” as a Standard: Techysquad Redefines Web Accessibility and Responsiveness Finance Magnates Web Designer – Full-Time | Dynamic Digital Design Role Pedestrian TV Small Business Website Design Tips - Marketing Business.com Wix Partners Can Now Sell Templates in Wix Marketplace Search Engine Journal Website Design Competition - MCWT Michigan Council of Women in Technology Best web design software in 2024 TechRadar Website Design | Alton | Edwardsville | St Louis sales.riverbender.com Why (and How) I Learned Web Development as a Data Scientist Towards Data Science Moving Your Website into the Web Design System (WDS) Washington State University 25 Awesome About Us Page Examples For Web Design Inspiration Search Engine Journal Are you up to build the next best website? Get started with one of these 5 web design courses Fortune 30 Best Web Design Agencies To Partner With in 2024 Influencer Marketing Hub Top Web Design Trends 2024 Designmodo 13 Top-Ranked Shopify Web Design Agencies Influencer Marketing Hub 9 Chicago Web Design and Development Agencies To Know Built In Chicago Jeremy McGilvrey, A Houston Web Design Agency, Inks Long-Term Lease In Prestigious Williams Tower Office Space Yahoo Finance Sweb CEO puts AI to work for small business web design San Antonio Report Jessica Sorden's Transformation from Corporate Burnout to Web Design Maestro - by Carly Winchell The Ark Valley Voice Why isn't Adobe doing web design better? Creative Bloq The 15 best iPad apps for designers Creative Bloq Information technology students delve into web design with capstone project University of Missouri College of Engineering How to design a website: A beginner's guide CNN Underscored Valve and Picnik vets Hatch new idea — a no-code web design platform for 'tech curious creators' GeekWire 11 of the Best Web Development Agencies in New York + Tips on How to Choose the Best Agency Influencer Marketing Hub Valpo Web Design supports NWI No Child Hungry in fight against food insecurity with new website Valpo.Life 6 ways AI is changing web design Creative Bloq 10 Website Design Secrets to Know Before You Build a Site AllBusiness.com Michelle Belleville Science@NASA Revolutionizing Web Presence: Webness Studios Launch Specialist Website Design Services Yahoo Finance 5 seriously useful AI web design tools Creative Bloq How to Design an ADA-Compliant Website | CO- by US Chamber of Commerce CO— by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Locofy.ai's accelerates web design-to-code with AI as it pioneers Large Design Models Markets Insider Augmented Reality and the Future of Web Design | LBBOnline Little Black Book 18 Free Web Design Tools, Winter 2024 Practical Ecommerce The best website builder for photographers Creative Bloq Valpo Web Design & Marketing | Partners Valpo.Life Best web development tool of 2024 TechRadar The best free blog websites Creative Bloq The best website footer on the internet Fast Company The 39 best free web fonts Creative Bloq 5 Security Risks of Responsive Web Design Security Boulevard How web design trends have evolved Creative Bloq Top 10 Custom Web Design Agencies Influencer Marketing Hub U.S. announces official web design system Boing Boing Mizzou alumna uses web design expertise to give back to engineering, community University of Missouri College of Engineering |
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