A huge part of turnkey sites (lower price segment) are sites that have a so-called template design.
Today let’s understand: what is a template and unique design, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these types of design, as well as in what cases would be preferable to the template design, and in which the unique.
A couple of general remarks – Template site layout or unique design
The choice of template or unique design is closely related to the functionality of the site. More precisely, the tasks that it must perform. So, if it is a business card or a landing page, the template may be the best option.
Unique design is the most correct and effective solution when the site is complex (with non-standard functionality), or there are tasks:
- increase brand recognition;
- to create an emphasis on the existing design of the company;
- to get a plus in usability;
- to make detuning from competitors.
Consider the advantages/disadvantages of a unique and template design in more detail.
The benefits of unique design
A unique website design is created to meet the requirements of the company in accordance with the TOR and taking into account the specifics of activities. An example of a landing page with interactive animation elements. Such non-standard solutions are created from scratch for a particular client
A unique design is created from scratch. Here is disclosed the main advantage of this approach: a web resource design is initially optimized for the needs of your company. Instead of a template menu and structure you get thoughtful design.
The development of a unique design by professionals gives the following advantages:
- Exclusivity unique design, which will not be used by any other site;
- Focus on maximum conversion taking into account the specifics of your product or service. When a team of competent professionals simultaneously works on the design, it is possible to realize not only a spectacular graphical performance, but also to make the interface/structural/other elements of the site as effective as possible, especially in terms of conversions. The SEO specialist will give his thoughts on the structure and other elements of the site. A UX-analyst will give advice related to the most preferable usability implementation. Designers will provide the most preferred options for pages.
- Considering the specifics of the company previously designed corporate identity you will be able to articulate to the studio requirements for each element of the site, including graphic content and structure;
- Effective detachment from competitors who use primitive templates and whose sites do not stand out.
Disadvantages of a unique website design
With all the advantages of a unique design, it has tangible disadvantages:
- The high cost of individual site design, as a rule, is prescribed as a separate line in the contract, and its price can be almost half the cost of the project. This is due not only to the work of a professional designer, but also the work of other professionals who are involved in the process;
- Long time costs, although much depends on the specific performer, the creation of a unique website design usually takes quite a long time;
- may require revision of the design, which is created from scratch, can be beautiful and functional. But a brand new solution often requires long-term debugging to find bugs and other problems. The design is tested for compatibility/conflicts with other elements of the site to avoid future crashes or other errors.
Advantages of template design
Template design, as the name makes clear, results from the use of a ready-made website template. Templates are distributed through specialized banks. Among the most popular are TemplateMonster, ThemeForest, Dribbble.
Template bank interface example
The template contains developments in structure, graphic content, other elements of the page. Many beginners are prejudiced against template design and consider it a major drawback for any web project. In practice, however, there is nothing wrong with a template, in some cases such a solution will be even more effective than a custom design.
Advantages of template website design
- The price of a template design will cost much less than a unique one. If the phrase why pay more is relevant to you now, a template can be a suitable solution at the initial stage of creating the site;
- High speed of implementation, unlike a unique design, which must still be created, tested and implemented, a template can be immediately installed on the site. For each CMS there are huge banks of both paid and free templates.
In addition, the templates are quite diverse despite the fact that the template comes as it is, in part it can be customized to your liking.
Disadvantages of template layouts
Now about the disadvantages. The disadvantages of templates are quite a lot, and you can’t get rid of them entirely by any means.
First of all, the template can not take into account your individual needs and wishes. A template is what it is. Finish it, of course, you can, but to integrate into it, for example, a company’s branding, colors, fonts, logos is very difficult or simply impossible, because the templates are almost completely closed from editing. So to fit the corporate identity in the framework of the template design is certainly not possible.
Other disadvantages of template design
- Repeats on a particularly good template learn hundreds of novice webmasters who create their first sites. So do not be surprised if you find your template on some other site;
- Paid functionality is more or less beautiful and functional templates cost money. Even if you have paid for a template, you may be waiting for unpleasant surprises later. Example: you want to put a script on your site, and the footer/header is just closed from editing. Some developers allow you to edit the system files of the site theme only after the purchase of the professional version of the template;
- Restrictions on changing theme files is one of the most unpleasant features of paid templates, which binds the designer literally hands and feet;
- Hidden links in the body of the template may contain URLs that do not manifest themselves in any way. However, search engine crawlers see all the invisible links they especially do not like, and if such a link leads to a site of questionable topics (porn, gambling, drugs, pharma), then wait for the loss of positions in SERP, or even full pessimization site. So be sure to check the template code for hidden and other dubious links that may harm your site;
- General technical imperfection many, even paid and high-quality templates have poorly optimized code. Such templates can conflict with CMS, plugins and other elements of the site. Some templates due to their technical imperfection create a huge load on your hosting.
Conclusion of the article about choosing a template or unique design
If your business is already making money, has a corporate design code, you have a suitable budget and do not hurry anywhere, you can safely choose a unique design. We recommend for review to novice web designers and experienced professionals, the best website designs with a gambling theme Net Casinos in Canada.
If the site has a large number of media files: graphics, video, animation, some templates will take a long time to optimize for the correct output of all these elements on the screen. In this case it is wise to make an individual design from the beginning.
Template design will be ideal for startups: when the budget is significantly limited and there are risks that sales will not go up.
Design is an incredibly important aspect. But if your budget for a web project is significantly limited, then at the initial stage it is better to invest in high-quality content, optimization and adaptability, for example, and make the design free of charge on the basis of a template.
From the perspective of the average visitor to the site problem template / unique design is not worth it at all. The visitor is likely to just not understand what it is in front of him: a full-fledged, self-written graphic design or template design. Of course, provided that the template is beautiful and properly customizable.
