The Pros and Cons of Using Templates in Website Design

The website of a business should reflect its brand. However, designing such a website from scratch can be difficult on account of cost, time, and the need for specialized skills. This calls for using pre-designed web pages or website templates. And in case you do not have the budget for website design services, such templates can do a world of good for your business. This blog explores the pros and cons of leveraging website templates and discusses how to customize them to fit your brand

What Are Templates?

Before we dive into the specifics, let’s briefly discuss what website templates are and how they work. Website templates are pre-designed web pages that can be customized to fit your brand and message (to a certain degree). They come in different formats, such as HTML, WordPress, Shopify, etc. Businesses can use such templates to build various types of websites, namely, business websites, portolios, blogs, estores, and others.. Templates consist of pre-built pages like Home, About, Services, and Contact, and design elements such as fonts, colors, images, and buttons.

Now that we have a basic understanding of what website templates are, let’s explore the benefits and drawbacks of using them.

Benefits of using Website Templates

Website templates offer several benefits that make them an attractive option for businesses and professionals:

1. Time and Cost-efficient

One of the key benefits of website templates is helping you save time and cost. You don’t have to spend weeks designing a website from scratch. Nor do you necessarily have to hire a web designer. You can simply buy a template suitable to your website and make the necessary changes. Templates include pre-designed pages for various needs – such as generic text content, bulleted text, tabular content, online forms, and more. You may use the ones you need for your website. Some templates also come with basic animated objects that you may use with little customization.

2. Easy to Use

Website templates are designed to be user-friendly and easy to use, even for people with no technical or design skills. Most templates come with drag-and-drop editors or visual builders. You can customize the template by simply clicking and dragging elements around the page.

3. Tested and Proven

Website templates are created by experienced web designers who have tested and refined them over time. This means that templates are usually optimized for user experience, search engine optimization, and mobile responsiveness. Thus, the need for complex coding and layout measurements is reduced to some degree. By using a website template, your website can meet the best practices and industry standards.

Drawbacks of using Website Templates

Although website templates are helpful, they do have some drawbacks as well.

1. Lack of Uniqueness

Website templates are pre-designed web pages that are sold to multiple users. This implies that other websites using the same template as yours may have a comparable design to yours. Although you can make some changes to the template, your website may not remain unique. And significant changes to the images, content, and color scheme of the template can affect the design appeal of the web pages. In case you want your website to be different, this can act against you.

2. Limited Flexibility

Website templates may not accommodate all your design and functionality needs even though they are somewhat flexible to use. You may need to hire a web developer if you want to include a complex design element or a custom design feature. And it’s not always easy to add/edit custom code in a pre-designed template in which case, you may end up adding to the cost and time required to build a website.

3. Code Bloat

Using templates can also lead to excessive code. Several pre-designed items seen in templates may not be required for your website. The performance of the website may suffer as a result of bloated coding. It can significantly affect your site’s core web vitals, and as a result, your search engine rankings may drop.

4. Limited Support

Most website templates come with limited support from the template provider. So if you encounter a technical issue, you may require online resources or a web developer. This can be a disadvantage if you don’t have the technical skills or resources to troubleshoot issues on your own.

Factors to Consider before using Website Templates

Before you decide whether to use a website template, there are several factors that you should consider:

1. Your Budget

Website templates can be a cost-effective solution for creating a website. However, if your company has the budget to go for custom development, you should do that instead of going with a template-based website. This will make your site more unique, give you more control, and make future support and maintenance much easier.

It is important to consider, however, that website development isn’t inexpensive. To get a fairer idea of what influences costs, read our blog on website development cost factors.

2. Your Design and Functionality Needs

You should assess what design and functionality features you need for your website and whether a template can accommodate them. This can involve looking at the template’s layout, color scheme, font choices, and available widgets or plugins. Sometimes, building a website from scratch can prove to be much more convenient than customizing pre-designed templates.

3. Your Technical Skills and Resources

You should evaluate your technical skills and determine whether you can customize the template on your own. Otherwise, you need to hire a web developer. This can involve looking at the template’s ease of use, available documentation, and support options.

The Importance of Customization in Website Design

While website templates offer a quick and easy way to create a website, customization is still essential. It ensures that your website accurately reflects your brand and message. Customization involves tweaking the template’s design and functionality to fit your needs and preferences. By customizing your website, you can:

1. Stand Out from Competitors

Customization allows you to differentiate your website from competitors who may be using the same template. By adding unique design elements, features, and content, you can create a website that stands out and attracts more visitors.

2. Align with your Brand and Message

Customization allows you to align your website with your brand and message. You can use your brand colors, fonts, and imagery to create content that reflects your brand’s voice and values. This will result in a website that accurately represents your business or professional persona.

3. Improve User Experience

You can customize your website to improve its UX. With improved UX, you can make the website easy to navigate, visually appealing, and functional. By optimizing your website’s layout, content, and features, you can create a website that engages visitors and encourages them to take action.

How to Choose the Right Website Template for Your Project

It is important to choose the right website template to build a website suitable to your requirements. Following are the steps to follow when choosing one:

1. Define your Goals and Needs

Before you start looking for templates, you should define your goals and needs for your website. It may involve choosing the right features, design elements, and functionalities for your website.

2. Research Templates

Once you have defined your goals and needs, you can start researching templates. Always get your templates from reputable sources. You can browse template marketplaces, such as ThemeForest, TemplateMonster, or Creative Market, and filter templates by category platform, and features. You can also read reviews and ratings from other users to get an idea of the template’s quality and support. Also, ensure that the template you choose aligns with the latest trends of website design. This will encourage audiences to keep visiting.

3. Preview Templates

Before buying a template make sure to preview it to know whether it meets your criteria. Most template marketplaces allow you to preview templates by accessing a demo or a live preview. You should explore the template’s pages, features, and settings, and assess whether it is easy to use and customize.

4. Check for Compatibility

You should buy a website template only after checking its compatibility with your platform, say, WordPress or Shopify. You should also ensure that the template is optimized for mobile responsiveness and SEO. This will save you unnecessary hassle later on.

Conclusion

Website templates can be a time and cost-efficient solution for designing websites, especially if you don’t have specialized skills. However, it’s essential to consider the benefits and drawbacks of using templates and evaluate whether they fit your goals and needs. Customization is crucial for creating a website that accurately reflects your brand and message, even if you’re using a template. You can follow the above-mentioned tips to choose and ustomize a website template based on your needs. The result will be a website that stands out and engages visitors.