Website/Web Page Templates
The purpose of a templates is to remove repetitive work and provide a framework for consistency. Templates are used when writing letters, sending email ,and of course, making web pages.
The very first web page of any site the web template page, then each page you create is created from that template. The web page template consists of the logo, and navigation structures.
Template Sources
Most modern web page editors (FrontPage, Dreamweaver) come with pre-built templates which you can use or modify.
There are many websites offering good high quality professional templates for free or low cost. The only problem is finding one that you like and that is easy to modify.
Template Types
Templates are created by designers using various tools, and some i.e. FrontPage templates may require the hosting server to support FrontPage Extensions.
Some of the types you will see are:
- HTML-----------Use this one if you are a beginner
- Flash
- Dreamweaver
- Frontpage
- Frames
- No Frames------This may may not be plain HTML
Most Websites offer themed templates like:
- kids
- business
- computers
- music
- Internet
There is nothing to be wary of here just choose the appropriate theme for your Website.
General Recommendations
I would always recommend you choose a template that uses:
- HTML Navigation
- Cascading style sheets
and avoid templates that:
- Use JavaScript Navigation
- Use Images for Navigation
- Are web editor specific (i.e. FrontPage or DreamWeaver)
- Use Frames
Using a free Template To Make a Website
The templates that you download will all need modifying before you can use them for your own site.
The main things you need to change are the navigation options and the logo.
Obtaining free Web Page Templates
There are many websites on the Internet offering free high quality website templates. Usually all they ask is that you register with them. Here are a few links to some free website template sites.
After deciding on the template and downloading it to your machine you usually need to unZip it using Winzip.
Once unzipped you can now modify the template and use it.
Make your Own Template
You can always make your own template, but this is only really done by professional designers .
However if you want to learn the entire web building process it can be a very useful exercise to undertake.
To make your own templates you first need to understand web page layout. The Web page layout for most older web pages was done using tables.
This is still used (May 2009) but all professional designs uses cascading style sheets or a combination of style sheets and tables.
Cascading style sheets (CSS) are much more flexible than tables but even using tables for the layout and cascading style sheets for the formatting still offers tremendous advantages.
It is fair to say that new websites built by professional designers (May 2009) use CSS for the page layout.
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