Nowadays, many people use
web design templates to
build their sites. Such templates offer a wide range of benefits,
including saving you lots of money and time which would have been spent
in creating a website from scratch. In addition, web design templates
are very simple and can be managed by anyone with little or no technical
knowledge. However, there are many mistakes that people make when it
comes to choosing and using web design templates.
So, what are the most common mistakes and how can you avoid them?
1. Selecting templates which are very common
Free web design templates which have an
attractive appearance
or great features are inevitably used by many people. If you decide to
build your site using such popular templates, you will end up with a
site which looks the same as many others on the internet. A website with
a generic appearance lacks appeal and is not likely to be taken
seriously by people. Even if the content is excellent, your site will
still lose credibility due to the template used.
2. Failing to customize web design templates
Many people use web design templates without modifying them, thus
ending up with websites which lack distinctiveness. Make sure you choose
a template which allows you to make different changes to it. For
instance, you need to have the ability to alter the images which come
with the web design template. Other elements that you might need to
alter include the colors, fonts,
background and
widgets.
3. Choosing a template which requires too much customization
The main idea behind using a web design template is to save on the
time it would take to build a site from scratch. Therefore, it does not
make sense when you select a template and go on to spend a significant
amount of time modifying its design. This is why it is important to take
time to choose a template which will require the least amount of
customization, thus saving your precious time.
4. Failing to consider your site’s needs
Don’t make the mistake of selecting a template only on the basis of its
appearance.
A site that looks good but is not useful for visitors is useless.
Therefore, your choice of a template should be based primarily on the
needs of your site. For instance, if you are planning to sell
merchandise through your site, you need to choose a template which has
ecommerce capability.
5. Selecting templates which are incompatible with recognized browsers
Your website should look the same when accessed through different
browsers. This is why it is important to select templates which are
compatible with browsers such as
Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome and
Safari, among others. In addition, you need to ensure that the template is compatible with mobile devices such as smart phones,
tablets and iPads.