August 1, 201214 yr I ask because personally I prefer to provide something original and fully customisable by coding it from scratch. I will usually only look to use something like Joomla for a larger project. All of my competitors locally use templates which they either bought or got for free online but they will never tell the client and for me it just feels wrong that they are effectively getting a colourful table from the internet, adding some text and charging £700 for it, when i can do something fully bespoke and much more suitable for the same price. What do you think about this kind of thing?
August 1, 201214 yr You only have to look at some recent posts in the website review section on here to see people offering web design or wordpress services but are using a free template themselves. To the average user they probably will be none the wiser, but all it takes is a quick look at the source code and you see the theme name which isnt very hard to find. It does annoy me because i learnt how to create wordpress themes over two days, hardly a big challenge and i imagine other well used CMS are the same.
August 1, 201214 yr Author Yeh well this is the sort of thing I mean, for me its more about original design, surely you cant call yourself a web designer/programmer if youre using other peoples designs/applications? But my questions goes deeper actually, I am wondering if that although it feels uncomfortable, that it is actually just common practice and entirely acceptable? I have managed to avoid templates but I can see the benefit, that being that they're quicker and usually look reasonable straight away.
August 1, 201214 yr To the average user they probably will be none the wiser The answer is mu (which can be roughly translated as un-ask the question). You need to change your perspective. Sometimes a template is perfect for a project. I recently used one myself for a commission-only project (it's already making sales.) Instead of getting caught up on details that only matter to web designers, you need to open your eyes to what website owners and (most important of all) website visitors find important. When you do that, things tend to start to happen.
August 1, 201214 yr The answer is mu (which can be roughly translated as un-ask the question). You need to change your perspective. Sometimes a template is perfect for a project. I recently used one myself for a commission-only project (it's already making sales.) Instead of getting caught up on details that only matter to web designers, you need to open your eyes to what website owners and (most important of all) website visitors find important. When you do that, things tend to start to happen. My point wasn't templates should never be used, i meant if people download a template like this: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/twentyten change the text colour and turn the background red and say they have designed and built a brand new site and can they get opinions on their great work. Its more people passing off work as their own which was clearly made by someone else that annoys me.
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