Don’t Reinvent The Wheel
March 28, 2009 by Tim Hicks
Filed under Blogs, Web Design
One of the biggest problems I see with new webmasters is that they think they must “reinvent the wheel.” They want to build a website from scratch and make life so much tougher on themselves.
Building a site from scratch is fine, if you’re in business as a web designer. Web designers and webmasters are two different groups of people. Sure, some folks belong in both groups, but they really have two different sets of goals and responsibilities. A web designer creates a “look” for a website. A webmaster keeps the site running and updated. This site is about empowering new webmasters.
Don’t misunderstand me, you do want your website to be unique. That’s for sure. That doesn’t, however, mean that you have to start from a blank screen and do every little thing yourself.
Most web designers frown on using templates for sites. Me? I love them. After all, my business is to design functional and informative websites. That’s what I do. That’s what all good webmasters do.
The trap that a lot of new webmasters fall into is that they spend so much time designing and coding their new site, that they never have time to update it or promote it. Soon, when they haven’t seen any increase in traffic or any signs of “life” from their site, they start to lose interest in the project. Once this happens, another potentially interesting website goes by the wayside. Don’t let this happen to your site.
It is for this reason that I build almost all of my sites using WordPress or another CMS application. Furthermore, I do tend to use templates for my sites. Sure, I customize them a bit, but I don’t start from a blank screen. It would be very easy for me to build my own WP themes, but it would also be very time consuming and, friends, time is the most precious thing we have in this life. After all, once gone, you cannot recover one single second.
Now, if you’re going to use templates, you can find a bunch of great templates for free at the WordPress website. Of course, you’ll also find some really bad ones there as well. That’s the chance you take when you go the free route. As for me, I like to purchase professionally-made templates. Of course, they cost more (anything costs more than “free”), but, in the long run, they’re worth it. I have found that paid templates usually tend to work more reliably than their free counterparts. In short, they do what they’re supposed to do. If you’re building a personal site with few “bells and whistles,” a free theme will probably work just fine. On the other hand, if you’re building a commercial site , and you want smooth functionality and the look of professionalism, you can’t beat a well-made professional theme.
The two theme producers that I use most are Woo Themes (who created the theme for this site – which, by they way, they have now made available for free!) and StudioPress. I really love the work Brian Gardner (Studio Press) has been doing on some of his newest themes. They look great. He offers a package containing all of the themes on the site for $199.95 and I just purchased it for some new sites I’m working on. If you are planning to create a lot of sites, you might want to consider that option as well as it would be more economical than purchasing individual themes separately.
It doesn’t matter whether you choose to use free themes or premium ones, the point is to give your site the unique and professional look you desire while preserving your most precious resource – your time.
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