Hi…I’m relatively new to web design. The coding, HTML, CSS, JS, DHTML,.etc is not too hard for me. On the other hand designing a web site doesn’t come that easy for me yet…I plan on reading more sitepoint books like “Sexy Web Design” and “Don’t make Me Think” but I have a chance to build a web site now for someone and a template seems like the way to go until I learn how to design one myself. Can someone post some links for me to go where I can read about the different templates, HTML,PSD and Flash so I can read how to use them.
Hi Avactis and thanks for your reply. I downloaded wordpress last week after hearing about it on this thread. I got it working last night and installed some themes on it now I’m just looking at the code to see how I’m going to edit it to make a web page from it, it shouldn’t be too hard. Thank you for the link to all kinds of templates. You all have been a lot of help,thanks.
You can use templates, which created specially for ecommerce or CMS systems.
For example:
http://www.siteground.com/templates_gallery.htm
Thanks for the Reply AlexDawson…I think I’d better just stick to the HTML and CSS templates for now given that I know HTML . I have Photoshop and I did open a PSD template in it and them ediited to my liking and resaved it under “Save as Web and Other devices” and like you said the code that results from it is pretty hideous and I spend a lot of time making it like I want, so I’m better off for now doing it in HTML until I get more experience.
GRM47, I would also add that whichever style of templating system you use, whether through a hand-produced solution (HTML, PSD or Flash) or whether through a system like Wordpress, all you need to know (in respect to editing it to meet your needs) is the fundamental language that runs it. You say you have a general understanding of HTML, CSS and JavaScript (which for an HTML template will be little hassle), HTML templates are basically a completed web design which you just duplicate or edit as required using HTML, CSS and JavaScript to customize it for your needs (think of it like editing a received Word document). The hard work is done but you can still add to the item - if you look at it from a Word analogy. Theming Wordpress is actually pretty easy as they’ve put a lot of effort into the UI.
I would personally stay away from Flash templates as they have serious issues in respect to compatibility these days and PSD designs rely on you not only having Photoshop (pretty expensive) but the code it’ll produce when you export the design for the web will be pretty hideous. Wordpress and it’s kin have the advantage that you barely need to touch any code (except for configuration), it’s basically like HTML, CSS and JavaScript with some PHP mashed in there to handle all the non-code tweaks you can do through the control panel. Essentially, if you know enough code to get started, go with HTML or a CMS, it’ll eliminate most of the work and you can use your knowledge to just make minor tweaks. I like to think of templates as a Microwave meal, the food is prepared, you just have to cook it. 
I knew that intros, menus, animated banners or headers could made in Flash and put on a web page but I didn’t know that a whole web page could be coded in Flash.Like you say it’s better to stay away from those for awhile for now.
I’m finding that out more and more.Whatever I “learn” in school I relearn it through books or here, the updated way of doing it. I would have quit school by now and just learned through books and the internet but I’ve put too much time into it to quit now besides the certificate is the main thing I want from them anyway.
I need to spend some time on dreamweaver I see now.
I was reading the readme.html for Wordpress and it needs to be configured which is fine but all the files in the Wordpress folder are .php, I don’t know .php yet does that matter for Wordpress?
It does matter for WordPress, or almost every other self-hosted CMS, if you intend to make changes/understand how the templating system works.
For WordPress, it is sufficient to know the very basics of PHP to get started.
that’s exactly what its about. you can change the html and css to your liking. Just as if you’d coded that yourself.
intros, menus, animated banners or headers, but full websites can also be coded in flash. Again, stay away from that for a while, until you know how Google and co treat flash and the implications for accessibility, what you can do about those.
Somehow, when it comes to web design & development, most of what you lean in schools is way outdated. So don’t take their word for anything.
Dreamweaver is way more than just a WYSIWG editor, that’s just its design view. Check out its code view and you’ll get a great html/css editor with syntax highlighting and autocomplete (depends on your version). It’s also an FTP client that lets you synchronise between your local system and remote server.
For Worpress, you need a server environment. Get either Xampp or Wamp if your on Windows.
OK I always knew I’d starting learning PHP eventually now I have a reason to start soon
Thank you kohoutek
I know what to do with a HTML template but I just wanted to read up on them to see if there was anything to try that I didn’t know about.
The PSD templates are what I was wondering about the most. I will search for tutorials on them thanks.
I understand Flash isn’t for everyone, mainly just gamers sites and such. I’m in no hurry to learn how to do Flash templates. I’ll check out tutorials on those too.
The only real trouble I have is designing a web site, the layout and design.The markup and functionality of it is not too hard for me that’s why I am asking about templates. I wanted to stay away from WYSIWYG editors and rely on hand coded .htm files but if they help me learn design maybe I shouldn’t be so stubborn I have dreamweaver installed on my computer but never use it, are there themes for dreamweaver or do I need to install WP?
I thought I understood a HTML template was a regular HTML file with the design done and you could then edit parts of it to your liking , change fonts,colors…etc, and you would also put your own content in it. But after my post here I see that I must have that wrong.I need to read up on HTML tutorials.
I thought that flash was used in intros on some web sites and some gaming sites came to mind, my mistake.
I was taught in school to save web page files as .htm now that I know it’s .html nowadays I’ll save them as such. The things I was taught in school are outdated and leave me with more questions than answers.
I wasn’t associating dreamweaver and wordpress. I know that dreamweaver is a WYSIWYG web page editor and I was asking if there were themes for that too, I assumed wordpress is a WYSIWYG web page editor also, but I searched it and now see it’s a open source CMS. I’ll download it and install it today it sounds like it will help me out.
BTW I can’t wait until I’m finished with school so I’ll have more time to read the forums here and read more books on web design.
Ya Flash sites only work for a select few.
If you’re having trouble this early in the game I would suggest you start by installing WordPress and getting some WP themes (these are templates built to work with WP) to start out. It will get you rolling much faster.
I think you’re trying to understand too much at a time.
Ignore Flash and ignore .PSD files for now. Also ignore HTML templates.
I’d start small. Begin with HTML. HTMLDog is a pretty nice site that has some good tutorials for beginners. It may help you understand what HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is and how it is used.
I don’t know of a link as that’s pretty basic knowledge, which I tried to explain you but you obviously didn’t get it.
if you get a PSD template, generally you get the full PSD file, and in its full layers (this might vary). You then can use photoshop to change every single aspect of the site, and then slice it up yourself. Then you just plug it in your html/css - search for tutorials on psd to html/css. This will get you the html/css template from above.
Flash templates are for flash sites (did you never come across flash based sites?). You use Adobe flash and then publish them as a flash file, only those who have the flash player installed will be able to see anything and use it. My humble advice, stay away from those at all cost.
Thanks for replying c2uk…what I’m looking for is a link to read about how to use each kind of template. I know that a HTML template is just an HTML file with a css file (most of the time) that you can edit to your liking but when it comes to a PSD template I know it’s a PSD image that’s sliced up but beyond that I don’t know how it’s used, for instance reassembled to a web page for one thing. And a flash template, I have no idea how to use them. As I look for templates to use a lot of templates are in packages where you can choose if you want to use a plain HTML template or a PSD template or a Flash template. I would just like to know how to use each kind, and I’m sure each type is a lengthy HOWTO so a link to how to use each type would be useful. Was I any clearer this time or did I muddy up the waters any more?
if you’re referring to .htm files, then you need to update your knowledge, its .html these days.
And how you now associated dreamweaver with wordpress is beyond me. Just wondering, do you even know what dreamweaver and wordpress are?
Not sure what you’re actually after, but a template is a raw design that you can alter to your liking.
An html template, basically comes as an html file and the necessary image/css/javascript files. You can change the html and css, but images are pretty much unchangeable.
A PSD template is the full layout as an adobe photoshop file, so you have to use adobe photoshop to change it and get it into an html file. This type of template gives you the most flexibility as you can now easily change the colour and composition.
A Flash template is for Adobe Flash (some other programs can also work with flash files). But the final output, unlike with the PSD template, won’t be an html file but a flash.
maybe you still don’t understand but an html template is nothing more than pure html & css. Just the same as if you’d develop it on your own. There’s no extra juice added just because somebody decided to release their html markup + images for others to use.
Not even gamers sites use flash sites these days that much.
I think most of the confusion from you arises that you don’t understand the term template very well.