Wednesday, December 2, 2009

To Use Templates or Not To Use Templates

As a graphic artist selling my services of web design, is it right or wrong to use templates on a customers site? I guess I ask this question because there are many free web templates available for free, which can save me time when coding a job which in turn makes the job more profitable for me.

If the client still receives a product that meets their demands, and even saves them some money, that's good. If I can save time by not having to trouble shoot code, that's good. If I can learn from other's code, that's good.

I think my dilemma comes from the fact that as a graphic artist and web developer, am I cheating by using someone else's code? Not necessarily I think, as long as I don't sell the site as my own by throwing it in my portfolio or delete the creators link off of the site and try to claim it on my own, I see nothing wrong with it. I am still very capable of design sites, which I still do, and I am still very capable of coding them, which I still do.

Templates are just another tool in a large tool box we graphic designers have. It help me be more efficient, it allows me to learn a lot from other's work, and it helps out my fellow designer by linking back to their site.

Steve @ thisHero Designs

Posted via web from thisherodesigns's posterous

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