With website templates growing in popularity, many professional looking designs are now available for purchase that previously were not. To those who don’t neccessarily know a lot about design, this is a clear benefit. As much fun as it may be to browse through these designs, it may not however, be easy to choose or customize one. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind while shopping…

1. Purpose, Above All

Are you putting together an artistic site… an informative site… a storefront? This is the most basic question you should already have an answer to. Depending on the intent behind your site, you may have a lot or very little fexibility in the choice of design.

For example, if your site is promoting your own artwork, then a creative layout with Flash generated images and content might be just the thing you want. However if you’re putting together a site that will be selling products or providing information, you’re better off choosing a template that has minimal flare factor, since site real-estate will be at a premium.

The idea is to focus FIRST on content, not eye-candy. Avoiding Flash-based sites will give you a better shot with the search engines anyway. Another point to keep in mind, Flash sites are more complicated to work with, take longer to load in a browser, and are tedious to update. I do not recommend choosing a Flash template, tempting as it is.

2. Consider the Layout

Ask youself how well the layout of your favored template will fit your content needs. Does your site require a large navigation system? Will you have a lot of text-heavy pages? If so, make sure the template has plenty of space for navigation (links or images), as well as room for your text.

Some templates may look beautiful, but are functionally challenging to work with. If a template is too graphics-intensive, or looks as though it was designed using many nested tables, it may not be the design for you. Look for templates that are designed using CSS and web standards recommendations set forth by the W3C. They are much easier to work with than graphics/table-based layouts.

Interior pages are also a consideration, as they can differ from the home page layout. If the homepage of the template looks to fit your needs, consider also how easy (or difficult) it may be to make changes to the interior pages. Interior pages often house different content than what a homepage is intended to serve up. How well do the layouts of your template fit with your goals for the site? Will your visitors be able to find what they want easily? Is the navigation over-ruled by graphics, or otherwise buried within the page?

3. Usability is Key

Many designers would tell you to consider this first, but usability in this case refers to ease of use for YOU… not the end user who browses your site. This of course should definitley be a factor in the overall plan for your site, but the first hurdle to clear is whether or not you’ll be able to modify the template without a degree in rocket science.

Keep in mind, you’ll never find a “perfect fit” template. The only website that will exactly fit your needs is one that is custom built specifically for you or your business. However, you should be able to find something that’s very close. That’s why it’s neccessary to determine in advance (if you can) the level of skill that will be required when you want to edit your chosen template and make it your own!

Do you already have some basic design skills? Do you know Photoshop or Flash? How about HTML or CSS? Can you find your way around an HTML editor? If you’re scratching your head right now, you may want to read up on some basics before diving into adapting your own template.

4. Don’t Forget About Color!

The fun part… your color scheme. Color has a large impact on the mindset of your visitors. It should fit well with your field of business, product or logo, as well as be engaging and easy on the eyes. You don’t want to scare visitors off the moment your page loads. Keep their eyes from burning by choosing colors that compliment each other.

If you find a template that has the perfect layout, and fits with your theme, but does not have the colors you’re looking for, that is a fairly easy fix. You can always manipulate the colors in the stye sheet or in the working file (a.k.a. layered, or master file). Most templates are designed using Adobe Photoshop. If you don’t know much about Photoshop, one quick Google search will present you with a vast number of resources where you can learn more.

So now you’ve got a sense of what to look for in a template, and being armed with information makes shopping so much more fun! Enjoy!