Should you code from scratch or a template? October 30, 2014 by It’s time to build a website, which means you’re about to take one of two paths: code from scratch or work from a template. Coding a website from scratch allows much more freedom and customization but is a little longer of a route. The second path, starting with a website template, is much quicker and simpler but can limit your creativity. Both methods have their pros and cons, and realistically you can probably make either option work. But that doesn’t mean that one isn’t a heck of a lot better than the other for the particular project you’re working on. Ask yourself these four questions to decide if coding from scratch or from a template is best for your next website. Do you have the skills to code it from scratch? Photo courtesy of How difficult is the website you need to build compared to projects you’ve done in the past? Is there a learning curve to tackle, or does the solution come naturally to you? If you know where to start and how to get to the final product, then by all means keep coding from scratch as an option. One of the benefits of a template is that it does a lot of the structural work for you. That’s great if you need the help, but if you know what you’re doing, a template might get annoying with its limitations. If you don’t have the skills yet to complete this project, that doesn’t automatically rule out building a website from scratch. Be honest with yourself: Will you be able to gain the skills needed in a timely manner? Or is it best for your client (and your sanity) that you sit this one out and start with a template? There’s nothing wrong with challenging yourself with a new project. But be realistic and choose your battles with code. Template Stash. Curated collection of best free themes & website templates. A curated collection of the best free website templates. Each one is evaluated based on. Build a fully functional web app without any code. Without any code knowledge, this tool helps you build web and mobile applications. Beautiful free HTML5/CSS3 templates that can be used for any commercial projects. All Templates are responsive design and built on a light version of Bootstrap. Do you have the time to code it from scratch? Photo courtesy of What’s the deadline for this project? Do you have adequate time to play with it, or does it need to be done by, like, yesterday? One great thing about templates is that they’re quick and easy to set up. Sure, you might still dive into the code to change certain aspects, but overall you can go live pretty quickly. If your client just needs a site up fast and isn’t too picky about how it looks, using a template is a pretty great option. If you don’t have such a tight deadline and have time to play with a website, feel free to experiment. ![]() Play with the code and make it something truly unique and special for your client. Does the client need to understand the code? Photo courtesy of Your client may know nothing about code or everything about code. And if they want to be involved with the website once you’re done building it, you have to keep their skill level in mind. If your client only knows the basics of HTML and CSS, you’ll make their life a lot easier by building off a template. ![]() ![]() Using a WordPress layout, for example, will allow them small customization options without ever having to dive into the code. They’ll love how easy you’ve made it for them. For advanced clients, or the clients who never want anyone to touch the code besides yourself, go nuts. Start from scratch and have fun it with. ![]() Since it doesn’t need to be simplified, don’t settle for the basics. Go ahead and use those fun tricks you’ve learned over the years to make a killer site. Is the layout advanced or pretty basic? Photo courtesy of If you know of a template with the exact layout you want to achieve, why would you code it by hand? If you’re going to change the structure significantly or are trying something advanced, coding from scratch makes sense. If the solution is easier because you’re building it up on your own, go for it. But if you’re just trying to achieve a basic website layout that’s already been done before, why wouldn’t you save yourself some time and just use the template? You’ll still have the opportunity to dive into the template code to personalize things, so make the project easier on yourself. It’s cool to show off what you can do with code, but always remember to keep your client’s needs in mind over your personal agenda for the website. If their needs call for a really advanced, custom website that you have plenty of time to work on, do it. Pour your heart and soul into it. But don’t code from scratch just to code from scratch. February 20, 2014 • • • • (Originally published in February 2014, this article was last updated in August 2017.) Most websites today are developed with a content management system, or CMS – which allows companies to easily and quickly update their sites without technical support. By far the most popular is WordPress, an open-source blogging tool and CMS, which as of 2017 has as much as 50-60 percent of the global CMS market (we’ll focus mostly on WordPress in this article). Some of the other content management system platforms available include Joomla, CMS Made Simple, DotNetNuke, and Drupal. Which system a developer uses for a particular site depends on a variety of factors, including the technical requirements of your server and his/her own level of expertise in the various platforms. Sites built using WordPress or another CMS platform can be custom, where the entire site is built from scratch for a particular company to fit its needs and brand, or using a pre-made template or “theme” bought off the shelf, or even downloaded for free. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, depending on your needs, goals and budget — but all sites are not created equal. In this article, we’ll cover the basics of template and custom sites, including how you can tell which is which. The pros and cons of template sites A template site is often a great option if the project is simple – for example, a website that’s basically an online brochure. Advantages of templates include: • Template sites are significantly less expensive than custom sites. Using a template means that most of the website coding is in place without your developer lifting a finger. That’s why template sites are much more affordable than custom sites, although your developer will still have to spend time customizing the template and implementing the content. • Template sites are quite fast to implement. Again, this is because much of the coding is done. A template site can generally be launched in a matter of weeks, if the (this is, however, often not the case — and is often a significant barrier to getting a site launched) and your developer’s schedule is clear. Depending on the complexity of what you want, a custom site will take significantly longer. • Templates are getting more sophisticated. The best templates are well-designed, robust, and allow for a reasonable amount of customization. There can be significant disadvantages to using templates, especially if your developer isn’t particularly skilled. These can include: • Your site may look like everyone else’s. Skilled designers can minimize this problem with creative use of graphics and customization within the template, but the most popular themes have been downloaded thousands of times. • You’re limited in your graphics design and navigation capability. A significant degree of customization is possible in templates, especially the more expensive ones, but you are largely stuck with the parameters of the template for your graphics design and navigation. This can be simple design parameters, like limited choices in icons, or more serious issues like the inability to have a functionality you want in the way that you’d like it to work. • Some templates aren’t especially well-made or maintained. This can’t be emphasized enough — template sites are only as good as the template itself! Virtually all templates nowadays (as of May 2017) are designed to be responsive — that is, they respond to the device used to view them and automatically optimize to that device’s screen size. However, WordPress is updated frequently to stay on top of security concerns — major updates occur a few times a year, and security patches can come out as often as needed. Unfortunately, not all template developers update their templates to keep up with the changes. If your template isn’t updated regularly, your template might break when you or your developer install a WordPress update. That puts you in the position of having to run an older version of, which can make your site more vulnerable to hacking. Down the road this can also lead to problems hosting your site, as quality website hosting plans are not willing to host sites that are running severely out-of-date versions of WordPress. Also, certain external tie-ins that may be featured on your site, such as PayPal integration, will update automatically and may cease to work with older versions of WordPress. Fortunately, more expensive, better-designed templates are less likely to develop this problem — to minimize the risk, you should carefully check reviews and history of both the template and its developer before making a choice. • Functionality can be limited in template sites. Adding and other kinds of custom applications is difficult or impossible in template sites. • Security can be an issue. People who enjoy writing malicious code find template websites especially tempting, because they represent the opportunity to hack multiple sites at once. Developers will sometimes customize a template site using plug-ins (a plug-in is a bit of code that adds a particular functionality) in an attempt to improve WordPress security in particular, but unless your developer really knows what he/she is doing, this can actually make the problem worse. In addition, if you choose a template that isn’t regularly updated to keep up with WordPress, your site will become more vulnerable to hackers. The value of custom-built sites Your branding will be much stronger when a site is designed to fit you, rather than trying to get a template to fit your brand. So the single most important point about a custom-built website is that your site is designed and built to specifically to support your established brand in a consistent way. Your branding will be much stronger when a site is designed to fit you, rather than trying to get a template to fit your brand. Other advantages include: • There are no limitations on graphics and functionality. If you can imagine it, a custom site can be programmed to do it. • Custom-built sites are flexible and can grow with you. Down the road you might need significant changes to not only the design, but also the functionality of your site. If you’re working with a template site, you may have to start over in the event of major changes. It’s much easier to add new features to a custom site. • Custom-built sites are easier to update as WordPress is updated. Your developer will be able to fix any problems that might occur as WordPress is updated, because they can change the coding of the site. If a WordPress update breaks a template site that hasn’t been maintained by the template developer, you’re out of luck and are stuck running an older version of WordPress. This makes your site more vulnerable to hackers. • Search engine optimization is better in custom-built sites. Web developers who build sites from scratch have the technical knowledge to make sure your site is for search engines. This is a key part of your digital promotion, especially if you are targeting a specific geographic area or service/product segment. • Custom-built sites are necessary for e-commerce. If you want an online store that’s more than just a couple of items, a template site is inadequate. How can you tell if a site is custom-built or template? It’s generally easy to see if a website was created using a template, or if it is custom-built. The first step is to view the site’s source code. Here’s how to access the code: • In Google Chrome: Open the site and go to the “Tools” menu, and select “view source”; alternatively, hit Ctrl + U • In Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari: Right-click on the website and choose “View source” You’ll see a page of source coding, which may be pretty intimidating if this is unfamiliar territory – but don’t worry, this isn’t difficult! Toward the top of the page, in the paragraph that begins, scan through the code and look for the “generator” meta tag to see which Content Management System is being used. Examples: • A website built on the WordPress platform may contain this:. • A website built on the Joomla platform may contain this:. The same basic meta tags are used for other content management systems, including DotNetNuke (or DNN), ExpressionEngine, Drupal and so on. If the word following /themes/, /template/, or /skins/ in the CSS file is the company name or initials, the site is probably custom-built. If not, it's likely built using a pre-designed template. Once you know which system was used to build a site, determine whether the site is built using a pre-designed template, or if it has been custom-built. Look for the word that follows /templates/, /themes/ or /skins/ – if that word is the name of the company or its initials, you’re probably looking at a custom site (see below for more details). Otherwise, the site is probably built using a pre-designed template. Some examples: • Here is a link to the.CSS file of a template website: From this, we can see that the the site is using the “Radiance” theme developed by the company “Yoo Themes.” • Similarly, in WordPress, you can see the template name after /wp-content/themes/, like this: /wp-content/themes/rhea/ – in this example, the WordPress theme is Rhea. • Templates are called “skins” in DotNetNuke (DNN). Often, the word following the word /Skins/ in a path will be the name of the commercial theme. For example, means that “Vaspan” is the theme. • By contrast, if you look at the source code for this website, you’ll find this line: where “PDS” is the theme Prime Design Solutions custom-built for our own site, using the WordPress system. So to sum up, if the word following /themes/, /template/, or /skins/ in the CSS file is the company name or initials, the site is probably custom-built. If that word is something different, the website is probably built using a purchased or free template. Doing a Google search for that word and the name of the Content Management System (for example, “WordPress theme” and “Rhea,” or “DotNetNuke skin” and “Vaspan,” to use the examples above) will confirm this. Look for a live demo or screenshot of the theme and compare it to the site you’re viewing. Can you see the outline of the template, even if the graphics are different? Is there any customization present? Some companies will hide the fact that they’ve implemented a site using a template by changing the word following /themes/. You can sometimes tell if whether this has been done by looking at the screenshot for the theme, which can be accessed fairly easily. Here’s how to access a theme’s screenshot, using this website as an example: • — Immediately after “themes” is the name of the theme (in this case, “pds”). • The path to the theme screenshot can be made by copying the code that begins with “http” all the way through the theme name, then adding “screenshot.png” to the end of the path. • For example, we’ll copy “paste it into our browser, type “screenshot.png” at the end and hit return, giving us the full path that looks like this:, which links to an image of our company logo on a photo of our late, great office dog, Alice. • If you instead see a screenshot giving you a name of a theme and the logo of the developing company, you know the site was developed using a theme. Do a Google search for the theme and company name as described above to see the demo of the theme. Evaluating web proposals If you’re in the market for a web developer and are looking at proposals, evaluate them based on experience — this will help ensure you get a great site with the fewest headaches. Does the firm/individual create many websites, or is this just a side business for them? Be sure you understand whether the designer or firm plans to use a template or build your site from scratch – credible web developers will be clear on this point. Again, a template site is often the best, most affordable option for simpler projects, although you should ask your designer/firm how they plan to address the potential disadvantages of using a template. But some web developers are less than transparent about this, and worse, some may try to sell a template site as custom work. If you’re unsure how a web developer is proposing to complete your project, ask explicitly if the he or she plans to use a template or custom-build your site – ethical designers will answer that question directly and completely. If you’re looking for a custom site, it’s always a good idea to ask the designer or agency for a list of sites they have custom-built, and take a look at the source code for yourself. Remember, template sites are often significantly less expensive than custom work and are generally faster to implement, but make sure you are evaluating proposals on more than price! (We suggest you take a look at the source code for the web developer’s own website, for starters. Click for more tips on choosing a web developer.) The bottom line A website can be a very powerful tool when done correctly, but a poorly-executed one will work against you. The bottom line is that you should choose your developer carefully, no matter what type of site you get — and for many businesses, custom-built sites are better investments in the long run, because they can grow with you. • • • By Shelley Johansson. Read about Shelley on our page or visit on.
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