Template isn't a dirty word.
My online column of "cool web sites" (okay, at a distance of quite a
number of years I suppose that I can use that nomenclature, though I'm sure that
I steered far clear from it back then) was essentially template generated. I'd
prepare my text, choose the graphic that would accompany each site (usually a
simple save-as of a logo, but sometimes it would be a screen-shot followed by
cropping and resizing), save the page as an RTF document and then upload it, at
which time it would be converted to HTML. Working from a template made life easy
for me. And there really wasn't any reason not to use that template - whoever
read my column learned to expect a particular format, and there was no reason
not to give it to them. But what was good for a column posted every two weeks
isn't necessarily good for an entire site. A site can contain lengthy articles
and synopsi of relevant literature, bibliographic lists and annotated
web links, a single photo and numerous graphic examples scattered where needed
on a page. Of course it's possible to prepare a template for each of these, such
that pouring in the content on one side and getting a finished product on the
other is a relatively simple task, and there's no reason to find anything wrong
with this. But with a more open approach (dare I say the approach that basic HTML
along with a bit of well-thought-out design permits) there wouldn't be any problem.
Any particular page can be used as a template for a similar page, yet changes
in layout and design are still not only possible, but even simple.
Problems arise when our templates don't fit the contents we wish to present, and
the template has to win out in the end. A new template might be a workable solution,
but there's very limited logic in designing a new template because a particular
article we're posting needs four graphic elements, not three, or because even
though the first three pictures are fine in the middle of the page, the fourth
one has to be set to the right side in order to make contextual sense. More often
than not this is where the concept of humankind in the service of technology takes
charge, and we learn that the content we wish to post doesn't really fit the preordained
framework of proper material for an internet site. It's at times such as this
that we're asked to edit it so that it fits a template. And it's at times such
as this that I usually start to scream.
Go to: Doing a lot with very little, or
Go to: Templates from hell.