Title: The battle between Custom-designed vs. Theme-designed websites
1Website Design Centre
- Leading Edge Business Options
2Custom-designed vs. Theme-designed websites
When you are considering a new website (or
revamping an old one) its imperative that you
understand how the website is built. Your web
developer can create your website in two very
distinct ways they can build a custom-designed
website or a theme-designed (template)
website. While the aesthetic differences between
these two options can be subtle, the differences
in cost, functionality, production and future
maintainability are massive. A custom-designed
website is one that is designed, built and coded
from the ground up with your business specific
needs in mind. Building custom websites requires
a highly advanced skill-set and much more time.
As a result, custom websites are a bit more
expensive at the outset.
3Custom-designed vs. Theme-designed websites
- A theme-designed website is one that uses an
existing website with pre-designed elements as a
starting point. Skilled designers can then
customise the theme for your business. Creating
websites this way drastically reduces the amount
of time needed to build a website and therefore
the cost involved. - Budget aside for a minute, when you should get a
custom-designed website? - If you have special features that you absolutely
need for your website, then going with a custom
solution may be right for you. Some examples may
include - You need users to have unique logins where they
can do things like view their account, leave
reviews, post to forums, etc. -
4Custom-designed vs. Theme-designed websites
- You want a website thats an exact live version
of a mock up thats designed, but not coded. - You need specific functionality such as secure
payment gateways, ecommerce functionality,
booking functionality. - Its important to understand that some website
features can be the difference between needing a
custom-built website and a theme-designed
website. Having a discussion about what you need
your website to do, both in the short term and
the long term, with a professional website
developer/designer should be your first step. - Some will warn that some of the risks involved in
having a custom-designed websites include
mobile-responsiveness not being guaranteed, a CMS
is not
5Custom-designed vs. Theme-designed websites
standard, and SEO-friendliness is not guaranteed,
but this is far from the truth. Working with
website developer/designer on a custom-designed
website will ensure that you have all this
functionality built into your business website,
along with all the other functionality that you
require. Theme-designed websites are an
out-of-the-box solution. While they often contain
all the basics mobile responsiveness, a CMS,
built to be SEO-friendly, they have their
limitations. The main limitation is that
customisations that may seem trivial can actually
be difficult to implement. This is why if you
want a carbon copy of a website concept thats
been designed, but not turned into a live
website, it will need to be custom-designed.
6Custom-designed vs. Theme-designed websites
- Here are some examples of requests that may seem
small, but can be very difficult - Can you put the logo in the middle of the header
instead of on the left? - Can you make the text fade-in, left-to-right?
- The answers to these questions depend on whether
or not the theme supports these requests. - Often using a theme-designed website can be more
affordable in the short term but end up being a
bit of a false economy. People are often
surprised how affordable a custom-designed
website can be and you end up with a website that
suits your business requirements and those of
your customers perfectly.
7Custom-designed vs. Theme-designed websites
- Leading Edge Business Options
- Address Boronia Ct, Albany Creek, QLD 4035
- Phone 1800 774 107 / 617 3102 7487
- http//www.websitedesigncentre.com.au