Website Template Services - The Downside
Completely Flash based websites — I just can't advocate that under any circumstances. I think they're what the name suggests: "Flashy" — a lot on the surface, at first look, not so much after that. And regardless of whether or not you can get to it with an iPhone, there's too many other accessibility reasons why you want to be cautious in considering your site being completely behind the Flash wall. Flash is a great rich medial tool, but using Flash for everything is like cooking a steak in a microwave.
Regarding template sites in general, even those that are HTML based, they still require manual management of the code. I know some that use WYSIWYG editors like Dreamweaver in buying a template and then adding in their content, but ultimately, an issue will turn up where you'll need to go in manually. At that point, it's typically hard to find a good developer who will want to pick up and finish where you left off. That's a bit like putting on your friends underwear.
The learning curve on a chunk of new code is big, even for seasoned coders. You have to study the blueprints so to speak, just to do anything. At Orbis, we've developed our template so that all the style files, the javascript, the database has been fine-tuned over the course of about 8 years - it's been tweaked but not changed - we are very familiar with it. The template design is flexible so that visually, it can look different from one client to another, but underneath, we can jump from one client to another and see basically the same thing. Heck, even our image names are the same (i.e. body_background.jpg) even when the client and visual is completely different.
There are two points I'm making. First, if our template can satisfy your needs, that's the best way we can help since our time is minimal in delivering something we work on all the time. It's economical and the code base is cleaner. Second, and I tell this to all of our clients - it has to be 99% about you, your content. Cool design templates are flashy in the design department and literally nothing in the true story department. They are pretty much completely opposite of what we at Orbis are shooting for. Design has been used as a crutch for lack of content - we've been guilty of that when our clients don't have good content. But the best sites tell their story with great content. It's way harder to do, but that is what everything we are doing is focused on. To do that well, you have to get deeper into the story of a client and the tools of capturing that story - great writing, photography, video, etc.
Regarding template sites in general, even those that are HTML based, they still require manual management of the code. I know some that use WYSIWYG editors like Dreamweaver in buying a template and then adding in their content, but ultimately, an issue will turn up where you'll need to go in manually. At that point, it's typically hard to find a good developer who will want to pick up and finish where you left off. That's a bit like putting on your friends underwear.
The learning curve on a chunk of new code is big, even for seasoned coders. You have to study the blueprints so to speak, just to do anything. At Orbis, we've developed our template so that all the style files, the javascript, the database has been fine-tuned over the course of about 8 years - it's been tweaked but not changed - we are very familiar with it. The template design is flexible so that visually, it can look different from one client to another, but underneath, we can jump from one client to another and see basically the same thing. Heck, even our image names are the same (i.e. body_background.jpg) even when the client and visual is completely different.
There are two points I'm making. First, if our template can satisfy your needs, that's the best way we can help since our time is minimal in delivering something we work on all the time. It's economical and the code base is cleaner. Second, and I tell this to all of our clients - it has to be 99% about you, your content. Cool design templates are flashy in the design department and literally nothing in the true story department. They are pretty much completely opposite of what we at Orbis are shooting for. Design has been used as a crutch for lack of content - we've been guilty of that when our clients don't have good content. But the best sites tell their story with great content. It's way harder to do, but that is what everything we are doing is focused on. To do that well, you have to get deeper into the story of a client and the tools of capturing that story - great writing, photography, video, etc.
