• what exactly is a template,
• the features that templates offer,
• the limitations that templates suffer from,
• and some of the quality issues surrounding templates.

Let's get started. Introduction to Templates

What's a template?

A template is a software program that is used to create an appearance for your web site. The template determines the layout of the site (where different content will appear on each page,) the text fonts and colors, the background colors and such details as the specific graphic symbols that will be used as bullets. Some templates include animated features such as sliding and rotating sections that sequentially display your articles or advertisements.

Templates must include some features that are not always simple. A good example of such a feature is the menus on a web site. Depending on the structure of the information in your site, your menus might require very sophisticated software to display them. Or you might want your menus to be animated in some sophisticated way.

In fact there are many dozens of details that are specified by the template - all of which go towards the look and feel of your site.

Most site administrators will find that they need to change the appearance of their sites from time to time. This is often related to the content but could also be due to changes in personal preferences - somebody might want a different color scheme, for example.

When you want your site appearance to change you will be happy to remember that content managed web sites separate completely the content of the site from the appearance - all the appearance issues are tied to the site template. So, to changes to the appearance of your site you need only edit the settings for your template. To get a completely new appearance, you can change the template.