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When it comes to graphics, most webmasters shy away from using graphic
templates whether it's e-Book covers, website layouts or promotional
banners because they firmly believe that by using graphic templates,
they are tarnishing their own image. They want to own a unique identity
and hence will always find a professional graphic designer to do the
job. Well, you're in for a big surprise!
When you purchase a graphic template, you will be able to customize it
to an extent or even build a totally new design based on it! What's the
point of using the template? Well, it serves as a source of inspiration
and ideas for a totally new design. You can't derive anything from a
blank canvas.
On top of that, you are actually saving a lot of precious time that you
can otherwise spend on more important matters like developing new
products or market your products. When you buy a pre-made template, you
only need to edit a thing or two to give it an identity of your own,
and that gives you more time and flexibility to work on other stuff.
Ok. Let’s argue that hiring a designer to do the job is equally fast.
That may be true but don't forget, hiring a professional designer to do
a custom design for you will cost you a lot of money. Unless you need a
totally unique identity that you are aiming to establish firmly in your
niche market, you don't need to get a designer to design it for you.
Not all graphic templates are suitable to you, so you have to be
careful when choosing one. Consider quality over the price, and you're
on your way to creating a positive image for your business while saving
more time for more productive chores!
Pros and Cons of Flash-based Sites
Flash-based sites have been a craze since the past few years, and as
Adobe compiles more and more great features into Flash, we can only
predict there will be more and more flash sites around the Internet.
However, Flash based sites have been disputed to be bloated and
unnecessary. Where exactly do we draw the line? Here's a simple
breakdown.
The good:
Interactivity
Flash's Action script opens up a vast field of possibilities.
Programmers and designers have used Flash to create interactive
features ranging from very lively feedback forms to attractive
Flash-based games. This whole new level of interactivity will always
leave visitors coming back for more.
A standardized site
With Flash, you do not have to worry about cross-browser compatibility.
No more woes over how a certain css code
displays differently in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. When you
position your site elements in Flash, they will always appear as they
are as long as the user has Flash Player installed.
Better expression through animation
In Flash, one can make use of its animating features to convey a
message in a much more efficient and effective way. Flash is a
lightweight option for animation because it is vector based (and hence
smaller file sizes) as opposed to real "movie files" that are raster
based and hence much larger in size.
The bad and the ugly:
The Flash player
People have to download the Flash player in advance before they can
view Flash movies, so by using Flash your visitor range will decrease
somewhat because not everyone may be willing to download the Flash
player just to view your site. You'll also have to put in additional
work in redirecting the user to the Flash download page if he or she
doesn't have the player installed.
Site optimization
If your content was presented in Flash, most search engines wouldn't be
able to index your content. Hence, you will not be able to rank well in
search engines and there will be less traffic heading to your site.
Loading time
Users have to wait longer than usual to load Flash content compared to
regular text and images, and some visitors might just lose their
patience and click the Back button. The longer your Flash takes to
load, the more you risk losing visitors.
The best way to go is to use Flash only when you absolutely need the
interactivity and motion that comes with it. Otherwise, use a mixture
of Flash and HTML or use pure text and HTML if your site is purely to
present simple textual and graphical information.
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