Templates Vs. Custom Designs: The Debate Goes On

Posted by Mike Robinson on July 07, 2010 in Design, Websites tagged with , , ,

I was talking with a friend about this whole issue the other day and it still sounds like a pretty hot topic. We’ve covered it a little bit here-and-there already in reviewing various offerings, but I think we’re still a long way from really making a solid call on it. Let’s start by restating the quandary: on one hand, website providers can offer “ready-to-go” templates based on a library of pre-established designs; or they can offer custom, tailored designs built uniquely for a specific client. So which is better? That’s the whole question. What’s the difference? Well, that’s where you get into the debate. If you go the custom route, the process is likely to take longer and cost more (which are two points typically argued on the “con” side), but in the end you stand to have exactly what you wanted, how you wanted it — and it’s not going to look exactly like someone else’s site. If you go the ready-to-go template route, you can get started faster (often times immediately), you can select your design from a library of choices so you don’t have to spend any time explaining to anyone else what you want (you just pick whichever one you like), and you’re off. But one of the first criticisms of this approach is that it’s not going to be unique to your organization (in this case, your church). It may be a cool template, but the cooler it is the more churches would be likely to select that template, wouldn’t you think? And that could be 20, 50, who knows…100 other churches? Plus you have to argue how well it matches the feel of your church versus something that’s specifically branded to represent you.

So let’s circle back to a point I halfway hit on a few lines ago. Custom designs are “likely to take longer and cost more” and a lot of times that’s taken as a negative. But watch how fast I can argue that from the other direction. A lot of times you get what you pay for. One business reason why website providers offer ready-to-go templates in the first place is because they can be very cost-effective for them as well. The less conscientious developers may release the fastest, most least inspired designs they can come up with in order to maximize their profit. Of course, not all are like that, but some certainly are. On the reverse side of that, the more time you spend on a custom design and the more meetings you have to discuss it and refine it, etc., the better the final product is likely to be. And if you get something in the end that you and your congregation are truly proud of that will carry you a good many miles down the road, it could well be worth the extra time and money invested in the custom design process.

But let me flip my own coin on the whole, “their site looks just like mine” issue. There are several ways in which templated sites can be made to look different from one another even though two sites may be based on the same ready-to-go design. In some cases, there may be multiple variants of a template available for use (red, green and blue versions of the same design for example). It may also be possible to add a logo or other unique features to a selected template in order to reduce immediate similarities. With some providers (E-zekiel is an example of this) you can actually select different templates for each Web page…which means your combination or assignment of the templates throughout your site could easily be different than the selections made by another church throughout their site, even if you’re using many of the same designs.

Hm, let’s see. How else can we approach this. What if you change your mind? Or, worse yet, what if your mind is changed for you via staff turnover, new church leadership (e.g., deacons or church council members), indecisive committee members, etc.? If you feel like this is a high likelihood within your organization, there may be some value to considering the templated approach. In many cases there’s no extra charge to switch out a template with a new one. (But you do need to check this out beforehand as some providers do charge for design changes.) Whereas if you do go through the whole custom design process and pay for that, and not to say you’re stuck with it, but it would probably not be cost effective and a good use of your time to frequently change the site going from one custom design to another unless you actually have planned to do that and have budget set aside for that.

This point is a little difficult to explain but it makes sense to me (more or less). One of the pros to going the custom route is that you have the opportunity to work with a professional Web designer one-on-one to explain your vision and have them turn that vision into a reality. My counterpoint to that idea is that some folks are not really able to articulate what it is that they want or like. In my day job for instance, I work with clients all the time that can’t begin to tell you what they want but they can tell you instantly if they don’t like something once they have something to look at and comment on. Obviously this isn’t insurmountable for a Web design team, but, by the same token, if you go the ready-to-go template route, you can pull a selection of templates from the library and present those three or four examples to an individual or a committee and have them simply select the one they like the best out of that assortment.

Some providers also try to offer the best of both worlds in different ways. For example, some providers offer “tweaking” services where, for a relatively nominal fee, you can have them customize a ready-to-go template. So this introduces the idea of a hybrid approach. You might like most of what you have with the pre-existing template, and with just a few minor changes you’re left with the feeling or the outward impression that this is now customized or custom designed for your church; but without the full process and expense of a 100-percent custom design.

What do you think?

Please chime in and let me know which side of the fence you land on. Which direction has your church gone? What experiences (both good and bad) have you had with either approach?


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