Hey, I'm currently trying to learn web design and specifically xhtml at the moment and I was wondering how many of you that own your own sites actually do the coding and stuff vs. just using those templates and simpler ways? And also what are the advantages/disadvantages to each? I have ideas for sites I want to create but was waiting until I understood coding and all that before I go forward with creating them. But is it worth it to just use templates online (free and purchased) until I get good at xhtml, css and all that language? Any advice would be appreciated
I do not use templates, only for WordPress but I customize those templates. Advantage of doing it yourself is ... you decide what/where appears.
I have tried both coding a web page takes a lot of time it is not that bad if you do mabe a onepage or two page but if you have 3 or more you would want to design it in dreamweaver with divtags it will be less time and much easier at least to me.
So often I see that silly statement "use div tags!" as if div was anything special or different. div "elements" are no more special than any other HTML element and have existed for a decade or more. Suggesting using div elements is like suggesting using <p> as the way to go.
If you do the coding yourself you can achieve great results especially if you use HTML5 . Templates are .... meh .
Templates help beginner and advances developers write code quickly and accurately. Templates are shortcuts used to insert a framework for the segment of code you are about to write.Once you have inserted a template, you can then compose code using a combination of manual and automated code entry methods
personally I don't prefer templates. but they save a lot of time. if you can enough time and ideas, always good to build your own site, otherwise, buy a pre-designed template. either way it's a creative product of one designer. good luck
You can create a great template in less then an hour so . So for most websites it's not really a time saver .