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How
To Make & Sell Themes and Templates
Themes and templates can save you a lot of time
whether you use FrontPage or any other program to
lay out pages with. FrontPage themes are created
just for (and plug in to) only FrontPage,
Dreamweaver has it's own program specific plug-in
templates too, but an 'HTML' site or page template
can be used with any program, including FrontPage,
Dreamweaver, and even trusty old notepad if you
hard code your HTML.
With a little HTML and graphics
knowledge, anyone can create a web theme with a
professional look. First you get some photos from
public domain archives, royalty free photos, take
your own photos or scan in objects to experiment
with and make your own graphic collage out of
pieces of them combined with original colors,
shapes and effects of your graphics program. You'd
be surprised how many 'mistakes' turn into great
designs while you're experimenting... and why keep
them all to yourself?
Learn to use the transparency,
airbrush (paint and erase) and cut-out features of
your graphics program, whatever program you use.
You probably won't believe me, but get your hands
on Image Composer if you can
(although it's a dead program and considered to be
a waste of time by most
designers). Every
graphic on every site I've created or worked on
(including webworksite.com) started in or was
touched by Image Composer. Unlike more
'professional' programs, it automatically creates
layers for you, a confusing feature of other
graphic programs when you're starting out.
IC is my favorite and it
does .jpg and .png better and quicker than any
other program I have ever used (and it comes with
it's own set of filters). It has it's limitations though. I
cannot for the life of me get it to produce a
decent .gif with the quality I want. It will only
'undo' an operation once. Also, it does not have
the ability to optimize or slice graphics
automatically, two must-have features you need to
design page templates or rollover buttons. You
absolutely need these additional features and you
can get them in Paint Shop Pro for cheap. You can
also get them for free in several other freeware
programs but, you'd have to first find all the
programs you would need (and try them out to find
the ones you like) then run each image through
every one of them separately, so it comes down to,
"how much is your time worth?"
Another thing to consider if
you want to design and sell templates is how time
consuming they are to create. First you have to
know what size to make the template for the
browser resolution you are designing for (you can
allow your design to resize on the user's end for
the browser resolution by setting tables at 100%
instead of a fixed pixel width). You can also
design templates using CSS, which has it's own set
of problems we won't get into here. Then, you
have to create a good layout that includes the
navigation structure in the design and gives the
end user as many options for customizing your
design for their individual use. No one wants
a site that looks exactly like anyone else's site.
Producing a good design and layout is just the
beginning.
You'll also need the ability to
give and write out clear instructions for using
and editing your template, making it
understandable for all levels of designers from
beginning to advanced. After the template is done
(which could take up to 20-30 hours or more of
work for a good template from start to finish before
you're satisfied), you need to package it for
delivery (download, e-mail, cd-rom), hook up the
e-commerce (type depends on your server) so you
can get paid. You also need to digitally or
manually watermark your images or display your
templates & graphics so the originals can't be
'lifted' (remember, anything that is displayed on
the web can be copied) and there is always a way
to get around any 'no right click' script. Your
copyright is your legal protection for misuse.
You have to spell out your copyright terms clearly
and create some sort of 'help' or 'FAQ' files for
answering basic inquiries so you won't be spending
all your time answering the same questions over
and over. You have to set a price based on what
other designers are charging for somewhat similar
packages, and try to make yours better or unique
in some way.
It's very time consuming to
create and package high-quality templates and graphics. In fact,
keeping it up is a solid commitment, and to get
good at it, like anything else, you have to 'love'
to do it. Your first few attempts probably won't
be too successful if you set your standards too
high. It's easy to get frustrated, but if you keep
at it, you can do it!
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