Originally Posted by Ineedalife 1. No tutorials - Why no tutorials? I personally believe it stunts any and all creative thinking you might have about your design. You may have an amazing idea in your head and then you decide that you aren't good enough so you look at a tutorial and ruin your dream.

I think that everybody learn these days with tutorial. I just hate the people who reproduce it and try to get all the merit of those who made the tuto. However if you do not have the necessary skill to build a template, tutorial is a good thing for beginners.

2. No Professional Templates - What do I mean by this? I mean that you should not look at professional templates when trying to get an idea. You aren't that good yet....

I agree with you partially. When I'm out of inspiration, pro templates are good to get more idea of layout and effects.

3. Practice, Practice, Practice - I cannot stress this enough. Artists do not become amazing over night, ok well some do but most of the time not. You need to be willing to be insulted and be ready to spend hours, or days on 1 template. It takes a great...

Wow 1 - 3 weeks, maybe for a customer..but a personal project? Nah, except those fancy extreme super graphical layout.

4. Dedication - This goes along with the practice, you need to be willing to dedicate your time to this. This is not something you can just pick up and do, this takes ALOT OF TIME. I have spent well over 300 man hours getting my site to the point it is at now. I know designers that hav....

Yes, but many talented designers have learned all this stuff by themselves. I agree with your point.

5. Don't do it if you don't love it - If you aren't addicted from the first minute you open up photoshop then this probably isn't for you. This isn't like beer where it is an acquired taste......

You are totally right

6. Then don't do it - If you don't have the time, or desire to try and make a template but people are bugging you. DON'T DO IT. Believe me, you are saving yourself alot of wasted time, arguments and fights with your friends, or whomever you are speaking with about it. Do.....

Yes, and anyway, people who want free business templates...I think that they are just unprofessional doing that.

7. Gradients - ONLY IF USED CORRECTLY! This means, that gradients can either make or break your template. I have seen people butcher a template by improper use of gradients, but then again I have seen amazing examples of gradients....

Haha this one is funny, I also agree with this one.

8. Drop Shadows - Almost never should you use these. I despise drop shadows .....

Right.

9. Outer/Inner Glow - Again meant only for those who know how to use it properly. It is another thing where you can totally butcher a template when used incorrectly. Yet another case that you do not want extremes. If you have an all dark template, DO NOT USE BRIGHT GLOW EFFECTS....

"DO NOT USE BRIGHT GLOW EFFECTS" -> Not everytime but you are usually right.

10. Scan lines - These have a tendancy to be way too visible and overdone. If you are doing a scanline, meaning a pattern overlay, please, PLEASE do something else besides a diagonal black line. It is "so last week" and makes the template look like everyone elses'. Also, scan lines should almost always be set at an opacity of less then 40 or 50 percent. AT LEAST! It should be almost not visible, and should just compliment the template, not be the first thing you see.

Small scanlines are anoying and disgusting. Bigger one generally brings more satisfaction and better results.

11. Backgrounds - In this case, I recommend when you are first starting out. Make the templapte first, then worry about the background later. The background can be a pain if you want a "unique" look to it when coding, but usually a background with a nice gradient effect, or just a plain color with a little design or something is fine. Just don't make the background the main attraction. The main attraction is the content, not the background!

It can sometimes be a pain for coders..*sight*

12. XHTML/CSS - I personally, think it is the worst thing that could have happened to web design in years. It has totally demolished everything that is beautiful about web design. They seem flat, and boring. All for a different type of coding which frankly I would rather have a beautiful template. But that's your personal choice not mine!

Mhh not so sure. But remember, your template can be compliant without using flat designs, tables used correctly are compliant (xhtml trans 1.0&1) . W3C just don't want us to put images in tables..they haven't establish a compliancy rule *yet*.

13. Criticism - Be willing to take it. You will get alot of it, but it will definintly help you bcome a better designer in the end. Now I do not recommend listening to some 8 year old off the street but your friends, ....

lol, I know a guy who has been designing for at leat 4 years that seriously hate to receive bad comments. SO funny!

14. Business Or Personal - If you are building a business website, don't take so much merit in what designers say. Listen to the customer, as they know best! If a designer says your layout and design blow, but you get compliments from your clients all the time, then keep the design! Now if you are just using it for your clan or something like that, and the designers nor your buddies care for it, trash it and work on another. It's all about pleasing the people who see your site!

Yes.

15. Inspiration - As stated earlier, don't go looking for inspiration in professional work like templatemonster.com or something like that. They all have degrees in the field and know more than we will ever know about designing lol. It will just get you frustrated, confused and thinking "How the heck did they do that?" You won't be able to look at their sites without wondering that for years! I suggest looking at good quality templates of the same style you would like that include the .PSD. For instance of course our website freeprotemplates.com has a great selection of low, middle and high end templates for you to look at and include the .PSD files. After downloading them, open up photoshop and re-organize the template. Don't try and design one right away. Move around stuff and try to spice of the template you just downloaded. Have a ball and see what you come up with. After you have moved it around, get ideas from it, learn from it and try to begin on your own. Don't remake the template, make your own, and make it totally different from everyone else.

"How the heck did they do that" @ Tutorial!
Yes Freeprotemplates, I suggest all beginner to look at this web site!

16. Originality - This is the main thing that is lacking in the industry today. People all the time ask me why and how I get templates cheap and why I don't offer as much as I used to. And it's simple. The templates have been done too many ways the same way too often. A template does not need to be a square or rectangle. Think outside the box for once and try something new. Try a circular template, or something. Just don't look like everyone elses, with a main content box and a side of ads or news areas. It all looks the same and won't get you anywhere in the designing business.

Agreed. A side note to designers, if you think that the only way to be original is being stoned or drunk will bring you more originality, you have a problem.

17. Have fun - This is meant to be something to relax you, something to have fun with. You should be dedicated but love your work at the same time. Don't get so mad that you aren't the greatest because someone told you "DUDE YOUR TEMPLATE LIKE FRICKIN BLOWS MAN". Just go back and see what you can do better. Or get another opinion. Don't get depressed over what people say, learn from it and move on.

Also, you will always have better results when happy and satisfied of what you are doing. Prooved by research.

18. Flash - Avoid at all costs when not a professional. Poorly done flash is the worst thing to do. It is ugly and loads your template SLOW. Stay away until you have taken classes or read long and hard how to do it. It is difficult to do and a pain in the butt to master.

If you are good with Flash, Go for it, otherwise forget flash.

19. Text - Text can look amazing or look like crap. In order to make your text look good, don't go with funky text styles. Your main content text should be arial or verdana, a basic in each computer you own. So don't stray, the banner text on the other hand you can go willy nilly with I don't care. Just learn carefully how to incorporate it well. If you can make a half decent sig with good text, you will be able to do this no problem.

The WORST thing is SMS.

20. Images - When making your site you will want to use either stock photos or screenshots. Screenshots I mean for gaming sites, so a screenshot of a game would be fine. Otherwise only use stock photos, as they look the best and most professional. The only way you can truly get stock photos is by paying, so suck it up and pay a little bit for a pro photo.

" The only way you can truly get stock photos is by paying" False : http://sxc.hu

Add sxc.hu in your ressource mate. Really good article, well-written and well-think. In my opinion this is one of the best article I've read so far on this subject.