Website redesign using templates

For the last few years, I have used a flash-based web template. It has served me well, and I received many positive compliments on it from my clients. It had some limitations, including one short sound clip which got pretty boring, and no automatic slide show capability.

I wanted to take it a step further, to update the look and give the viewer a richer experience. I am very comfortable with the template approach, so I returned to Winklet Web Design to check out their offerings. I evaluated their photography portfolio templates #29, 30 and 31, and ultimately chose the latter, #31.

This template features a cycle of images on the home page, as well as a number of portfolios which also have slide shows that cycle through the images. I can upload my own music, and link to my blog.

I took the opportunity to refresh all of the images and define clean categories for my main offerings: Weddings, Seniors and Family Portraits. I included a fourth "Other" category for specialty images.

I have also been doing some electronic music, so the song I uploaded was a composition I recorded last winter.

In all, it took me about 10 hours from start to upload. That included the time to edit and order the 100+ images and thumbnails on the site, as well as updating my keywords and other tracking identifiers such as Google Analytics. Ongoing updates, such as price lists and fresh images, only take a few minutes to update.

So, if you are contemplating creating or updating a website, consider giving web templates a try. It's a great way to establish a classy image without getting very technical or spending a fortune.