General
Not all templates are created the same
There are many features that a web site can have. Most features are optional. Some templates include additional features. Some templates don't include all of the standard features. All templates need to be modified for a specific web site. 

Some templates have navigation buttons to different pages. Some templates have multiple pages. Others go nowhere.
If you go nowhere just click the back button on your browser. Or, click the Next and Previous buttons.

Some templates have buttons that are difficult to change their size. It's usually easy to tell which ones they are. If you want one of these it's not a problem. Just make sure that the text you want in them will fit in them.  

Fixed Width vs. Liquid Layout
Some templates have a constant width no matter how wide the display it's viewed on. Others go with the flow as display width changes from computer to computer. This is called a liquid layout. Most present day fixed width layouts are for 800 pixel wide displays. If your display is set to 1024 wide, there will be about 200 pixels of background on the side(s) of the display. The template can be centered in the display.

A liquid layout expands to fill the entire width of the display, or a percentage of it. These are a little harder to control and what is displayed will vary depending on the monitor width. 

Frames vs No Frames
A frame layout divides the viewing screen into areas called frames. Each frame displays a web page. You can tell a frames page when some of the content does not scroll with the page. The areas that no not scroll are used for logo/header and page navigation. 



You can have several frames. The Template Viewer uses a header frame and a content frame below it. Most templates don't use more than 3 frames. 

The Advantages are:
Your company logo is always visible. Navigation buttons are always visible. There is no need to put navigation buttons on the content pages. You can show other web sites inside the content frame. Webmasters can prevent this and simply take over the screen. However, many don't. We typically don't. Any hit "displaying your page in someone's browser" is a good hit.

The Detriments are:
Printing a frames page requires selecting the frame to print, before printing. This is confusing to many people. 
If you expect your guests to print the web page do not use frames.

All navigations buttons must fit inside the frame when viewed with the smallest screen used by your guests. This rules out palm devices and severely limits their effectiveness on small monitors. If you use more than 6 or 7 buttons don't use frames.

Search engines can get confused. For example, You have a page with information that a search engine has found an indexed. However, the search engine indexed the content page, not the frame. When someone finds the information on a search engine and click the link the content page is displayed without being inside any frames. If you don't have any navigation or easy way to get back to the top frame page. A page won't display correctly and it is a dead end.

If you display other websites in your content frame, some programmers take over the entire viewing screen. This exits your web site. 

The viewing area of the content pages is decreased. 

Some very old browsers don't allow frames. Almost all do.



Standard Features
Most templates have these features.

Page Layout
The layout of the page. Where components are located. The navigation buttons on the left. Banner at the top etc. The page graphics for the layout.

Text Formatting Style Sheet
This provides global text formatting for the entire website. Changes to this file change the text formatting for the entire web site. Style sheets allow you to easily keep a consistent look for your web site. 

Basic Graphics Package
The basic graphics package includes:

Dots for lists.


A set of lines.











Background images for tables and text.

This is text over a background.

You can have several backgrounds for different color schemes.

Navigation buttons for the different pages.
Most of the templates have navigation buttons at the left of the page. This is the classical page navigation scheme.

This scheme has many benefits. However, it has some drawbacks. The text for the button must fit in the button and be big enough to look good. You don't want to scroll down the page to see the navigation buttons. You can only have 8 or so buttons depending on how tall they are. There is considerable space used at the left of the page. This reduces the width of the viewing area for content.


Optional Features

Javascript Functions
Javascript performs control functions on the web page. When your mouse moves over a navigation button, Javascript changes the button. There are many standard Javascript functions. These include Slideshow, Text Window Scroller, Drop Down Navigation Menu to name a few.

Custom Javascript functions can be programmed to provide a wealth of functionality to a web page. The Template Viewer is made from custom Javascript functions.

Flash Presentations
Flash presentations are animated sequences of graphics. They can be placed anywhere on the page. You can make them continuously run or run once and stop. Many people find continuously running flash an annoyance while studying the contents of a page.

Flash is often used as an introduction to the website. It plays and then loads the "Home" page. Flash has good controls for web site navigation. Some websites are made completely with Flash.

Flash is made by and is copyrighted by the Macromedia Corporation.


Advanced Server Components

These programs are executed on the computer that hosts the web site. Dynamic web pages are created on the web server before being sent to the client. Because the pages are generated by a program, they can interact with databases that are on the host. You can have input forms and generate reports on line. The entire solution can be integrated into complete solution for your company.