Web
developers create websites and are responsible for modifying the look
and feel of a website. Additionally, they're also accountable for
making your website fully-functional. If you're a web developer
involved in website development, building websites from scratch can
be a time-consuming task and requires lot of efforts. But, what if
you don't have enough time to carry out the entire development
process? You can find tons of free and commercial templates online to
choose from. But, an unfortunate reality is that not all of those
templates will be able to give you what you want.
Put
it simply, free or commercial templates often lack features you might
want to have in your site. Besides these, such templates cannot be
customized beyond a point and thus provide limited control over your
layout. In that case, the most viable solution is to build a website
from scratch.
But,
keep in mind that creating an entirely new site from the ground up
should be your last expedient, instead of your first option. So,
another possible alternative is to build a website from templates
available over the web. Fortunately, there are plenty of free
resources available over the web that makes the task of building a
site from pre-built templates a breeze.
However,
looking over the web for finding the right resources for your project
needs can be a daunting task and might take a lot of your time. So,
to help you out I've complied a list of 10 of the best free website
template resources worth considering:
mezzoblue.com
Cascading
Style Sheets (CSS) help apply many different type of styles to the
elements of a website layout. It help provides several formatting
options (like colors, font styles, etc.) to give you control over the
style and content of your website pages.
So,
if you want to gain more knowledge about CSS including its techniques
and methods, then you can refer to mezzoblue “ResourceGuide”. This guide
contains a list of useful links to some of the best CSS resources.
W3layouts.com
With
the incessant increase in the development of new devices, the need
for responsive website design is also on a rise. However, we usually
create full-size responsive design which are later adjusted according
to the mobile versions. But, since more and more users are utilizing
mobile devices than desktop systems to browse the Internet, many web
developers are now following the “Mobile First Approach” to build
sites (that help build separate site for mobile users).
If
you too want to build a responsive and mobile-friendly site supported
by HTML5 and CSS3 web technologies, then you can download responsive
mobile website template from W3layouts
for free. W3layouts is a product introduced by AgileITs that offers
templates based on the Mobile First approach.
Free
Bootstrap Resources
Bootstrap
framework has gained popularity in the web design and development
arena. In fact, many developers are using this framework as it help
save a lot of their time by providing pre-built pieces of code. Using
the ready-made code, developers can make their site functional in a
quick and easy manner. Another best aspect that developers like about
Bootstrap is the ability it gives to developers to tailor their
development projects as per their requirements.
So,
if you want to carry out website development using a Bootstrap
template or resources, the best way to do so requires you to visit
the StartBootstrap website. This
site provides a comprehensive list of Bootstrap related resources.
Templatemo.com
Apart
from focusing on creating Bootstrap-enabled website, many web
developers today pay attention to add parallax scrolling effect to
their theme. If you want to create a responsive website based on the
bootstrap framework with parallax scrolling, then templatemo.com
is the right destination for you. This website offers varied type of
templates files that are free to download.
Once
you've downloaded the templates, you can modify them to make them fit
according to you personal or commercial sites.
Templated.co
This
is one stop destination for web developers who are looking for CSS
and HTML5 templates. This site provides a huge collection of around
846 responsive templates. You can download the templates for personal
or commercial use from templated.co
for free.
Free
WordPress Resources
WordPress
is used by 61% of websites and the figure is constantly rising with
each passing day, this clearly indicates the popularity of this CMS.
Many web developers (especially beginners) love to work with
WordPress, because of its simple and easy to use interface. Most
significantly, they prefer this CMS owing to the thousands of themes
and plugins it offers.
ThemesDirectory
– You can find free themes for building your WP website from the
WordPress Themes directory.
PluginsDirectory
– WordPress plugins are effective tools that help web developers
integrate additional features and functions into the themes they've
created. You can find all type of plugins from the WordPress Plugins
directory.
Free
Joomla Resources
In
case you want to build sites using the user-friendly Joomla CMS, you
can find a plethora of free Joomla themes to modify your site look.
Additionally, you can opt for a suitable Joomla extension to embed
new functionality into your site.
ResourcesDirectory
– Are you're searching for free Joomla templates? You can find them
here at resources directory.
ExtensionsDirectory
– Want to add extra functionality into your Joomla template to make
it work in-sync with your needs? In that case, you can look for a
suitable extension from the Joomla Extensions Directory. You can
browse through the several categories provided in this page to find
an extension that meets your specific requirements, or you can
directly search for the extension known to you.
Free
Drupal Resources
Drupal
is an ideal CMS for developers looking forward to build complicated
websites with thousands of web pages. If you have been planning to
build a Drupal powered site, then you can find tons of free template
resources from the official Drupal page.
Themes
– You can find a dozen of free Drupal templates contributed by
others from the official Drupal website.
Modules
– If you want to extend the functionality of your Drupal template
or wish to customize the template, then you can choose a Drupal
module that befits your need.
Open
Source Web Design
Not
all of the web developers have good designing skills. They may be
good at making a design functional, but don't have the required
knowledge about how they can create a website design. If you are one
such developer, then you can look for free website designs online.
Oswd.org
or Open Source Web Designs is an open source community website for
users (ideally designers) who love to share their designs and code to
all type of publishers – be it programmers, web developers,
business owners, etc. Since the templates are created by web
designers, they will most likely be complaint to web standards.
Freehtml5
Templates
Last
on our list is Freehtml5Templates, a reliable
source from where you can download free web templates with valid
HTML5 code. In addition, this site also offers web templates
including CSS3 code as well. Whether you want to use a template for
personal use or commercial use, the website offers plenty of free to
download HTML5 themes to choose from. You can even tweak the theme to
make it work as per your specific needs.
Let's
Sum Up!
If
you're a novice website developer wanting to build a site, you can
save your valuable time and efforts by downloading a template and
modify it using free resources available online. When it comes to
looking for development resources, we have a tendency to look for
tutorials and resources online that could help us give better
understanding of the same. Even though, you will easily find such
materials over the web, but they're hardly comprehensible to
understand. Reading this post, however, will help you know about the
best free template resources you can opt for your website development
project.
Author
Biography:
Jack
Calder has foremost experience in the field of design &
development. He is working front end developer in Markupcloud Ltd, a
prominent markup conversion firm to convertpsd to responsive html. Jack is also a
technology lover and shares his deep knowledge with every one.