Future is a Template!

Automization is a good thing. The time and efforts saved from doing a same job manually again and again, can be used productively and efficiently elsewhere. Today's world… and especially the world of computers and Information Technology (IT) has become a world of Templates!

When I started professional web design some 5 years ago, very few people knew about templates. Even if some of us knew and heard about a couple of websites selling design templates, we would seldom visit such a site probably just to get an idea of what designs were being created there. Now there are 100's of such run-of-the-mill template selling sites popping up all over the cyberspace.

If design templates were not enough, now there are websites selling programming templates! For un-initiated, programming templates include complete programming code for shopping carts, search engines, free email services and web logs (better known as blogs) in PHP, ASP or god knows what new languages are out there. So if I decide to build my own freelance service website, I will buy such a script with all pages ready, insert my design and customize it for my satisfaction and just upload the final version to make it live. I haven't even touched any programming code nor did I run behind any web developer or programmer to get my things done. In less than an hour, I have my site alive and kicking. What more can I ask? Perhaps I can buy a design template, then go buy a program template code for free email service, integrate them with one another and I am ready to be a next Hotmail!

These templates have surely changed the way people work on the internet. Probably the next stage will be Database Templates where all fields and tables are created for an e-commerce books website, all I have to do is purchase it, re-enter names and other information of members in each fields and I am ready with a database which I can be proud of. Templates were present in our daily lives much before the revolution of computers came to town. Machines in various industries, printing press, dams, etc are all forms of a template based solutions but we have never contemplated it as such. Even our routine body actions are part of signals that are based on the theory of templates. If I am riding a bicycle, my brain doesn't have to give signal to my legs every time to pedal. It goes on and on.

Template based services have their own share of spoils and returns. Firstly, they save time. Secondly, many good template based services offer customization options to users. People with less technical knowledge prefer buying templates instead of negotiating with professional developers and designers to create a new one. On the downside though, templates are very monotonous. Different people get the same designs so there can be 10 websites which look all the same, but in reality they may be completely different. Many template providing services offer one time services and never bother to entertain clients for their after sales so things can get messy around.

Although purists believe that templates can never replace original form of custom design or program codes, it is a fact undeniable that templates are here to stay. I am waiting just to see what new form of templates people come up with, and in what area of industry. Template to create templates... keep guessing!