Using templates: Is web design a solved problem?

I purchased my first domain name back in the year 2000 while I was a senior in high school (November 27th, 2000 to be exact. Thanks whois.net!). But I think I made my first website on geocities when I was in middle school. The most exciting content was the "joke of the week" that got updated at least every two months. I'm not sure templates even existed back then. Since I started out with no templates, it took me a while to realize how great they are.

My life goals have changed a few times over the years. I wasn't always planning on making a career of web design and software development but I have been making websites for people periodically since my first site in middle school.

Thanks to the Wayback Machine, we can see one of my first websites created in 2001! Yes, that is my face on a cow's body in the corner. The first time I was paid to develop a website for a business was in 2006 and they haven't done any major update since! See it here.

It wasn't until about a year ago that I realized how great website templates are. Everything I created before that was from scratch. I have found that starting with a template makes things easier, makes everything look better, and allows me to focus on the actual content of the website. Also, most templates nowadays are mobile responsive designs so a template helps guarantee your site will look good on all devices. It is still important to have an understanding about what makes up the template. An understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript allows me to make customizations so the site can be directly tailored to the needs of the client. Thanks to templates, my more recent sites look so much better than my earlier sites. Here is one I created for an organization called P.A.C.T.

All this makes me think about a quote from the most recent episode of the Shoptalk Show, a podcast I listen to about web development. The host was quoting an (unnamed) friend that said "maybe web design is a solved problem." The most important thing to most users is ease-of-use. Using common design patterns makes websites easier to use and therefore makes the website more effective. Trying to reinvent the wheel every time only hurts the overall project and wastes time.

Compare the first website I created for the Houghton-Jones Neighborhood Association to the current website I created for them. The first was before I used templates, the second was after. I am never going back.