Many small business owners and entrepreneurs resort to using ready-made website templates available for free (free website design in HTML and CSS) on the Internet to build their sites quickly and easily.
While these templates provide a quick and affordable way to create a website, they have several drawbacks in the long run, especially as the project grows and develops.
In this article, we will review the most prominent disadvantages of designing a website in HTML and CSS, ready for free, and how to avoid them by following the appropriate alternatives to build a professional website that grows with the needs of business owners and companies.
What is a website design in HTML and CSS ready for free:
Free ready-made HTML and CSS websites are website templates and design styles that are ready to use directly.
These templates are characterized by the following:
- Available for free download from several sites on the Internet.
- Comes fully designed with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- It contains the basic elements of a comprehensive website, such as the home page, menu, description, and contact forms.
- Easy to install and use by novice users without programming experience.
- Possibility of simple customization such as changing colors and inserting content.
But it lacks advanced features, design flexibility, and customization options.
Disadvantages of designing a website in HTML and CSS ready for free:
The most notable disadvantages of using ready-made, free website templates in HTML and CSS are:
1- Inability to fully customize the design:
The options for modifying the design are limited and do not meet the needs of future development and growth.
2- Compatibility problems with different browsers such as Firefox and Chrome.
3- The possibility of replicating designs with other sites due to their free availability.
4- Poor SEO options such as detailed page descriptions and attractive titles.
5- Difficulty adding new pages in harmony with the rest of the site’s pages.
6- Lack of technical support when facing display or programming problems.
7- Limited payment and shipping options if building an online store.
- Inability to fully customize the design:
The inability to fully customize the design is one of the most notable drawbacks when using ready-made and free HTML and CSS templates.
These templates are often limited and rigid in customization options, allowing only simple modifications such as changing colors or adding images and text. However, it isn’t possible to make radical modifications to change the shape and structure of pages, especially basic elements such as the top bar, corners, and columns.
This greatly limits the website owner's ability to add his unique personality and identity. It also provides limited options when you want to grow, expand, and add new pages and services.
Therefore, it is always better to hire a specialized developer to build websites in a customized and flexible manner that meets the needs and requirements of each project.
- Compatibility issues with all browsers:
Ready-made templates often face compatibility issues with various browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.
Each browser has a different layout and design engine. Therefore, a site may appear very well in one browser but have problems displaying in another browser.
For example, the way fonts, graphics, and tags are supported varies from one browser to another. So problems may arise with the size, color, or location of the items.
Ready-made templates do not always provide solutions to these problems. Which requires the site owner to make additional software modifications, especially with the release of new browser updates.
- Possibility of replicating the design with other sites:
Yes, duplicating the site design with other sites is a common drawback when using ready-made and free HTML and CSS templates.
Since these templates are available for everyone to download and use, other sites will likely use the same template without making any modifications.
This leads to repetition of the design and general appearance of the site, which reduces its distinction and professionalism.
It is also difficult to distinguish this site from other sites, which negatively affects the user experience.
Therefore, it is always better to use unique designs that reflect the identity and nature of each site or to make fundamental modifications to the templates to make them distinctive.
- Lack of privacy in the design and the possibility of its spread:
One of the disadvantages of free and ready-made templates is the lack of privacy in their design and the possibility of the design itself spreading widely.
It is very possible for other website owners to download and use the same template without making any major modifications to it. Which leads to the emergence of sites with the same character and general appearance.
The template also does not guarantee that the content or graphics and images used will be hidden from search engines.
This allows it to be easily copied by other sites.
This certainly weakens the site's chances of being distinguished and reduces its marketing value in the long term.
Therefore, it is best to use unique designs or contract with a professional designer to build your site in a distinctive and non-copyable way.
- Poor SEO options:
Yes, most free templates lack sufficient SEO options, which is one of their major drawbacks.
It lacks optimized code to increase page loading speed and click-through rates.
They also don't provide advanced options for adding tags, titles, and optimized text to the content that search engines prefer.
Therefore, the site owner will have to make additional modifications to the code and content to increase the site’s ranking in search results. This may require high technical skills.
- The difficulty of adding new pages appropriately when designing a website in HTML and CSS, ready for free:
Websites that use ready-made HTML and CSS templates have difficulty adding new pages in a way that fits the current design.
Templates are often designed for a specific and fixed number of pages, such as the home page, the About Us page, and the Contact Us page.
So when you try to add new pages, such as a blog or an online store, you will face difficulty in formatting them in a way that is consistent with the rest of the site’s pages.
There is also the possibility of problems with the arrangement of side menus or navigation links, causing confusion for visitors.
It is best to use flexible templates or hire a developer to make the necessary modifications when adding new pages.
- It isn’t possible to modify the code in the future:
One of the disadvantages of ready-made templates is that they often prevent the possibility of freely modifying the website code in the future.
These templates are not open source, which means you cannot access to modify the HTML, CSS, or JavaScript code.
Therefore, if you wish to make future updates or additions to the site, you will not be able to do so yourself. Rather, you will have to return to the same template company to undertake the modifications in exchange for additional amounts.
Therefore, it is better to use open-source templates that allow continuous modification and development in the long term without restrictions.
- Lack of technical support when there are problems in designing a website in HTML and CSS that is ready for free:
One of the biggest disadvantages of designing a website in HTML and CSS for free is the lack of technical support when facing any problems or errors.
These templates are provided free of charge without any guarantees or technical support service.
So if you encounter any technical problem such as display errors or unexpected error messages, you will have no one to turn to to solve it.
There is also no support team to answer technical questions about how to customize the template or integrate it with other systems.
Therefore, the site owner will have to search for solutions himself or resort to the services of developers at an additional cost.
It is better to obtain paid templates within technical support and ongoing maintenance packages.
- Limited shipping and payment options in the case of online stores:
Ready-made templates provide very limited options when building online stores, especially in terms of shipping and payment options.
Such templates provide only simple forms for entering product, customer, and order data. But it does not include specialized tools such as:
- Support for shipping platforms and third-party warehouses (3PL)
- Integrating various payment methods such as PayPal and credit cards
- Calculating taxes and customs duties on orders
Therefore, the site owner will have to program these features himself or resort to more specialized options at high additional costs.
Therefore, it is better to use off-the-shelf e-commerce platforms with global shipping and payment support or hire an experienced developer specifically with these systems.
In general, designing a ready-made website in HTML and CSS for free provides a suitable start for initial small-sized websites or as an experimental purpose, but it lacks many important features for building a long-term professional website.
We can say that it is more appropriate to invest in a distinctive, high-quality template or to hire a professional programmer to build a website according to the actual needs and goals of the project in a flexible manner that is capable of development and growth in the future.
By starting with the right and sober steps, we ensure that we build a distinguished website capable of keeping pace with the changing needs of the market without having to rebuild it from the beginning again.
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