It got me thinking - maybe ready-to-use website templates would be a good idea?! What do you people think? Are there any negatives I'm not seeing?
I think it depends on your goals for the site.
Templates have their use. I think when you use them for a website, you facilitate the creation of terraced houses, and terraced houses appeal to some people.
If your site values function over form, templates can be a good tool to leverage.
But it's hard to stand out from a crowd when you're part of it; even in the case of a terraced house, it's hard to say any one of them has their own character or brand that is distinct and separate from the others, beyond something superficial like "façade color."
So if any of your goals include something like "differentiate", "be memorable", or "communicate a brand message", a template is probably not the right path for you.
I think it depends on your goals for the site.
Templates have their use. I think when you use them for a website, you facilitate the creation of terraced houses, and terraced houses appeal to some people.
If your site values function over form, templates can be a good tool to leverage.
But it's hard to stand out from a crowd when you're part of it; even in the case of a terraced house, it's hard to say any one of them has their own character or brand that is distinct and separate from the others, beyond something superficial like "façade color."
So if any of your goals include something like "differentiate", "be memorable", or "communicate a brand message", a template is probably not the right path for you.
The terraced houses analogy makes so much sense. Thanks for sharing this!