Here, as the heading suggests, we will look at customizing our chosen template. Creating a template from scratch is too in-depth for the space we have here and involves a skill I am not qualified to teach. The skill I am referring to is design. “Click here”, “Click there” type of instructions don’t help when trying to design something. If you really want to start from scratch, I would recommend you to get two kinds of books: the first on CSS, and another on design and layout principles.
The beauty of customizing an existing template is that all the tricky coding has been done for us; all we need to do is identify key elements of somebody else’s work and make amendments to it. We can then choose a template whose overall shape and style we like, and use it as a starting point; we can change it in subtle or not so subtle ways to better suit our business and to make sure that our website is unique.
Now we will look at some “quick wins” for simple customization, then the...