Free Web 2.0 Website Templates
Web 2.0 is a segment of the world wide web which emphasizes interactivity and user generated content, including blogs, social bookmarking websites, and browser-based applications. Many free templates are available to improve and make easier the design of Web 2.0-oriented websites and blogs.
Web 2.0 style free templates often feature a separate layer across the entire top of all the website pages (containing the logo and sometimes a horizontal row of links or an advertisement) and one or two sidebars which start below the top layer (with links, a search box, and/or text-based ads). Some of them also have a background color which appears behind the content area and sidebars, both of which have a separate foreground color. Website template files with Web 2.0 styles are available for free from free-css-templates.com, templateworld.com, and opensourcetemplates.org.
Such templates often make use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) in their code, and may refer to an external CSS file. When converting an existing website to a free Web 2.0 template, the ability to fit the current logo and/or advertisements in the new template should be kept in mind. Also, wide website templates which require excessive horizontal scrolling at some display resolutions should be avoided. Free blog-specific template downloads are available from bloggingthemes.com, blogtemplates.org, and blogfashions.com. Some blog hosting services (Blogger, WordPress, etc.) allow external templates to be applied. Many templates of this type are specific to a particular service.
Using a less common template will help give the blog a more distinctive and memorable appearance. It doesn’t appear possible to apply templates to Twitter’s “micro” blogs, but the colors can be customized and a background image can be added if desired. Using free Web 2.0 templates can give websites and blogs a more modern, professional appearance. It is not, however, a prerequisite to success; some of the most popular websites (such as Google and CraigsList) use designs which aren’t very Web 2.0 oriented.
People are most impressed with a website design which is both desirable and original. Either way, it is most important that the design is easy to use, has a professional appearance, is compatible with multiple web browsers, and loads within a reasonable amount of time. Although creating a website design from scratch or paying someone to produce a new design provides greater customization and differentiation, using free Web 2.0-oriented website templates saves time and money which could be used for other tasks like promoting the website and generating content for it.
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