Bespoke Web Design vs off the Peg: A Comparison
There are basically two kinds of website package you can buy from a design company. You’ll either get a bespoke web design package, where things are developed with specific reference to your company, your products and your existing data bases: or you’ll have an off the peg web package, where an existing site template is squeezed around the data and processes you use. Is one ever better than the other?
Well, there are of course clues in the language here. Using an off the peg web template, where your company processes and the ways you store your data have to be combined to an existing design, is ultimately restrictive. It’s cheap, but it doesn’t let you do a lot. And, let’s face it, web templates tend to look pretty lame too. A visitor to a site can always tell if it has been bought off the peg: it’s got that ubiquitous square framed screen, a title bar, a side menu, and all the images on it look like stock rather than genuine company pictures. The visual difference between an off the peg and a bespoke web design package scores a heavy point in favour of bespoke from the start. All companies do different things and have different ways of expressing or advertising themselves. That can never be imparted to a web user unless the site doing the imparting has been built for the company in question.
It’s the old quality distinction at work: the eternal difference between bespoke and off the shelf. Off the shelf is never made to fit you personally: you have to squeeze into it, or accept that it is a bit too baggy and use a belt. Bespoke stuff, stuff made exclusively for you, fits perfectly every time. It shows you off better. That is the basic difference between a bespoke web design package and a template.
There are some key functional issues to look at here too. They all boil down to the same point, mind – but, for any business where running and using data bases is a key part of its stock control, or customer relations processes, the real devil lies in this function detail. Simply put: a web template may not be able to efficiently translate your data onto the Internet. If you use data bases that have been built specifically for you, they might not match up with the tools a web template uses to extract data from your company systems. And so your products or services end up being displayed in a way that doesn’t do them justice. A bespoke web design will be developed in tandem with your existing data: which means, when it is finished, that it should basically work like your own systems do, and so represent your business properly on the web.
The difference can be huge. Where a company is involved with a large range of stock, subject to all sorts of availability statuses and price changes, a web template really isn’t enough. And remember that you want your business to appear as unique on the web as it is in real life. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face: go bespoke or get lost in the crowd.
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