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Thursday, January 23rd
Envato is the industry standard when it comes to marketplace assets. Over 2 million customers a year purchase items straight from the designers who create them. Boasting $1 billion in community earnings, this is the place to go for design assets. You can buy per item, or you can join the community for discounts. All the assets on Envato come with licenses - lifetime commercial licenses are included. Categories include ThemeForest, AudioJungle, VideoHive, GraphicRiver, CodeCanyon, and more. Millions of people around the world visit Envato to take advantage of smart templates and even to learn new skills.
One-stop shop
Envato really has everything you would ever need to design, build, and launch your next website. From fonts to videos to stock photography, your website can be as unique as you are. Their website template catalog has over 6,500 mobile responsive templates, over 4,200 of which are also Retina-Ready for high-resolution Mac and iOS displays.
Filtered searches save time
There are many online asset repositories, but few provide the great filters and search engine that Envato offers its customers. It's not time-consuming to narrow down your choices to find exactly what you need here. You can combine a keyword query with four categories (Admin Templates, Email Templates, Site Templates, and Landing Page Templates) and four properties (Responsive, Retina Ready, PSD Files Included, and SKETCH Files Included). You can sort by newest or by popularity, but we do wish we could also filter by tags, price, and file types.
Learn new skills with EnvatoTuts+
Most people looking for template designs are trying to save time or they aren't very familiar with web design. Envato offers a whole website dedicated to teaching you time-saving skills or giving you a great education in how to design a website. EnvatoTuts was launched in 2007 to teach users with tutorials in subjects like using Photoshop. It has become the leading publisher of online courses, with over 5 million people visiting each month to learn new skills. Envato has contributors and members from all over the world, and they try to give you the best education possible. Most teachers have been with Envato for more than 10 years.
Great variety of CMS supported
No matter what content management system you prefer, Envato has you covered. Just a few of the software Envato's template supports are:
There are so many other assets involved in developing a website, from email templates, videos, an excellent music repository, graphics, fonts, to special codes - and Envato has it covered.
Simple membership-based pricing that won't hurt your pocketbook
Membership on Envato starts at $16.50 per month for individuals. The team plan starts as low as $10.75 per member per month. If you have bigger needs, you can contact someone at Envato, and they can help with large-scale packages. With an Envato account, each month you'll also receive 12 hand-selected files, fonts, presentations, videos, and other assets.
Licensing requirements
Licensing is very easy with Envato. When you download something, you can also download the license for your specified use. You just can't resell, redistribute, or use items in on-demand services.
Envato cares about community
Envato offers students a nice 30% discount. But even more generous is their discount of 50% off for registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations. The process for receiving this discount is very easy and painless. Companies that give back always impress us, and Envato knocks it out of the park on this one.
Great customer reviews
When we reached out to Envato's customer service with account questions, the response was always fast and friendly. Even a cancellation is handled quickly and professionally. Envato customers really enjoy the customer support and how easy it is to find what you are looking for on their website. They also appreciated that Envato is basically a one-stop shop for your website design needs. You can even get assets for print and social media asset creation. Some negatives were problems with the search engine, account issues, and an at times less-than-user-friendly shopping cart experience. We did not experience these issues at Envato, so it would seem that they've improved the experience overall.
Website templates, design and marketing made easy
Envato really does it right. We have been very pleased with their customer service and with the quality of most of their products. Website templates are available for every walk of life. Their completely headache-free pricing structure is a refreshing bonus. The fact that they are willing to give back to the community through education and generous discounts for nonprofits and students really sets them above most other website template providers. For these reasons, Envato is one of our top picks.
With so many new technologies and lots of user-friendly software, it's easier than ever to create a website. What's not so easy is navigating functionality, responsiveness, shopping carts, and effects for that website. For those things that truly make a website your own, you still need the skills and expertise of creative designers and coders who can put their knowledge together to create a user-friendly, appealing website that will meet your needs.
You have two choices: to hire these creative experts individually or to find great website templates whose creators have already done the heavy lifting and can make it possible for you to customize a template into something that reflects you or your company. Website templates can help you accelerate your website development or bypass most of it altogether for a fraction of the price you'd pay developers.
That being said, the world of website templates can be complicated and difficult to navigate. For example, website templates are not your website; they are more like the "dressing” of a website. Most websites need a platform. Think of a costume - lying on the floor or hanging in the closet, it cannot keep its shape. In order to keep it from losing its shape, we find a form or mannequin on which to put the costume. Website templates need a form in order to function, and that is generally a content management system. It is up to you to find out if the templates you like come with a CMS or if you have to install that before you use your template.
You also need to ask if the website template comes with a page builder. A page builder will take your website design to a new level without having to use coding. Most page builders employ the use of drag-and-drop visual editing. Some page builders are better than others when it comes to flexibility and generating responsive design.
And, don't forget hosting. When planning a website, you will need to decide where the website information is stored and broadcast to the internet. Some website templates offer compatible hosting service included, some have suggestions for hosts that understand their templates and platform, and still others don't have any recommendations.
Plus, keep in mind that the modern web is an entirely different experience from the origin of the internet. In the beginning of the world wide web, people experienced the internet from a desktop computer screen. Modern users, however, almost always access the internet via multiple devices, primarily mobile phones. Modern web design usually has built-in functionality that will be responsive to the type of device the end user is operating to access your website. If a template "breaks” on a small phone, then it's not a good template.
Finally, a website template marketplace is full of separate vendors. Don't forget that "marketplace” websites are full of separate vendors with their own way of designing and their own skillsets. Some might be extremely skilled and reasonably-priced, while others might border on being a scam. Be sure to research the individual vendor. Often, marketplaces become so large that quality control just can't investigate each vendor. It's up to you to do your own research.
Here are some criteria you can use to make comparisons and ultimately decide on a website template for your site:
To assist you in finding the best website template, Top Consumer Reviews has evaluated and ranked top vendors on the market today. We're confident that this information will make finding a website design and template a fun rather than frustrating experience.
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