

Ask HN: Places to buy web application templates - antileet

Our startup can't afford designers at this point, and we decided to buy a Web Template so that we can use that design before we launch. However, we ran into several pitfalls:<p>1. A lot of "Website template" sites are, frankly, crap. A majority of it are just cleverly Search Engine Optimized and offer poor quality content.
2. Most of the templates are for companies who just want to plug in information. We don't want any fancy graphics or stock pictures demonstrating racial diversity. We just need a blank page with a sidebar and a top navigation bar which is well documented.<p>The best we found after hours of searching were the "Admin Templates" at ThemeForest:
http://themeforest.net/category/site-templates/admin-skins<p>I'm sure there are many well designed, well priced options out there. Any suggestions on where to find them will be greatly appreciated.
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javery
First I would say that using a template is a sure fire way to make your site
look boilerplate and out of place, a designer doesn't really cost you that
much. For a couple thousand dollars you can get someone to put together PSDs
for you and then pay someone a couple hundred to cut them up into HTML/CSS...
then the rest you can handle. You probably only need them to do 3-5 pages to
cover most of your app.

That being said, I did find some admin specific ones back when I considered
doing this (I didn't and paid for a designer) but here you go:

<http://www.admintasia.com/>

<http://www.adminizio.com/>

<http://themeforest.net/item/ninja-admin-/21190>

[http://themeforest.net/item/profi-admin-administration-
for-t...](http://themeforest.net/item/profi-admin-administration-for-the-
professionals/49058)

[http://themeforest.net/item/boxie-
admin/full_screen_preview/...](http://themeforest.net/item/boxie-
admin/full_screen_preview/74076)

~~~
ryanwaggoner
_First I would say that using a template is a sure fire way to make your site
look boilerplate and out of place_

Depends on your audience. I bet 99% of people would never even notice.

~~~
javery
I don't mean that they will recognize the template, I mean that you are going
to be shoving your app into a template vs. designing something built for your
app. You will haves spots to fill in a template and just put stuff in there,
or if you leave it empty then it looks strange. It's the Lorem Ipsum curse,
designers will put it everywhere and then you end up filling it with useless
content to make things look right.

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cmelbye
Here's a simple web app theme, similar to Basecamp's design, that should work
until you can design something yourself: <http://github.com/pilu/web-app-
theme>

There are a lot of different styles to choose from as well.

~~~
jolan
Nice! :) IMHO, better link here:

<http://pilu.github.com/web-app-theme/>

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apowell
I use a ThemeForest admin template for a web app I developed for non-technical
small business owners. ([http://themeforest.net/item/simpla-admin-flexible-
user-frien...](http://themeforest.net/item/simpla-admin-flexible-user-
friendly-admin-skin/46073))

I don't claim to have the most amazing admin panel ever, but it saved me lots
of time and money, and allowed me to deploy my app quickly and start making
money. My clients are happy with it.

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d2viant
<http://www.styleshout.com>

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lovskogen
Atleast one person in your startup should be design savvy. Desining thinking
makes great companies. If you outsource the design work it will part you from
a important aspect of your user experience.

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efalcao
I recommend <http://www.gooeytemplates.com/>

They are simple and cheap. A good starting point. They even have a free one I
think.

~~~
stympy
I also recommend them. I used their free one for the admin area of the SaaS
Rails Kit, mentioned in another reply. :)

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fjabre
With all the time you spend looking for and putting a template in place you
could be looking for a decent and affordable designer. Cutting up the design
into HTML/CSS usually cost between $150-$300 depending on what you need done.

If you go the template route you might find it surprising how much time you
spend hooking everything up in the frontend.. So like I said you might as well
spend that time implementing the actual design you want.

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jeffepp
I have heard from a few people that <http://codemyconcept.com> is great for
cutting HTML/CSS

Just an FYI

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henning
<http://railskits.com/> looks decent, but I have never bought or used anything
from them.

~~~
JangoSteve
Their SAAS kit is well put together and has some good code for account
subscriptions and billing. I would consider it a worthwhile investment and
good starting point if you're just beginning to code a Rails SAAS application.

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DavidPP
There is a couple of not too bad looking admin skins listed in this article :
[http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/top-50-web-
gra...](http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/top-50-web-graphics-
admin-skins-and-scripts-to-accelerate-
development/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+nettuts+\(NETTUTS\))

------
exline
I wish I could tell you. I also found the "Admin Templates" but not much else.
Most of the templates appeared to be geared to blogs or company web sites, and
not web applications.

I'm getting ready to bite the bullet and go with a designer if I can get the
price to an acceptable level.

