As one who does not fall into what Arola defines as part of the Net Generation, I can appreciate the value of the template design where we “fill in and fill up” as opposed to creating an online profile. For the average person, a template provides all that they need to establish a presence on the web without having to have the background in code to do it.
Do Templates Eliminate the Creative Process?
The template, from Arola’s perspective seems to pigeonhole the individual from expressing creative freedom from the design perspective when it comes to an online presence. I would disagree in that an online presence should be more about content than appearance. When asked, I think justification and cause can be shared to explain certain aspects of the web appearance. I would agree that being able to tweak a template is useful in that it allows personalization based on user.
Where does this leave us?
By giving individuals the power to create and adapt an online template provides them an opportunity to customize and push the creative concept when it comes to an online presence. Perhaps it does equate to dots on a multiple choice test, but given the right information and knowledge the user can apply multicolored dots to that test and make it their own.
The Journey 