If you have a PSD file that you need converted to HTML or WordPress, how you create the file will heavily determine the speed and accuracy of conversion into a working website. As experts in PSD to HTML conversion service, we have encountered thousands of PSD files, and a good number took too long in conversion because designers of the layouts did not follow some basic design and layout principles. This in turn means that such clients will be charged more according to the production time. However, you can read these tips to learn how to hand in the best file for conversion.
1.Avoid merging layers
It is common practice for designers to merge layers in order to maintain smaller file sizes. Usually this presents no problem when designing for print, but for PSD conversion, it is important to provide all adjustment, textual and/or graphics layers intact. These layers usually have vital information needed for accurate development. The font layer, for instance, informs about font sizes, colors, families and lines heights as well as letter spacing and text transformation.
2.Submit well-organized files
When your PSD is well organized, named and structured, development becomes easier and even more accurate. A well-organized PSD file not only serves the interests of the web developer; it also reduces the designer’s and coder’s production time, improving cost efficiency. Remember that every minute spent trying to locate the correct text layer, graphics layer or other section increases production time and ultimately your cost.
3.Practice consistent design
It is essential to maintain consistency of design elements across website layouts in multiple appearances. Universally employed elements such as headers, footers, buttons and rounded boxes should have a consistent look/feel for all pages of the layout. This means having the same heights, padding, border radius, etc. Remember that having different properties will necessitate individual HTML and CSS coding for each element and hence increase development time.
4.Put elements on grid
The design grid is a virtual set of guidelines applied to decide the placement and shape of items/elements and hence the overall appearance of the website. Using the grid will help you to position your website elements in a well-balanced and proportional manner to enhance the aesthetics of the site. Placing elements off-grid creates additional work during development. Ensure that everything is aligned within the grid, whether explicit or implicit.
5.Create rollover states
During design preparation, consider link and call-to-action elements and how they will function: images, buttons, boxes, etc. Standard practice is to add hover states in these elements so that they can be distinguished from other action states. Many times, if you avoid doing this at the beginning, you’ll find that you have to define them much later once you start using live templates, and this will increase development time. Planning for the hover/rollover state allows for it to be coded right at the beginning.
6.Ensure submitted material is consistent
Any hands-off material that you submit, from Jpeg reviews and PSD files to specification write-ups and fonts as necessary, should have the final versions of your work, ready for development. Any inconsistency between these will cause confusion with your conversion team and can lead to unnecessary work, including unnecessary double work, communication delays and increased production time as a result. Before submission, make a last run through assets to ensure you’re handing in the correct font families, design elements, colors and font sizes among other properties. It helps to save files with the different names and rename the final file so as to not get confused with other drafts created in the design process.
7.Account for rendering differences
This applies especially when using modern fonts. Different operating systems and browsers render fonts differently. This is because the way fonts are displayed in Photoshop may differ from browser displays because of font tracking and anti-aliasing capabilities or letter spacing property in CSS. You can first check how your font looks like in different browsers before settling on it for your live website. Do not blindly trust the sub pixel values for your letter spacing.
8.Avoid blending modes
Blending modes are one of the CSS creations that are not possible to create using CSS. In Photoshop, they are popularly used to produce aesthetically pleasing effects and to reduce image processing time. However, their eventual effect is to produce unwanted results once PSD files are converted to CSS and HTML codes. If you must, you can use them for the previews, but remember to restore normal blending mode before submitting the file for development.
9.Consider content flexibility
Depending on the design, you may have a fixed volume of text allowed for a particular area (like a graphic element or image) such that one cannot add any more text to that area. This may work sometimes, but providing for content flexibility will make it easier to add text once the website goes live and it is found that more text is necessary for functional or aesthetic purposes. Therefore, consider how your design will be affected if it becomes necessary to either add or remove any content. If you don’t know what the final content is, such as when using placeholder content (“lorem ipsum”), content flexibility is a must.
10.Build for common resolutions
What is considered common browser resolution has been the subject of many discussions, especially since the advent of responsive web design that has redefined our understanding of design versus screen resolutions. Nonetheless, the most frequently-applied screen resolution is 1366×768 pixels. If you’re not building for responsive web development, ensure that you have accounted for this resolution. In addition, factor in as many other common resolutions. This means designing a layout that doesn’t exceed 1300 pixels so that visitors can access content without the oh-so-annoying horizontal scroll.
