PSD to HTML Conversion – Best Practices

Try out our 14 Important Advices on PSD to HTML Conversion and See How Your Work Ethic Improves

As we know, every business is judged by its website. The way how the consumer thinks has changed significantly and nowadays nobody trusts a company that has a lousy site. The need for high quality websites has never been higher.

For this reason, people are thinking of new ways how to create web pages faster. Still, compromises shouldn’t be done as the web designi­­ng process is one of the most important when creating a website for obvious consumer reasons. The answer to this need is PSD to HTML conversion!

PSD to HTML conversion is the process in which a person is transforming a PSD file into HTML and CSS markups. The PSD extension is a visual “Photoshop Document” in which every element is represented by a different layer. That way the conversion is definitely easier because it is made layer by layer.

PSD to HTML conversion services has gained a lot of popularity in the last year and in the end of 2017 they are widely used. Still, some people barely manage to do the alteration properly and the differences are visible.

We, as professionals need to point out what are the good practices and share them with all colleagues that want to improve!

1. Use Reset CSS

A reset CSS is a compressed batch of CSS rules that resets all default heights, margins or heading font sizes. Using a CSS reset method will reduce any browser inconsistencies that may disappoint your visitors visually.

Use one of the most popular CSS reset scripts like Eric Meyer’s “Reset CSS“, HTML5 Doctor CSS Reset or just the universal reset (*) selector.

2. Use Global CSS

A “Global CSS” is a cascading style sheet that is applied to multiple pages or even your whole website. So there is no need to create a different CSS file for every HTML one if the style is the same on every page.

Using a global CSS file becomes very handy when updates need to be applied. You won’t have to modify every single CSS file, but just make the correction on the global one. It saves time and keeps the frustration away!

3. Use CSS Framework (Twitter Bootstrap, Foundation etc….)

In, today’s competition, your website needs to have responsive design. Using CSS frameworks lets you build responsive websites very fast.

Twitter Bootstrap, for example, uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and thus eases the whole process. Using CSS frameworks is a great technical opportunity and everybody needs to try it!

4. Consider Semantic Coding

Search Engine Optimization is quite fundamental for the market. In order to create an SEO friendly website, you need to use semantic tags.

Semantic coding boosts your visibility in search engines. It is known that search engines check for the HTML codes and the content inside them. Prepare your web pages for crawling with semantic coding and rich content.

5. Keep Elements On Grid

A design grid is known to be a set of instructions and rules that are used when choosing the place and form of every element that alters the appearance of every single web page. Using this grid actually, helps us to figure out where every element should be so that our site has a proportional approach.

An element that is left out of the grid means more work during the development process. Remember, symmetry is always appreciated!

6. Understand The Website Structure

It is a good approach to understand and think how your website is going to be structured before you even start the PSD to HTML conversion. You should be able to determine what is going to be the main navigation, header, bury and footer by just looking at the PSD file. After all, you need to be compliant with the initial requirements.

7. Keep Standard Browser Resolution

The question about what is a standard browser resolution is still not settled despite the fact that responsive designs totally changed everything about browser resolutions. Still, you might have seen that the most commonly used resolution is 1366×768 pixels.

If your website doesn’t use responsive design then be sure that everything is looking sharp at this resolution! Of course, include other common resolutions for crisp effect. Making your users use the irritating horizontal scroll will surely leave a bad impression.

8. Start By Creating A Website That Is Cross-Browser Compatible

One of the key factors in the PSD to HTML conversion is that the design needs to be compatible with all well-known browsers. If your website is not working perfectly or cannot be accessed from some of the main browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera – you will lose a lot of potential customers. Once hand-coded, every page needs to be tested on the abovementioned browsers so that you are certain that everything is working smoothly everywhere.

With images, sometimes they are automatically placed not where they are intended for. Leave sufficient space between every element if you intend to add other ones afterward!

9. Right Fonts Selection

Fonts were always an important aspect when it comes to the design of a website. Every used font should be tested on different browsers because it is possible that they can be visualized differently.

Of course, from a designer’s point of view, the fewer fonts are used – the better. That way it will be easier to determine if some variations occur.

10. Make Sure Your Slicing Is High Quality

When you are still in the process of getting info from the PSD file, always try to be precise when slicing the layers. Once you leave a white line on the footer or a banner – it may stay there until the site is online. You may just not notice it!

Try to slice even the last pixel out of your frame and you will never have to go back to that PSD file once everything is extracted!

11. Try Hand Coding Instead Of Auto Generated Code

We know that we live in modern times, but sometimes the old way is the better way. This applies perfectly when it comes to hand coding! Using an application to generate an HTML file from an image may work, but it will leave a lot of flaws that need to be fixed afterwards.

An application will most probably write the code in a more complex way which means that the website will be slower. Hard coding your pages should save you time in the long run.

12. Keep Right Spacing Within Website Elements

Copying the font layer from the PSD file might result in problems because the way how Photoshop displays the line spaces might not correspond to the browser outcome.  Simply said, the spaces between lines of text of a specific font might look different between different browsers. For this

Simply said, the spaces between lines of text of a specific font might look different between different browsers. For this reason, the spacing between the lines should be double-checked in the CSS properties.

13. Create Rollover Effects For CTA’s

If your website is aiming at interactions with users (which 95% it is) creating call-to-action features is a must. This means that your CTA’a must be at the correct place and at the needed pages.

If you want your website to be more appealing to your users then the CTA’s should be integrated with a rollover effect. Don’t leave your CTA’s to be a plain image – add an alluring hover animation, for example.

14. Testing.. TESTING.. Testing

If you came all the way here, to the end of the article, you probably noticed that at least half of the recommendations are all about testing your work. This is the number one advice that we can give you for delivering a flawless product. No matter how good you are, something might go wrong in the last line of code and may mix up your positioning.

Nobody is perfect, but testing every feature of your website on different operating systems and browsers will eventually bring pixel perfect work.

If you want to practice PSD to HTML conversion, but are still a beginner these advices are perfect for you! There is no use to work with inaccuracies if you are motivated to be one of the best! Eliminate all those pesky mistakes from the start and you will save time and deliver a good product to your users or customers! Need assistance to convert PSD to HTML; just share your words with our team.

Short Summary:

As we can see hundreds of new websites are emerging daily and it is more less quality material. If you want to stay in the business you’ve probably already adopted PSD to HTML conversion by heart. This type of work allows you to be precise and faster with your assignments. In order for this to happen you need to practice and loose those beginners’ mistakes fast.

This is where we come to help! We’ve made up a list of the top practices when it comes to PSD to HTML conversion. Using them will surely speed up your work and reduce frustration significantly. Just try them out – and you will see that our advice is just right!