PSD is the most common mockup design format used by web designers. The reason is designing in Adobe Photoshop is super easy and flexible. But many amateur designers are unaware of this method. So here, we have tried to give you a brief explanation of the method of converting PSD to an HTML website.
What is PSD?
PSD stands for Photoshop Document. It is a common file format for Adobe’s premium image editing software – Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop is widely used by web designers to generate mock-ups for websites. You can easily edit images and create high-quality designs using a layered approach in Photoshop software.
What is HTML?
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a standard markup language for creating websites. HTML describes the structure of the web pages. It consists series of elements or tags, which tells the browser how to display the content. HTML is most commonly assisted by Cascading Style Sheet and scripting languages like JavaScript.
Three ways to convert PSD to HTML
You can convert PSD files into HTML in three different ways. You can self-code the entire website from PSD, use automated software to do the task, or you can get help from a PSD conversion company. All these options have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Self-Code
If you are fairly familiar with HTML language and happy to get your hands dirty with some coding, then you should definitely self-code the website. Of course, this approach will demand strong technical skills and take a lot of time and effort from you but it also puts you in the power to create your desired design without taking help from any tool or person.
Automated Tools
If your coding skills aren’t that good and you have no intentions to waste your time enhancing those skills, then you will surely like to use the PSD to HTML conversion tools. These automated tools help you to convert your PSD mockups into HTML documents. Though these tools do a fairly good job, you should not expect pixel-perfect results from them. You might have to edit some pages or elements converted by these tools.
PSD conversion companies
The best way to create a beautiful pixel-perfect site from PSD files is by hiring a professional web designer, who can easily convert your design into fully functional websites. To hire a web designer, you can look for a decent IT company offering software solutions and outsourcing services.
Here, at Qrolic Technologies, we have a team of a creative and talented web designer, having expertise in all facets of the web designing process. You can contact us to know about the details of cost and service.
Before the conversion
Now that you have a pretty good understanding of PSD, HTML, and some aspects of web designing, you should consider taking these points into your account before starting the conversion.
First of all, open the PSD files in Photoshop software. Have a thorough look at these designs. Properly check font-family, spacing, color, height, width, and position of all the elements. You should be clear about the structure and flow of the website you are going to make. If you have any confusion regarding the design, you should ask your team leader or project manager first.
Start the conversion
Start the conversion by creating a main directory. Name this directory the same as your project name or any recognizable name, so you can easily find it in the future. Now create two folders into this main directory – one for image files and another for CSS files and name them images and CSS respectively.
Once you are done creating folders, create two files – index.html and styles.css, using any text editor of your choice. Files should be in the root directory and CSS directory respectively. Index.html file will be the landing page or home page of your website. Styles.css file will contain CSS code to design the HTML elements of the website.
Now export all the images from the PSD design file and import them into the “images” folder. These are the images you will use on your website.
Write simple HTML code in index.html which is suitable for most HTML slicing projects. Slicing is the technical term for breaking up a single large PSD image into multiple small images. One of the advantages of using a sliced version of your PSD file in your HTML page is, it can load faster which impacts the user’s experience and SEO rankings. Use the photoshop tool to slice the PSD design file.
After the conversion
After finishing the conversion, check your website in browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Opera, etc. for checking its performance. And if any problem is encountered, solve it and run the website again in all these browsers until it gives the same high performance.
You should also consider checking your website on all mobile devices for responsiveness. Responsiveness of the website has become one of the most important factors in Search Engine Optimization. Also, evaluate your code for bugs, your code should be clear, concise, and bug-free to make your site perform well on the server.
Check the designing elements too. Check for stretched images, element misplacements, or out of area fonts. And if found any, make changes and repeat the browser checking cycle. Compare your design with the PSD version and ask your colleagues to review the website. If they find everything alright, submit a design to your project manager for review and approval.
Conclusion
Converting PSD files to an HTML website is much easier than you think. There are various ways you can do it. You can code it yourself if you know how to program in HTML. There are many automated tools available that you can make use of. Or if you are not tight on budget you can hire someone to do it for you.
If you are looking for a software firm to create your business website or mobile app, your search ends here. We build affordable and robust software solutions for businesses to digitally thrive on. Contact us to get a quote. You can mail us at [email protected] or WhatsApp us on +91 95 37 84 38 39.
