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PSD to HTML is Dead

blog.teamtreehouse.com

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Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#31

Post by wonderyak »

debt wrote: post #21
IgorPartola wrote: post #16

Rant to follow: So I have done a fair share of PSD to HTML, PSD to WordPress theme, PSD to application web GUI, etc. rewrites. I generally have no problem with the concept of this, and got quite good at this. However, there are some real pet peeves that keep coming up in this workflow, that are really driving me crazy. If you are a designer working with a developer, and you happen to read this, at least please consid…

Is there a known method for documenting an interaction in a design mockup?

Using HTML and JS works great and provides exactly the same interaction you'd see on the final product. I think trying to do anything else (unless you're extremely good at video processing) is insane.

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#33

Post by wpietri »

reuven wrote: post #9

It drives me totally batty to work on projects in which the designer assumes that their only responsibility is to provide a PSD file, which the developers will then turn into HTML and CSS. I want to work not just with designers, but with Web designers, who intimately understand the workings of HTML, CSS, some JavaScript, and the implications for different browser sizes and versions. Web designers speak HTML/CSS nativ…

Great point. Does anybody know the historical origin of the notion that there are "designers" who can be ignorant about their medium?

When I talk to, say, friends who paint, it's a very specific activity for them. They know a lot about actual paints, because they do the painting. Pre-web, I knew people who were print designers, or packaging designers, or logo designers. They too knew the details of their medium intimately.

The two theories I've been able to come with were that a) it's an artifact of the quick rise of the web, where the hunger for various design-related skills quickly pulled in a lot of people, or b) that there was a market niche for design agencies to sell a lot of "design", and so they created the pretense.

Either way, that would put the origin in the early multimedia/web era. But I'm wondering if it goes back further.

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#34

Post by tomatohs »

This article should be titled "the slice tool is dead."

The slice tool represents the direct transformation of raster image to website. We all know that this isn't possible anymore because of mobile, retina, etc.

But Photoshop and image editors still provide tremendous value to the web development process for mockups, image assets, colors, etc.

What this article is trying to say is that the process of turning a design into a website has become much more difficult. A PSD is no longer a final deliverable but the beginning of a conversation.

Now design needs to be functional. Instead of taking the static image you get from a PSD, you need to ask "What does this look like on mobile? What about huge resolutions? What if we don't have that content?"

The article suggests that this process will be improved by designing in the browser thanks to CSS3.

The truth is that the browser has just barely hit the minimum requirements to be able to make design decisions. Have you seen the Chrome color picker? It's alright for choosing a border color but final design work can not be done entirely in the browser just yet.

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#35

Post by crimsonalucard »

elorant wrote: post #2

As a developer I hope that CSS would share a similar fate sometime in the not too distant future. It’s freaking hideous, doesn’t work as it should and in order to build any decent modern site you end up writing something like 5,000 LoC. Nine out of ten times I want to do something with CSS I prefer doing it with JavaScript.

I agree that something is wrong with CSS. When you have to resort to hacks when making columns and vertically centering things... you know something is wrong.

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#36

Post by yogo »

IgorPartola wrote: post #16

Rant to follow: So I have done a fair share of PSD to HTML, PSD to WordPress theme, PSD to application web GUI, etc. rewrites. I generally have no problem with the concept of this, and got quite good at this. However, there are some real pet peeves that keep coming up in this workflow, that are really driving me crazy. If you are a designer working with a developer, and you happen to read this, at least please consid…

I think the first point is an issue common in print designers designing for the web. A real web designer designs knowing the limitations of the web, and with the understanding that text flows. Whenever a comp has regions with height constraints (something I believe should be avoided on the web), 9 out of 10 times it will fall apart in practice because a client will dump a bunch of text in a box and cause the other areas to create gaps.

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#37

Post by minimaxir »

crimsonalucard wrote: post #24
minimaxir wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you have modern CSS frameworks like Bootstrap and Foundation available, the CSS aspect of a website is arguably one of the least complicated aspects of front-end development. (and better for the users instead of using JavaScript) Even animations are easier to do in CSS due to CSS3 animation libraries.

Err Bootstrap isn't a complete solution.

Neither is HTML+CSS.

For a startup landing page layout, Bootstrap is more than enough. (see examples at http://www.blacktie.co )

If you want interactivity via AJAX/Angular, you'll need to include some sort of JavaScript of course, but that's outside the scope of the layout question.

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#39

Post by wonderyak »

wpietri wrote: post #33
reuven wrote: post #9

It drives me totally batty to work on projects in which the designer assumes that their only responsibility is to provide a PSD file, which the developers will then turn into HTML and CSS. I want to work not just with designers, but with Web designers, who intimately understand the workings of HTML, CSS, some JavaScript, and the implications for different browser sizes and versions. Web designers speak HTML/CSS nativ…

Great point. Does anybody know the historical origin of the notion that there are "designers" who can be ignorant about their medium? When I talk to, say, friends who paint, it's a very specific activity for them. They know a lot about actual paints, because they do the painting. Pre-web, I knew people who were print designers, or packaging designers, or logo designers. They too knew the details of their medium intim…

From my perspective a lot of it has to do with 'training' 'education' and employers. I've worked with several high end agencies and even if some of the designers know some HTML/CSS they have no idea how what they do in PS affects the next stage of the project.

Many employers have no idea about the technical debt of PSD->HTML. Its just the way they've been doing things for years. They hire a designer that can make things look pretty in PS and thats it, their job is done. Its up to the next chump to figure out how to make it work 'Thats what they get paid to do'.

Print designers had to know about processes and techniques because re-printing things is VERY EXPENSIVE. There is a hard cost involved that just doesn't exist on the web. If we make a typo or mistake in something, often we can correct that in a matter of seconds.

A lot of these print designers ended up being used for the web in agencies because they were senior designers, they knew about 'design' and had a lot of experience.

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#40

Post by FireBeyond »

atacrawl wrote: post #13
reuven wrote: post #9

It drives me totally batty to work on projects in which the designer assumes that their only responsibility is to provide a PSD file, which the developers will then turn into HTML and CSS. I want to work not just with designers, but with Web designers, who intimately understand the workings of HTML, CSS, some JavaScript, and the implications for different browser sizes and versions. Web designers speak HTML/CSS nativ…

The analogy I use is a web designer who doesn't know HTML and CSS is like a fashion designer who can't sew.

That’s a great one. Better than what I used to say, which wasn’t even an analogy - that it’d be no different than a graphic designer supplying a hand-drawn/inked/painted sheet of paper, unscanned, for comping.
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