Re: In need of a reliable PSD to XHTML/CSS Service?

[rzea]

I personally dislike that kind of service with all my heart, honestly, it’s an insult to all the sweat, hard work, study, experience, I’ve put… WE ALL have put, into Web Design since we started in this business.

PSD to HTML/CSS, Photoshop can do that for you in several clicks. Dang, Fireworks can do it too! How do you think those services do it? You think they hire a Web Designer to do a build in only several hours and then pay him/her a piece of what they charge you? Dang!, it’s not even worth it for the designer, let alone the HTML/CSS business owner.

"Buying" a PSD to HTML/CSS service, well, we’re talking about an ‘automated’ service of course, is a tricky approach. Once you get your HTML page with your CSS and images… then what? Upload it to your server? Sure, that’s easy enough.

But, want to make small tweaks? Changes? You end up with an HTML file, one CSS file (or several depending on how the HTML/CSS service handles its builds: do they use a reset.css file? Do they include a print.css file? How do they handle IE6 and IE7 (IF they handle that at all)), and several images and what happens if you want to implement any scripts? Or links to the rest of your pages? You can’t do it yourself, that’s why you purchased the service in the first place… In other words, you’re stuck right were you started, just with 300KB+ of files more in your hard drive which is the HTML/CSS build of your design.

Not to mention that by that point you may be on your own, I don’t think the HTML/CSS service will include all the things I mentioned above in their price.

I think talking to a real Web Designer on the phone is much better for you and eventually, for him/her as well. With a real Web Designer on your side, you can count on a more ‘secure’ relationship since he/she won’t probably treat you like a ‘fire and forget’ type of client.

In other words, having a Web Designer you can rely on for your website, is like being friends with a mechanic you can take your car to when something’s wrong with it.

Anyway, there has to be plenty of Web Designers you can contact here in css-tricks.com, starting by the owner.

Good luck with your PSD to HTML process.