The Site Slinger

What is a PSD? The First Step to Web Design

As the top service for PSD to HTML on the Web, we throw around the term ‘PSD’ quite a bit. We’ve answered the question ‘What is PSD to HTML?‘ and provided a list of definitions of common web development terms, but now we break it down even further.

What is a PSD?

Simply put, a PSD is a Photoshop design file. Technically, it stands for Photoshop Document, which is a proprietary file type from Adobe. Adobe’s Photoshop is the software most widely used for web design and works best for the design-to-code process.

PSD files are typically opened and edited with Adobe Photoshop, but can be opened with Adobe Photoshop Elements, and even certain non-Adobe products such as Corel’s PaintShop Pro and GIMP. However, programs other than Photoshop will not be able to fully edit or even read the complex layers utilized in many PSD files. Other advanced features within a PSD design may not be properly recognized, either. We highly recommend working with Photoshop from the beginning to ensure it will be universally accessible by designers and developers who may be involved with your project.

If you’re interested in a free program to simply view PSD files as flat images (no layers), Apple’s QuickTime, which includes Picture Viewer, will do the trick, but you can’t use the program to edit a PSD file. It is purely for viewing PSD files as images.

How Can I Create a Website with a PSD?

PSD files can be “sliced” and turned into HTML code by a proficient web developer. PSD to HTML services, such as The Site Slinger, specialize in just this. We take the PSD files and hand back HTML/CSS markup that’s ready for implementation as a live site.

Sometimes other file types are used by designers. While we may be able to work with PNG, IDD, or AI file types, we highly recommend PSD files. Working form other file types can require the added step of converting designs to a PSD file.

A “good” PSD is layered, and well organized using folders and layer comps to show different pages and states. Be sure to design all animation states, and button states (click, hover, off). Read more of our web design tips and check out the other resources below. In the end, we take your design and turn it into code, producing a website that matches your design pixel-perfect.

Technical Stuff

The PSD file type supports all image modes (Bitmap, Grayscale, Duotone, Indexed Color, RGB, CMYK, Lab, and Multichannel), which is part of the reason it is so widely used. It also supports clipping paths, channels, transparency information, and multi-level layers while other formats merely present ‘flat’ images.

The PSD file type preserves a design as layered images which is extremely useful for future editing (and re-editing) of different parts of a design. Each layer can be worked on individually, without affecting the rest of the elements in a design. You can also use a feature called ‘layer comps‘ to present variations of the same design. Photoshop can convert PSD files to other formats, such as PNG, JPG etc… so you can export a design for a wide variety of uses, like web graphics.

It’s also interesting to note that Photoshop files sometimes have the extension .PSB, which stands for “Photoshop Big”. According to Adobe, “The Large Document Format (PSB) supports documents up to 300,000 pixels in any dimension. All Photoshop features, such as layers, effects, and filters, are supported. You can save high dynamic range, 32‑bits-per-channel images as PSB files. Currently, if you save a document in PSB format, it can be opened only in Photoshop CS or later.”

You can read tons more about Adobe Photoshop File Formats Specification, if you want to delve further into the technical aspects of the PSD file type.

And here are some helpful tips and tricks on how to slice a PSD file efficiently if you want to try your hand.

Alternatives to PSD in Website Design

Sketch

Sketch is a vector-based design tool that is gaining popularity among web designers. It is available only on macOS and is designed specifically for web and app design. Sketch offers a range of features that make it easier to make responsive designs and then convert those into pixel-perfect HTML markups.

Pros:

Sketch is designed specifically for web and app design, so it offers features that are tailored to these types of projects.
Sketch’s vector-based design allows for easy scaling of images without loss of quality.
It offers a large library of plugins and add-ons that can streamline the design process.

Cons:

Sketch is only available on macOS, which can limit its accessibility to some designers.
It does not have the same level of support as Photoshop, so finding resources and tutorials may be more difficult.
Sketch has a steeper learning curve than some other design tools, which may make it less suitable for beginners.

Adobe XD

Adobe XD is a vector-based design tool that is available for both macOS and Windows. It is designed specifically for web and app design and allows designers to create wireframes, prototypes, and finished designs all in the same tool.

Pros:

Adobe XD is available on both macOS and Windows, making it more accessible to designers.
It allows for easy sharing and collaboration with other designers and developers.
Adobe XD’s vector-based design allows for easy scaling of images without loss of quality.

Cons:

It has a steeper learning curve than some other design tools, which may make it less suitable for beginners.
Some users report performance issues with larger design files.
It has fewer features and capabilities than Adobe Photoshop, which may limit its usefulness for some projects.

Figma

Figma is a web-based design tool that allows designers to create, share, and collaborate on designs in real-time. It is specifically designed for web and app design and offers a range of features that make it easier to design for responsive web design and UI design.

Pros:

Figma is a web-based tool, so it is accessible from any computer with an internet connection.
It offers a range of collaboration and sharing features that make it easy to work with other designers and developers.
Figma’s vector-based design allows for easy scaling of images without loss of quality.

Cons:

Figma requires an internet connection to use, which can be limiting for some designers.
It has a steeper learning curve than some other design tools, which may make it less suitable for beginners.
It has fewer features and capabilities than Adobe Photoshop, which may limit its usefulness for some projects.

Searching for a super fast PSD to HTML conversion service? You are in the right place. The Site Slinger experts will turn your design into a stunning, responsive, pixel-perfect HTML template in just a few hours.

Get in touch with us, tell us about your project, and get delivered a perfectly coded template whenever you need it.

Resources

Read further for tips and how-to’s for web design.

This is How to Launch Your First Web App

Building your own web application is a complicated, challenging and exciting process. It requires mastering a number of skills, from design to development. Fortunately, with the tools available today, starting a website is both easy and fun. Let’s take a look at how to launch a web app.

If you work on the web, you know that the launch of a new web application is a complicated, challenging and exciting process. Every day we see new projects come to life during the first steps in the development process, when you turn your photoshop comps into live HTML code. Getting the application into a workable (and marketable) product from there requires mastering a number of skills.

Let’s take a look at how to launch a web app, website or what-ever-you-are-building.

Website UI and Design

The days of blinking scrolls and clumsy tiled backgrounds are (thankfully) well past us. Spoiled by design-centric startups like Airbnb and Fab.com, users have come not just to expect, but demand good design. Design is also one of the quickest ways to set yourself apart from your competitors. It is, after all, the first thing users see on your site.

Thankfully, good design isn’t terribly expensive. You can even create simple webpage mockups by yourself if you follow some basic design principles, such as:

1. Sketching: Before you create a single pixel in Photoshop, spend some time sketching the basic vision of your web app on paper. This doesn’t have to be terribly complicated; you can draw out anything you want as long as it has some design coherence. This sketch should serve as a very rough map of what your final design might look like. Don’t be afraid to create several sketches until you reach a more concrete vision.

2. Wireframing: A wireframe represents an ‘X-Ray’ of your website. This is a rough schematic diagram showing the various components on any page. This wireframe can be as simple as a sheet of paper with different boxes denoting Header, Navigation Menu, Content and Footer. Ideally, wireframing and sketching should be done together. You can do this by hand, or use a tool like Photoshop.

3. Creating a Mockup: The third step is to create a mockup of your final design using the sketches and wireframing as a guide. Mockups can be created in Photoshop, or you can use design tools like Mockingbird or Balsamiq to create designs quickly. The mockup will reflect your final design, so take some time to flesh it out completely before moving on to the next step. There are a few things to keep in mind when creating a mockup:

Adopt a Theme: “Theme” is a very broad term that describes your website’s overall ‘mood’ or ‘feel’. Fab.com, is urbane and modern with a hint of hipster flourish, while Apple.com is clean and minimalist with a distinctly hi-tech vibe. Before you create a mockup, think about your site’s overall theme. Ask yourself: what do I want my users to feel when they visit this site?
Use Color Appropriately: Color can liven up a dull page, make an element stand out and even help you sell more. Color trends keep on changing every year. While web 2.0 was all about brash frivolity, startups are using more muted colors today. Here’s a quick recap of the dominant color trends in the past year, and what to expect in the near future.
Color also has an effect on how users respond to your web app. Different colors trigger different responses. Bright yellow, for instance, draws viewers’ attention to a particular element. Orange, on the other hand, is great for call-to-action buttons (such as ‘Add to Cart’). Here’s good chart explaining different colors and how to use them effectively in your web app.
Keep Up with Trends: Web design trends change faster than the fashion in Paris. If you surf a lot, you can spot these trends as new startups push the boundaries of what is considered ‘good’ web design. Infinite scrolling and fixed headers, for instance, are among the latest new trends. You can find more specific trends for 2013 on Hongkiat.com.
Keep an Eye on Performance: While you’re bringing your grand design vision to life, also keep an eye on performance. Large pictures and heavy graphic use can bring down the performance, frustrating customers and even costing you a few positions in search engine rankings. It’s a good practice to keep file sizes as small as possible, and limit the amount of images you use on your web app.

Now that you’re on your way to finishing your web design, let’s look at another crucial usability component: UX.

UX – User Experience

User Experience or UX refers to how people interact with your web app. This is a very broad field that covers everything from usability to conversion rates. As you can imagine, UX requires years of expertise and experience to master. You can hire a UX consultant like Theresa Neil, or tinker around on your own by following some basic UX principles:

1. K.I.S.S.: When it comes to UX, you can’t go too wrong following Apple’s UX dictum – Keep it Simple Stupid! Don’t use two elements where one can suffice, limit the number of choices for the customer, and ensure that your app can be used by even the most tech illiterate of users.

2. Big Words ≠ Big Returns: It’s common for new startups to wax poetic about the features and benefits of their web app, all at the expense of the customer. Keep the text on your web site as limited as possible (except on the blog, about-us page, etc.). Wherever possible, communicate through pictures and videos instead of text.

3. Focus on Numbers: The great thing about UX is that you get access to a ton of data to base your decisions on. Analytics tools like Google Analytics and KISSMetrics can help you track how little changes affect the overall user experience. A startup that focuses on performance metrics will almost always outperform one that adopts a ‘see what sticks’ approach.

4. Get Feedback: Getting subjective feedback on your web app is as important as focusing on performance data. Websites like UserTesting.com can give you a great overview of how visitors use your sites and what you can do to improve the overall user experience.

5. UX is an Ongoing Process: There is never a time when you can’t focus on UX. UX is a constant, endless process. You should constantly try to improve the user experience, no matter how great your conversion rates are, or how happy the users may seem.

Testing

Testing is the process of measuring the effectiveness of your web app. This is where the rubber meets the road. It’s a hard, gritty process that most startups fail to master. Essentially, it involves creating multiple variations of the same page and measuring their performance against each other. This is a purely statistical exercise and can be done by anyone by following a few simple tips:

1. A/B Testing: A/B testing, also called ‘split testing’, is used to measure the performance of two variants (labeled A and B) of the same page. Different versions of a page are shown to different users randomly. You can then calculate how each page performed viz-a-viz the other, and select the right page accordingly.

2. Small Changes Can Equal Big Rewards: You don’t always have to make sweeping changes to see dramatic improvements in conversion rates. Sometimes, the simplest of changes such as using different colored buttons and links can equal big rewards. Try out these simple changes before overhauling the existing design completely, and be open to learning from the mistakes of others.

Universal Accessibility

Have you ever tried to use one of your favorite websites on a smartphone or tablet and found the experience completely disappointing? In this ‘Age of Many Screens’, it is important to optimize not just for desktops and laptops, but also smartphones and tablets. Basically, everyone, regardless of screen size or device type, should be able to access your web app.

One way to go about this is by using ‘Responsive Design’. A web app with responsive design automatically changes to fit different screen types. It can expand to fill all the space on a 27” monitor, and squeeze down to fit on a 4” smartphone screen without any loss in usability. The Site Slinger specializes in creating responsive designs that look great on any screen.

While you’re creating responsive designs for your web app, also make sure that you create corresponding designs for your email marketing campaigns. The Site Slinger can code responsive email templates, as well.

Development

Development is where all the planning and design finally pays off and your vision comes to life. It is often the hardest step in the entire app creation process, depending on who you ask. If you have prior coding experience, development can be a relatively straightforward experience, especially for simple web apps. Otherwise, you should be prepared to pay through your nose for a top notch custom developer to take your design live.

Hiring developers is an expensive process wrought with trial and error. Quality freelancers are not only expensive, but also extremely hard to find. You should expect to go through a number of developers before you find someone who fits your requirements.

An easier (and cheaper) alternative is to hire a PSD to HTML service like The Site Slinger. The Site Slinger specializes in turning PSD design files into actual live sites. We have years of experience working with startups and takes care of all the frontend development work so you can focus on what’s really important – sales, traffic and customers.

The Site Slinger converts designs into code for companies, including startups like WPEngine, Capital Factory, OwnLocal, and more. Our PSD to HTML team hand-codes a full Photoshop design into HTML5, CSS3 and all basic JavaScript animations, which is perfect for an app prototype or marketing site. We also have an amazing custom development team ready for all of your WordPress or web development requests. It’s a far smoother process than hiring (and firing) dozens of overpriced freelancers.

Conclusion

Building your first web app isn’t easy. You will have to do everything from creating the mockups to optimizing for better conversion rates. With a little help, however, you can go from prototype to live in a few short weeks and set your web app dreams in motion.

Resources

Web Design and UI

1. Smashing Magazine
2. Hongkiat
3. Introduction to Typography
4. Niice Design Search Engine
5. Designer News
6. MockingBird
7. Basic Wireframing
8. Advanced Wireframing with Keynote
9. Creating Your First Mockup
10. UI Design Resources
11. Planning Your Website with Sketches
12. 16 Tips for a Better Website
13. Startup Tips from Pro Designers

1. How to do UX
2. Six UX Mistakes to Avoid
3. A Project Guide to UX Design
4. Don’t Make Me Think: A Commonsense approach to Usability
5. 52 Weeks of UX Design

Testing

1. Ultimate Guide to A/B Testing
2. TechRadar Guide to Testing Your Website
3. Introduction to Web App Testing
4. Getting Started with Conversion Rate Optimization

Universal Accessibility

1. A Book Apart: Responsive Web Design
2. Responsive Web Design: What is it and How to Use it
3. 30 Useful Responsive Web Design Examples

Useful Terms for PSD to HTML Services

We know how important effective communication is for our clients on any web development project. So, we’re offering up this handy ‘glossary of terms’ that you will find helpful for your next PSD to HTML project, or if you’re just beginning to learn about the design-to-code process. This list of web development definitions is especially helpful for creatives and designers who are migrating from print to the web space.

PSD to HTML – PSD to HTML is the process of taking Photoshop design files (“PSDs”) and coding them into HTML. Each PSD design file is hand-coded by a front-end developer. No code generators or automation here, pure hand-coded HTML and CSS goodness!
PSD – A Photoshop design file. Technically, it stands for Photoshop Document. Photoshop is the tool most widely used for web design and development and works best the design-to-code process. A “good” PSD is layered, well organized using folders, as well as layer comps to show different pages and states.
HTML – HyperText Markup Language. This is a simple way to refer to HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript, the basic languges of the Web. This is the code that makes your design function as website. Read more about HTML5 on our blog post.
Design to code – This is the general term for converting the visuals (design files) into code (HTML). Technically, not all design to code involves PSD files, and other filetypes like PNG and Adobe Illustrator’s AI filetype are acceptable in some cases.
Email template – This is the theme for a reusable email employed by businesses with an email marketing campaign. We take designs for email templates and code them, just as with a website.
Bootstrap – Bootstrap refers to the Twitter Bootstrap framework, a responsive front-end development framework that is sleek and powerful. Especially useful for application development teams, it allows you to design and code in a consistent and reliable manner based on a grid which adapts to a user’s screen size, such as smartphones. It’s one of our favorites. Read more about it on the official page.
Responsive – The feature of being adaptable to various screen sizes, usually at least 3 breakpoints: desktop, tablet, and mobile device. Recommended widths for responsive websites are 1024px, 768px, and 320px, respectively. We break it down in further detail in this post. While Bootstrap is a favorite, we also work with Foundation, 960gs, and others.
WordPress – The most popular, and arguably most powerful, content management system (CMS). With SEO friendly URL management and easy page templating, WordPress is a great choice as a platform for your website.
jQuery – The most widely used front-end JavaScript library used to implement animation and functions such as dropdowns, tooltips, sliders, lightboxes and more.
Pixel perfect – The highest standard for execution of the PSD to HTML process.We aim to have our deliverables match, down to the pixel, your designs as you presented them.
Pop-up modals – A ‘page’ that pops up or otherwise animates into the screen upon completion of a certain action, like a button click.
Long page – In line with modern web design trends, we often see long pages with aim to put as much information into a page as possible, usually in the form of horizontal sections. These can be considered as two pages for coding purposes.
Slice – Basically, this means cutting up your Photoshop design into pieces, which are then put in order by HTML and styled/positioned by CSS. Read more about slicing on our blog post.
NDA – Non-disclosure agreement. We abide by NDA as a standard practice and guarantee that information about you or your project will not be made public. As this is our default policy, there’s no need to sign an explicit NDA, though we are happy to do so if you feel this is absolutely necessary. Your privacy is key, so we offer our products as white-label.
White-label – We produce the code for your organization, but do not brand or otherwise sign our markup in any way.
Markup – This is the code that we present back to you once we’ve converted your PSD files. ‘Markup’ refers to the finished product in the PSD to HTML process.
W3C – Shorthand for The World Wide Web Consortium. This is the international community that develops open standards to ensure the quality and growth of the Web. Our code complies with the standards established by this organization, which can reviewed here. They also offer a markup validation service.

If there’s anything else you need clarified, please let us know. We’re happy to add to this list to make the PSD to HTML process easier!

President Obama Visits Our Office

We’re extremely proud to be part of Capital Factory, where President Obama visited last week. As a buzzing technology hub it’s no surprise that President Obama and the CTO of the United States chose to visit Austin.

We’re extremely proud to be part of Capital Factory, a technology incubator, where President Obama visited last week. Austin is a buzzing technology hub so it’s no surprise that President Obama and the CTO of the United States chose to visit. He discussed a wide range of topics with us, from the JOBS act to the new Open Data Executive Order. It was an honor to meet him and an amazing spotlight on the Austin technology community.

We wanted to share some highlights from the President’s visit:

Celebrating Innovators

We are lucky enough to get to work with creative and technology professionals every day at The Site Slinger, so it was great to hear Joshua Baer quoting now Austin-resident, Dr. Bob Metcalfe (inventor of ethernet), say, “Celebrate our entrepreneurs like we celebrate our athletes.” to President Obama.

The President’s visit certainly did this, and we hope there’s a continued effort to highlight the creative and entrepreneurial people like you that we get to work with from Austin to Australia!

Why Austin?

When it comes to growth in technology, Austin is a unique place. The innovative spirit of Austin combined with the physical space at Capital Factory creates the density necessary for fast growth. It’s great to see this happening not only in Austin, but all over the globe in technology hubs.

How to Use Photoshop Layer Comps

If you’re one of those designers who prefer to design within a single master PSD file, while still being able to reuse elements and see design variations, then you’ll find the Layer Comps feature of Photoshop particularly useful. For comparing different design variations, don’t waste your time remembering the different layer positions, visibility states, and layer style settings. Keep your workflow efficient and your file easily deciphered by your developer, client or project manager.

For comparing different design variations, don’t waste your time remembering the different layer positions, visibility states, and layer style settings. Keep your workflow efficient and your file easily deciphered by your developer, client or project manager.

Enter Layer Comps

Layer Comps are an underused and incredibly helpful feature Adobe introduced in Photoshop CS. Layer Comps, or compositions, allow you to create and manage variations of your design without having to resort to multiple PSD files. Simply put, it gives you a snapshot of a state of the Layers panel. For web designers, this lets you clearly define what a page state should look like. It will also allow your developer the convenience of quickly moving between views, or referring back to the original state, without toggling the visibility of layers or shifting layer positions.

How to create a Layer Comp:
1. Adjust your layers into the design variation you want to save
2. Open the Layer Comps window (Window>>Layer Comps)
3. Click the ‘paper’ icon to “Create New Layer Comp” and name it
4. Repeat these steps for all variations you’d like to later view and manage

Options you can set for Layer Comps:
• Layer visibility – show or hide
• Layer position – save the position of each layer within the design
• Layer appearance – save the Layer Styles settings applied to each layer

We recommend using the Layer Comps feature of Photoshop for your PSD to HTML projects so you can communicate your design more clearly, and developers can easily see the variation or different page states. If you wanted to later, you could even save the Layer Comps into individual PSD files (File>>Scripts>>Layer Comps to Files), so there’s no loss in flexibility there. The organization of your designs and shareability of the PSD file will be improved, and your client, project manager and developer will love you for it!

You can read more about the specifics of using layer comps directly from Adobe, here.

7 Pro-Tips for Web Design

Here at The Site Slinger we live and breathe web development – we’ve been experts in turning design to code since 2009! All too often, website design files get submitted to us missing some of the fundamental components for effective and efficient web development. Whether you are a designer working on a website for a client, or a client who isn’t sure what they need to get from their designer, following these pro-tips will get your design ready to be turned into code.

Here at The Site Slinger we live and breathe web development – we’ve been experts in turning design to code since 2009!

All too often, website design files get submitted to us missing some of the fundamental components for effective and efficient web development.

Whether you are a designer working on a website for a client, or a client who isn’t sure what they need to get from their designer, following these pro-tips will get your design ready to be turned into code by our team at The Site Slinger.

7 Pro-Tips for Web Design

DO design in Photoshop, it is the best for web design (sorry, Illustrator, Fireworks and InDesign fans!)

DO design all of the pages you want to see as HTML or on a WordPress site — We match your designs exactly!

DO design all animation states, javascript validation, button states (click, hover, off), modals and anything else you can think of. If you don’t see it in the design, we can’t see it to code it!

DO label and organize your Photoshop design “PSD” files — 1 page per PSD, organized into labeled folders and layers.

DO say “I’m not sure, I will have to check” to a client if you are unsure on complex functionality or implementation — Its okay to say “I don’t know” – that’s why we are here!

DO talk with your developer and spec out your project before signing off on designs.

DO ask questions and get to know your friendly Austin, Texas web developer. We are always happy to answer questions about turning designs into code!

Have a question about one of these pro-tips or want to know more? Chat with a Site Slinger from 8am-6pm CST here on our website, or contact us.

*Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons license.

10 Reasons NOT to code your own HTML

At The Site Slinger, we see LOTS of different kinds of web designs from our customers, and we hear lots of different reasons why they choose us to turn their designs into code. I wanted to share 10 of these reasons with you to show you the ways The Site Slinger helps you bring your designs to life, whether you are building a simple landing page, a complex web application, a WordPress theme, or even a great looking HTML email.

10 great reasons not to code your own HTML for your next project.

10. You can’t code.
Design to code services are for people just like you, no technical experience required. Don’t worry, developers don’t bite.

9. You are on a deadline (or multiple deadlines)
Rapidly approaching deadlines are not good for your stress level. If you don’t know how you will get the job done in time we have RUSH PSD to HTML options available.

8. You need jQuery or JavaScript animations
Most design to code services charge extra for JavaScript animations, we include it in the per page price.

7. Your client doesn’t want to pay for you to code by the hour
Using a design to code service for your website will be a fraction of what it would cost to code by the hour. We’ll even give you a PDF estimate to take to your client!

6. You don’t know any reliable web developers
Finding any good developer is hard, finding reliable outsourced development is even harder. You need someone you can count on who knows how to make you happy.

5. You have a LOT of pages to develop
If you build large, complex applications with extensive views, design to code services save you time so you aren’t wasting developer time coding HTML.

4. Your development team is backlogged
Your team is great, but they are busy building out your application. Don’t slow them down!

3. You are building a WordPress theme
WordPress sites are overtaking the web — everybody wants one and now you don’t have to be an expert to give it to them.

2. You build lots of web applications
We work with Bootstrap, 1140gridCSS, 960gs, Zurb and many other responsive web application frameworks. Get your prototype up in 5 days or less.

1. You are the smartest person on the planet and realize The Site Slinger should code your designs, not you.
We are happy to help!

Want to Learn More? See Examples!

25 Professional and Incredibly Powerful Photoshop Plugins

Freebies are awesome, and design blogs are full of them, but sometimes you need a professional tool to handle professional tasks. There are a wealth of extremely powerful and high quality Photoshop tools that can dramatically improve your workflow.

Freebies are awesome, and design blogs are full of them, but sometimes you need a professional tool to handle professional tasks. There are a wealth of extremely powerful and high quality photoshop tools that can dramatically improve your workflow and are worth every penny you have to spend to get them.

Today we’ll look at a number of the best tools available for making color adjustments, adjusting focus, enlarging images, transforming layers in 3D, reducing noise, creating textures, applying complex masks, and even taking that PSD into full-blown HTML.

Color and Exposure

Exposure 3

“Over 500 analog techniques and organic looks are back like cross processing, Polaroid and vintage Daguerreotype. There is careful research under the hood, but the controls are simple so you can focus on the creative choices. The result is a photo that looks like it was made by a human, not a computer.”

Price: $249.00

PhotoTune 3

“Great color, it’s not as hard as you think. If you can compare images side-by-side and pick the best one, then you can easily color correct and enhance your images with PhotoTune 3. Additionally, PhotoTune 3 improves the color and sharpness of your image without the need to know how to use levels or curves in Photoshop.”

Price: $159.95

Kubota Artistic Tools Viva La Vintage

“Add some new fun to your images with these Kubota Actions inspired by vintage looks your clients will love! These classic effects are wildly popular around the industry and in high demand from photographers and their clients. ”

Price: $109.00

Topaz Adjust

“Quickly and easily make your photos stunning by using Topaz Adjust’s creative exposure, powerful detail enhancement, and unique color manipulation tools.”

Price: $49.99

Focus Enhancement

Bokeh 2

“Bokeh 2 provides a wide range of creative focus effects and accurate lens simulation in a simple interface. Photographers use Bokeh to draw attention to their subject by manipulating focus, vignette, and depth of field. Bokeh gives you the visual language of specialized lenses without the expense or hassle. Just drop a focus region over your subject and choose a preset or easily craft your own look.”

Price: $199.99

FocalBlade

“FocalBlade effectively sharpens photos for display and print, reduces noise and produces great looking blur, soft focus and special effects. FocalBlade is ideal for sharpening and enhancing all kinds of photo, e.g. snapshots, landscapes photos, portraits as well as high-ISO shots, because it effectively sharpens and reduces noise at the same time.”

Price: $69.95

DOF Pro

“Naturally occurring depth of field has extremely complex optical characteristics. It cannot be simply simulated through the use of a standard blur filter. Lens size, subject distance, aperture shape, lens curvature, film grain, spherical aberration, chromatic aberration, lens asymmetry, transparency, light refraction, motion blur and much more must be taken into account in order to achieve an accurate and convincing depth of field effect. DOF PRO carefully takes into consideration all of these aspects in order to produce the highest quality depth of field output possible.”

Price: $99.99

Enlargement

Blow Up 2

“Blow Up 2 is a Photoshop plug-in that produces enlargements dramatically sharper than any other software, especially Photoshop! Blow Up uses an innovative algorithm that temporarily converts pixels to a vector representation which results in perfectly smooth, crisp edges. Simulated texture and film grain keep photos looking natural even in extreme enlargements. Blow Up can even clean up JPEG compression artifacts when a client insists on using a low quality source image from the Web.”

Price: $249.00

Perfect Resize

“Perfect Resize (formerly known as Genuine Fractals) is the industry standard for enlarging and resizing images. It is renowned across the photographic and printing industries for its ability to increase image size without the loss of sharpness or detail that you might normally expect. The patented, fractal-based interpolation algorithms work like nothing else and the results speak for themselves.”

Price: $199.95

3D Transformations

3D Invigorator

“3D Invigorator for Adobe Photoshop allows you to easily create complex 3D objects, logos and text. Import a vector object or create a simple object inside the Photoshop plugin. Add lighting to make the object look more real. Then drag-and-drop 3D materials to make the object look transparent, reflective, or just plain cool. This 3D Photoshop plugin opens up a new world of creating 3D objects and text.”

Price: $199.00

AV Bros. Page Curl Pro

AV Bros. Page Curl Pro 2.2 is an extremely powerful and high quality Photoshop plugin, which will definitely boost your productivity and creativity. This Photoshop filter lets you not only bend the image, using two types of bending (curling and folding), but also texturize it (using the bump maps), orient it in 3D space (including the perspective distortions) and obtain total control over the process of lighting the image (including the option of dropping inner shadows). All this is possible thanks to the all new and unrivalled engine of this plug-in.

Price: $49.95

3DECovers

“Create dazzling ecovers that virtually jump from the screen into the prospect’s lap…giving them a level of ultra-realism and incredible detail they can almost touch with their fingers. There’s no huge learning curve, no monster manual to memorize, and no long list of prerequisite software. All you need is Adobe Photoshop–that’s it!”

Price: $97.00

Noise Reduction

Noiseware

“Noiseware is a high-performance noise suppression software tool designed to decrease or eliminate noise from digital photo or scanned images. Unlike most image processing software techniques that utilize simple methods (such as median filters) to treat digital noise in images, Noiseware features a sophisticated yet fast noise filtering algorithm. Using the adaptive noise profile capability and sharpening function, Noiseware greatly reduces the visible noise while keeping the details in the images. ”

Price: $49.95

Neat Image

“Neat Image is an image filter to reduce noise and grain in photographic images produced by digital cameras and scanners. Neat Image is indispensable in low-light (indoors, night, no-flash, astro) and high-speed (sport, action, children) photography.”

Price: $79.90

Texture Creation

Texture Anarchy

“Texture Anarchy is a set of Adobe Photoshop filters for creating textures and borders. With these three Photoshop texture filters, you can create a variety of seamless, infinite textures that range from realistic and organic to design-appropriate. Plain old math is used to generate, extend, and output an image.”

Price: $129

Machine Wash Deluxe

“Finally you can create professional quality image texture, aging and weathering effects with our Machine Wash Image Filters! This closely guarded secret of the design industry can now be yours!”

Price: $99.00

Filter Forge

“Filter Forge is a high-end Photoshop plugin that lets novice and expert users create a wide variety of realistic and abstract textures and effects. It’s a must-have for any digital artist – 3D modeller, photographer, web designer and scrapbooker alike.”

Price: $166.00

Kubota Texture Tools Industrial Pak

“You’ve never seen anything like the 50 textures you’ll find in our new ‘Industrial’ pak. Far from subtle, these striking looks give you the ability to add an element of techno-industrial style that will make your images snap! Edgy looks from textures like ‘Cobalt’, ‘Fingernails’ and ‘Lead’ bring a sharp, eye-catching look while ‘Radon’, ‘Polonium’ and ‘Zinc’ will give you that final touch, grunge-look that seniors are begging for in their portrait shoots.”

Price: $149.00

Masking

Mask Pro

“For removing unwanted backgrounds, Mask Pro is the Photoshop plugin recommended by Advanced Photoshop magazine. Mask Pro allows you to cut out a subject from the background by assigning keep and drop colors and simply painting away the background. Mask Pro makes it easy to create masks, selections and clipping paths on difficult subjects like hair, glass and fog all in real-time.”

Price: $159.95

Fluid Mask 3

“Take masking to the next level with Fluid Mask 3. The professional choice for quality masking, Fluid Mask 3 is industry recognised for excellence. Quick to pick up and intuitive to use – gets professional results fast.”

Price: $149.00

EZ Mask

“EZ Mask is an easy to use interactive image masking tool capable of extracting almost any object in an image–even if you are dealing with fine hair detail, smoke, or reflections. This extraction process creates what is known as a mask–essentially a black and white cutout. White mask areas are extracted, black areas not, and gray areas in between represent a level of transparency. Once a mask is extracted, the foreground object can be seamlessly composed onto a new background in Adobe Photoshop as well as apply filter and image corrections only within the area defined by the mask.” Also check out Power Mask from the same developer.

Price: $150.00

Web Design

SiteGrinder

“If you know Photoshop then you already know enough to start creating web pages for yourself and your clients. With SiteGrinder there is no longer a requirement to slice up your web design and send it off to a developer to convert your design from Photoshop to HTML / XHTML and CSS. SiteGrinder does all of that tedious work for you. Your Photoshop web design is output just the way you envisioned it – resulting in a full functioning website.”

Price: $397.00

Divine

“Divine suggests easy steps to convert Photoshop to WordPress theme that any of you can carry out. Yes, that’s right – you need no special extended knowledge about HTML, no special skills in coding, basics are completely enough to convert PSD to WordPress. You’ll find all necessary information about converting Photoshop to WordPress at our site. ”

Price: Free (Still in beta, Windows only)

Miscellaneous

DiskFonts

Browse and install uninstalled fonts right from Photoshop.

Price: $29

ColoRotate

“Fully Mac and Windows compatible with Adobe Photoshop CS4 or newer. The ColoRotate 3D color editor plugin for Adobe Photoshop CS4 is intended to give you another way to edit colors — intuitively and effectively. The magic of ColoRotate is that your colors are displayed and edited in three dimensions, the same way your brain naturally understands colors. ”

Price: $9

What Are Your Favorite Plugins?

There are a few plugins from the list above that I simply love using. For example, Machine Wash is unrivaled for creating awesome grunge effects; I’ve never used anything else that even comes close. Also, Page Curl is a great tool that I used daily back when I in print design and constantly creating product mockups.

Leave a comment below and let us know what your favorite Photoshop plugins are and why you can’t live without them!

The Easiest way to order PSD to HTML, from The Site Slinger

The Site Slinger turns designs into code, and sets itself apart from other PSD to HTML companies with its quality, reliability, & speed. We are the only company to offer easy online ordering and a fully transparent development process.

We’ve implemented a new online ordering system!

Check out this walk-through and see how easy and fast it is to get your project from design to code with PSD to HTML from The Site Slinger.

LOG IN/REGISTER

Enter your email address and password, or select CREATE ACCOUNT at the top to register as a new customer.

UPLOAD PROJECT FILES

We make it a breeze! In the SUBMIT A NEW ORDER section upload your PSD file(s) via drag-and-drop, or click ‘Pick File’ to browse and select your file. We’ll see the files right away, and you can always add more later.

ENTER PROJECT INFO

While your file is uploading, let us know your Project Name, and select your Project Type & Project Deadline from the drop down options. Tell us a little bit about your project, or ask any questions you might have – we’ll see your order immediately and are ready to help.

VIEW ORDERS

To view an existing order, select YOUR ORDERS from the left menu. Your current orders, and completed orders, will be listed. Select the VIEW PROJECT button to see an order’s details. A consolidated list of your order history makes for easy reference – each and every time.

REVIEW ORDER DETAILS

We want you to feel happy, not sad, during development so we built a fully transparent ordering process. In the project details screen you can view the Project Status, Project Price, Confirmed Delivery date and even view an Invoice in the left sidebar. You can also leave your comments about the project and check for our replies. You will receive an email notification whenever we comment or have an update for you. That’s how we keep you updated at each step in the development process!

REVIEW/ADD ORDER FILES

On the ORDER FILES tab within the same screen you can review the file(s) you’ve already uploaded, and add more files, if you need to. As always, we’ll promptly review your order & files, and ensure everything’s in place for a quote. That’s just the first step in getting the project turned around as quickly as possible – we make sure all PSD to HTML projects are completed in 7 business days or less.

OTHER FEATURES

Click the BACK TO YOUR ACCOUNT button in the upper right to go back to the main account page. From here, you can also Edit Your Profile, or get your Referral Program details. Spread the word about The Site Slinger and receive a credit on future orders!

What we do.

PSD to HTML

Built for designers and headquartered in Austin, Texas, The Site Slinger makes building custom websites easy. Send us your PSD files and we return HTML code in 7 business days or less. Take our HTML and use it to create custom websites, WordPress themes, web apps, enterprise software or whatever else you can think of. This is the fastest way to get building for all your web projects.

PSD to WordPress

Our PSD to WordPress product is the best starting point for custom WordPress development. We hand code your PSD files into static HTML views and then compile them into a basic WordPress theme for custom development. We deliver the WordPress theme files and SQL file for your developer to customize.

If your project requires additional development and your team is without a developer we can recommend great developers.

We want to give web design and development teams an upper hand with easy PSD to HTML and WordPress. Our easy online ordering, personal 24/7 service, and expert developers take the pain out of outsourced development.

Test us out! Submit a design for a free quote today and we’ll be happy to give you a $100 discount off your first order. If you have any questions, just let us know!

Design Rules for PSD to HTML

Want to make your development team love you? Learn how to design your PSD (Photoshop design files) into clearly labeled, appropriately layered files for PSD to HTML!

If you’re coding PSD to HTML/CSS, you know that there’s often a disconnect between the person creating the designs and the development team coding them. With well organized and labeled files you can avoid many of the worst web development pitfalls.

By following these simple steps you can hand your PSD designs off to a good PSD to HTML team and they will come in back pixel-perfect, just like you imagined. This makes PSD to HTML easy for both you and the development team.

Some basic rules to follow:

1. One PSD file per page template or folders for each page in a single PSD file. What is a PSD?

2. Label all folders with the section of content on the page they refer to (Top navigation, Content, Footer, etc) Example

3. Separate folders for “on” and “off” states. Make sure to separate your on/off states into different folders so the development team can easily identify the different states in the design.

4. Provide a text file or .pdf that clearly outlines all functionality for the individual pages (this includes things like animations, slide transitions, etc.)

5. Be sure to design all animation states, javascript validation, button states (click, hover, off), modals and anything else you can think of. If you don’t see it in the design, we can’t see it to code it!

PSD to HTML Example

This is an example of a PSD single page with well organized folders for the content of the page. The organization of this is is clear and easy to follow.There are subfolders for each portion, clearly labeled.

Within the folder structure each page has its own subfolders that are all appropriately named. The elements for each group are within the subfolder and vector images are imported to the file when necessary (logos or other images). Make sure to show different on / off states. Rather than show multiple flat files for each state, they should be organized and named within the PSD in a way that the development team can understand.

Below is a good example of how files should be organized when you hand them off to your development team. You will see that there is 1 PSD per page with all of the necessary states for web development included in each PSD file.

Photoshop (PSD) File Structure

If you hand us well organize and labeled PSD files, our team will code the HTML/CSS and hand you back pixel perfect, markup!

Final Markup (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)

If you have questions about the process we would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!