HTMLcut.com
Professional PSD to HTML CSS Conversion As a Business
2011
Professional PSD to HTML CSS Conversion As a Business
Professional PSD to HTML CSS Conversion As a Business This is an interview with Sergiy Lavryk, Chief Project Manager at HTMLcut. Sergiy has shared his thoughts on one of the fastest growing segments of the Web design and development industry - PSD to HTML conversion services: ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Providers' professionalism and business responsibility Why web designers use these services How to correctly evaluate the service price How a customer can test the markup quality How PSD to HTML companies reduce overhead costs When hand coded xHTML/CSS markups are really better What the future of the PSD to HTML conversion market could be
and some others.
Q.: Sergiy, could you tell us a little about yourself and your company? A.: Sure. I'm in the Web design and development field for about 10 years. My experience and interests embrace back-end programming (ASP.NET, PHP), front-end coding (HTML/CSS, JavaScript), and project management. HTMLcut is one of our projects launched a few years ago. Its idea is quite thoroughly expressed in the motto "Cut time and costs on cutting HTML" you give us your Photoshop mockup and get an xHTML/CSS markup coded in return. Q.: What is an ideal xHTML/CSS markup? A.: Strictly speaking, it depends on a website, its objectives and technical background. Things that are perfect for one website may be needless or even undesirable for others. Years ago, when I started my first web project, I came running to our senior designer with the question: "Which color is the best for links?" She answered: "Dark green." - "Why?" - "When you know nothing about the website, any color is the best, eh?" It is a joke, of course. But I learned three main lessons then: ● Every website is unique ● Each detail of the client's requirements is important ● Any coding technique or option should be used consciously On the other hand, there are some typical moments. When people pay their money for coding (or any other) services they usually look for professional Professional PSD to HTML CSS Conversion As a Business 2011 © HTMLcut.com
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Professional PSD to HTML CSS Conversion As a Business quality and reasonable price. No wonder - when ordering PSD to HTML conversion, you make investments in your business or life. Q.: OK, a markup of professional quality - What does it mean? A.: Here we have several levels. For end-users it usually implies ● Neat look, reliable and fast functioning in at least main web browsers ● Search engine friendliness ● Ease and convenience in the maintenance and further development and update The next level is a technical point of view. As a matter of course, it includes a flawless W3C-valid markup. But what sets PSD-to-HTML professionals apart is competent semantic coding and code structuring. Semantics reflects the way people (and search engines!) understand web content and is always important, unlike trendy CSS or HTML tricks which are often transient. To a large extent, it is correct semantic coding that helps to make a markup more reliable in functioning, SEO-friendly, and easy-to-maintain. But to be accomplished efficiently it requires not only ordinary technical skills but also an extensive practical experience, analytical capabilities and an all-round education. And no wonder that semantic aspects are the most difficult to automate in PSD to HTML conversion. One more important facet of professional quality is related to professional ethics. In my strong opinion, PSD to HTML companies should be advocates of best Web practices and HTML-CSS standards. I believe that professionals should only offer professional level coding. That is why such options as W3C validity, Shorthand optimized CSS, Commenting, Table-less, SEO semantic coding, and some others are included in all HTMLcut's service packages by default and without any hidden fees. Q.: "Without any hidden fees" - So, if a customer would like to compare prices on PSD to HTML services, she should compare orders with the same options rather than face values of service packages or figures in the advertisements, shouldn't she? A.: Absolutely. In that way she could find out that some of the prices in the market which are nominally low are not so low in reality, simply because they don't contain essential options. And to order these options you'll need to pay additional money.
Professional PSD to HTML CSS Conversion As a Business 2011 © HTMLcut.com
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Professional PSD to HTML CSS Conversion As a Business
Q.: How can a customer of PSD to HTML services check whether the markup quality is good? Are there any ways? A.: There are easy-to-use online validators that can serve as independent and unbiased acceptance tests. They are provided by one of the most reputed international organizations - The World Wide Web Consortium (w3.org). Just go to validator.w3.org and jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ and type your site address - and you will instantly get an answer whether the xHTML/CSS markup of your website is compliant with the W3C standards or not. To be exact, those validators don't cover all aspects of the xHTML/CSS markup quality because it is difficult to automate checking many of them. Nonetheless, the W3C tests are very helpful as an express examination tool and are widely used. One more simple but effective test is to examine a markup in different web browsers. Ask your relatives, friends or colleagues to help you and then compare results. If the website appearance and functioning meet your requirements and the difference for, e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome is little to no then your new markup passes this test. Q.: Is it important to maintain W3C validity? Often websites which have lived in the Web for a while are not W3C compliant. A.: Yes, it is true. The reasons can be various, sometimes unnoticeable. For example, a person who manages your website forgets a slash in the tag <br />. Often such an error is not critical for the site functioning and its positioning in the search engines, so it is not striking, but it breaks the W3C compliance for the XHTML Strict level. Also, if you are a fan of the newest widgets (e.g., ones related to social networks) or "hottest" new features in HTML-CSS, then you should be ready that some of them may fail W3C tests. My advice is to strive to keep up your site W3C valid or at least you should understand exactly why and for what purpose you break it. Badly coded pages may be not indexed partly or even at all. On the contrary, a clean semantic HTML/CSS markup can appreciably help in evaluating and, as a result, better ranging your content in the search engines. It is more chances for a standard code that it will be interpreted equally in different browsers, operating systems and devices. Regardless of who does this work (your employees or someone else), W3C valid websites are usually more understandable and easier in the maintenance and modifying. There are a reputation bonus too - you know that your site stays "in shape" and is in line with the modern progressive trends. Q.: I've come upon an assertion that designers are quite clueless with HTML/CSS coding and that is why PSD to HTML services are in demand. A.: I don't like such reasoning. David Ogilvy once said "The consumer is not a moron, she's your wife." Paraphrasing these words, I'd like to say that the designer is not a moron, she's your colleague at work or... yes, sometimes even your wife. Ironically, many PSD to HTML companies are established by Professional PSD to HTML CSS Conversion As a Business 2011 Š HTMLcut.com
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Professional PSD to HTML CSS Conversion As a Business web designers (and our company is not an exception). Q.: So, why do designers resort to PSD to HTML services? A.: If you are hungry and in a rush, you buy a hot dog, not cook it, right? There are a lot of people who can cook, more or less. Nonetheless, we often buy these and many other products and services. It's simply a natural division of labor that helps us to save some time, efforts and money. The same main reasons are behind PSD to HTML conversion services too. Q.: Some people doubt whether high quality services can be so inexpensive as it is offered by PSD to HTML companies. What can you answer them? A.: I don't know about other PSD to HTML providers, so I'd rather tell about our own experience. Your statement may be true for those who code occasionally. But if it is a focused business with established production processes, good trained personnel, and optimized overhead costs, it is possible even in such a low-margin market as PSD to HTML conversion. When we started HTMLcut, the main goal was to build just such efficient customer-centered services. And we're glad that our clients like our work. Q.: What about hand coding? Are hand coded HTML/CSS markups always better? A.: No, not always. Hand coding is better only if it is qualified and organized. The first point is rather obvious: bugs generated manually are not better than their automatic counterparts. Frankly, hand coded defects are even worse because they are more unpredictable. The second amendment is a little more complicated. In one word it is all about coding style. A piece of HTML code functioning perfectly can be extremely difficult to read and understand, let alone to modify or update. A coder can use a naming convention that is excellent for him or her but very unusual for others. And so on, and so forth. How can a professional PSD to HTML provider avoid such problems? They should follow generally accepted coding, formatting and documenting rules, first of all provided by the W3C Consortium. On the practical level, it means that a PSD to HTML conversion company should have internal standards, procedures and templates, based on W3C recommendations, and compliance with them should be strictly controlled by the QA department and company's management. In other words, hand coding becomes better only in case it embodies and transfers best HTML CSS coding practices and standards. Q.: What do you think about the future of the PSD to HTML conversion market? A.: To some extent I've answered this question in the article "HTML5 - The Professional PSD to HTML CSS Conversion As a Business 2011 Š HTMLcut.com
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Professional PSD to HTML CSS Conversion As a Business end of PSD to HTML services?" I believe that HTML5 and CSS3 will only strengthen the need and demand for professional PSD to HTML conversion. On the other hand, the fast growth of PSD to HTML services market is accompanied with not only positive but also some negative phenomena. For example, new players sometimes "borrow" content from the websites of their rivals or use another's articles for their own promotion after a slight rewriting. Unfortunately, this is a widespread practice on the Internet, but if we speak about business it can also indicate something more than just a plagiarism. Nonetheless, I hope that the PSD to HTML conversion market will not only grow in the future but also become more mature and overcome growing pains - because professional services should be pros in all aspects. Q.: Thank you for your time and interesting answers! A.: You are welcome!
HTMLcut.com /
HTMLcut.com is a PSD to HTML CSS and PSD to WordPress Joomla! / Drupal conversion company that has helped a lot of designers and web companies to save time and money on conversion their designs into professional xHTML/CSS markups.
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Keywords: web design, psd to html, html5, html coding, convert psd to html, table-less html Categories: Web design, Web development
Professional PSD to HTML CSS Conversion As a Business 2011 Š HTMLcut.com
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