Why PSD to HTML Is Outdated

Ever since Photoshop was created, PSD to HTML has been a workflow that’s been the standard – and for good reason. It’s been a great way to create great websites and get them done in the most efficient was possible.

The workflow has always gone something like this:

1. Design a website in Photoshop


2. Slice up all of the images needed


3. Write HTML code and bring in images


4. Profit!

Once upon a time, The Web was a bit different – and PSD to HTML was the proper way to do things. Though, that being said – it’s not the best way anyway – but a lot of designers still get the job done this way. That’s okay… possibly..if they want to take forever to create a great design.

There’s a few reasons why PSD to HTML is Outdated for 2014, and I’ll get into those below.

• Top of the line code – HTML5 and CSS3 have given designers a lot of amazing abilities that used to only be possible with Photoshop. This is a huge reason, we no longer have to design so much in Photoshop to make something happen on screen – such as drop shadows or fancy text.



• Responsive – The Web is responsive now. Everyone has a PC, a laptop, a smartphone, and a tablet – or… a combination of those..or just one of them. either way, you get my drift – our websites no longer look the same on each screen, so it would just be silly to design PSD files for ALL screens.



• op of the line apps – there’s so many web apps and software out there that allow us to whip up low fi and high fi wireframes in record time. There’s also frameworks out there such as Bootstrap and Foundation that allow us to code up a website for at least presentation purposes within hours.

So is Photoshop no good?

No, Photoshop is still awesome. It still has a place in Web Design – so don’t get me wrong there. I don’t think that it’s the best tool to use for mocking up websites anymore though. That whole workflow should be dead and gone by now – with all of the tools and resources available to whip up a design on the fly, there’s just no reason to use a bulky, outdated workflow like PSD to HTML to do the job anymore.