I’m thinking about offering a paid PSD -> HTML conversion service on my site, and I think while I’m gauging popularity for the service I’ll do the splicing myself since I have a decent amount of experience doing so. However, I’m trying to figure out how much to charge, and as a part of that, I need to know if its even worth my time.
For those of you who do web page design for a living, how long does it take you on average to fully convert a PSD page layout into an HTML web page (medium-to-low complexity)?
Well it really depends on what the design is like. If it contains a lot of rounded corners and shadows and whatnot, it can quickly start consuming more time. A more basic design can be chopped up rather quickly. I’d say my usual time to put a PS design into working HTML/CSS is from 1 to 2 hours, usually closer to 1, but then again the designs I make tend to go light on the stuff mentioned above.
:o -gasps- This would be my perfect job! Coding the Front-End without having to mess around in Photoshop or GIMP. I get the designs handed to me, slice it all up then code it. What…Say…£20 an hour? Easy money!
And at the same time I can be earning money through other projects! But specifically on this topic, I’d say about 1-2 hours depending on the complexity as well. Maybe 3-4 if I’m doing complete testing too.
AndrewCooper, yea but shame that area of web design is so seriously overcrowded, theres more PSD to HTML outsourcers than probably freelance pro developers, it has people bouncing towards its business model from both the photoshop end and the HTML end which even though it can be pretty lucrative the competition is fierce.
Yup, theres loads of them that do it for cheap and really quickly that are usually on the other side of the world. Ah well. I need to get going with Photoshop or GIMP as soon as possible. Get my skills to the point where I can push out designs as fast as possible, code them, then get them out on the World Wide Web.
Either way, I’m going to offer PSD > (X)HTML services because theres a lot of young designers I know in the local area that want Websites but don’t have a clue even about purchasing a domain name, so thats where I’ll come in :d.
With larger sites its never just a matter of HTML and CSS but integrating the design into the CMS/framework of the site. This requires additional knowledge of server side languages such as Ruby, PHP, ASP, etc. There isn’t much use for someone who just knows HTML and can’t actually integrate into the the site. Static sites are pretty much worthless in this day and age besides for your hobbyist or small business. Even most small businesses have some type of CMS system though for which their site runs. Its never juts one page either, your working with an entire site and given one to several base layouts at least in the “real” world. As the front-end developer your responsible for putting the function and form together into a working application. The form being a image mock-up and the function being the bare site. So in order to actually apply the function to the design you’ll need to understand many aspects of the chosen back-end platform. At least to an extent where it can be modified and moved around as per the desired appearance. Think… making custom wordpress, drupal, etc themes. Something which can’t be done without at least knowing a little about the application language. Unless of course the HTML isn’t modified at all – which is rare - especially if your starting from scratch.
It usually takes me about 6 to 8 hours. Of course I do more than just make a simple home page. I make a home page, a content page, and a styles page that shows what all the generic styles will look like, such as images, tables, typography etc.
Agreed - and some of the fees charged are per an hourly rate that most of us can ill afford to charge. Outsourcing at it’s cheapest … and reminds of me of the t-shirt sweat shops we hear about
It should not take longer than 2 hours for a good web designer to hand code a regular PSD template into a working HTML/CSS webpage even if we consider testing it on the major browsers and fixing the problems you encounter! Unless the design is quite special and complex. And you can probably charge higher than £20/h
I find it assuming and strangely weird that some of those sites charge extra to make sure it renders correctly in browsers other than the latest Firefox and IE
Yeah! And I find it weird that they claim they are HTML/CSS experts and then they may code in a way that breaks the layout in some given browser! If you are a HTML/CSS you Must know how to code a site in order to make it work correctly in all the major browsers versions around!
It really depends on the complexity of the design in my opinion. If you have alot of different elements on the page that need to be styled differently, it can take longer than 1 - 2 hours!
I.M.H.O. It all depends on who is making the PSD no matter if it’s low, medium, or high complexity. When you get the PSD from someone with a web design background and knowledge, then this person, probably, will take into account important web design factors such as CSS margin, padding, font-size, floats etc, which makes the job a bit easier. When on the other hand the design is coming from someone with no web design background, the job will take you way longer because they just deliver what they think looks nice without any consideration if it is even possible.
