[NWDesign]

Hey guys and gals,

Just wondering what do most of you top end designers prefer to do? Build your layout in Photoshop and slice and optimize? Build just your background elements and do the rest with CSS and hand coding/divs, do nothing in Photoshop other then supporting elements/graphics?

I browse through peoples work and portfolios and have seen some really impressive projects.. Now I can pick it apart and distinguish HOW it can be done both design and hand coding ways.. background-image here, color there...float this, float that..

But im wanting to know what does everyone prefer to do to achieve their web layouts? Just a little constructive research to see how other professionals function.

[Aibrean]

I build in Photoshop but I don't "slice". I just crop out elements I need after I've already got the wireframe ready in Dreamweaver.

[WebspoonUK]

I always design what I need in photoshop then slice out the bits that I cannot do in HTML / CSS. I.e. the graphics. Then I optimise the graphics for the web and recreate the layout in my code.

Hope this helps

[bslate]

I will build in photoshop visually. Once approved I will slice only what is needed. Pull out every trick in the book to limit the number of images needed and instead use CSS.

[teapoted]

I build in Photoshop but I don't "slice". I just crop out elements I need after I've already got the wireframe ready in Dreamweaver.

What's the difference? You're slicing them up, slicing them up correctly or not is a different story. This question isn't about the act of slicing images though is it?

It sounds more like you are asking about work-flow rather than technique. In which case design in paper/photo-shop/illustrator, plan what elements are needed/refine photo-shop tidbits, code. Even if there are no images used in the layout it's still pretty much the same order.

[Aibrean]

Not really because typically I'm only needing the menu (if it uses a non standard font), the header, and maybe a background if it's not a solid color. More like what Web said. I always considered slicing to be putting up guides and using the slice tool to convert the guides to slices.

[NWDesign]

thanks everyone, always nice just to know how other designers work and what seems to be efficient for them.. I prefer to build the layout then slice the complex graphics as well and just layout the rest using CSS.. some people I know though build a site piece by piece so they will do the background first..save it... then new document, build the banner..save it...

I guess it's just what works for that said person..

Now does anyone actually use the 'save images and html' feature and ACTUALLY use the html file it gives you? I have not done this yet but it just seems to me like maybe that would create a lot of extra markup??

[matte]

Originally Posted by NWDesign

Now does anyone actually use the 'save images and html' feature and ACTUALLY use the html file it gives you? I have not done this yet but it just seems to me like maybe that would create a lot of extra markup??

that method is trash. photoshop is great for a lot of things, coding a website is definitely not one of them.