How to keep your developer PSD happy
By Emma Cross on
A short article with our top tips for producing PSDs for design, to help keep development running smoothly.
1. Design 1:1 Scale
This makes the transition from design to build a smoother one. This avoids any unnessary resizing when going from PSD to HTML.
2. PSD File size
Not all developers have powerful machines to open large files, so try to keep the files as small as possible.
3. Layer groupings
Group related layers together to make navigation around the PSD easier.
4. Naming Layers
Name each individual layer something that clearly relates to the content. This makes navigation around the PSD a lot easier and saves a lot of time when searching for particular layers.
5. Individual Layers
Ensure each design element is on it own layer, so that each element can be isolated if required.
6. Text sizes
Usually developers work in pixels in their code. So by providing text sizes in the PSD as pixels again helps keep transition from PSD to HTML a smoother journey.
7. Fonts
If non standard fonts are used in the PSD, please provide them when providing PSD’s so that the files appear as they should.
8. Font replacement
If non web safe fonts are used on the site please provide these at the time of design as they will be required for font replacement.
9. Keep communicating
Keep talking to your developer throughout the design process to ensure that the design works with the functionality required.
10. Keep styling consistant
Follow a convention throughout the site for headings. For example, the different sizes of headings should ideally be consistent.