Converting design to HTML and CSS

The process from design to a working website is often underestimated. When you see a design, it may look nice, but with a “flat image” visitors to your website cannot do anything. It is the developer who brings the designer's image to life into a working website and thus effectively guides visitors to the right answers. 

A graphic design is usually created by a designer in tools such as Figma, Adobe XD, Adobe Photoshop or Sketch. This is then converted by a developer into HTML code for the structure, CSS for the styling and JavaScript for interactions.

Complexity of designs

Some designs are easier to implement (to convert into a working website) than others.

Easy to make:
Simple, symmetrical layouts with standard components and a clear structure.

More complex:

• Unique and interactive designs with complex animations, unusual layouts and special functionalities such as dynamic transitions.
• Slanted lines and asymmetrical layouts make it more difficult instead of rectangular grid and require extra development time to make everything responsive so that it looks good on every screen.
• Complex animations and transitions such as parallax scrolling, interactive hover effects or dynamically moving elements.
• Flexible grid systems and unusual layouts. Standard web designs are often rectangular with clear sections, but if a design contains overlapping elements or free forms, this can become complex for developers.
• Advanced typography and special fonts
  Some designs require unique fonts, special text alignments, or animations in which text changes dynamically. This can pose technical challenges and sometimes even require JavaScript to achieve certain effects.
• Images and SVGs with dynamic interaction such as shapes that move with the mouse or customizable illustrations, this requires extra code and optimization to prevent performance issues.
   

Designers can take developers into account

Designers can take technical feasibility into account, which will reduce developer hours and allow the client to have a website made with less investment.

• Use standard grid structures, such as Bootstrap, for example a 12-column layout, making it easier to align website elements.
• Limit dynamic effects and only apply them where they are really needed.
• Use standard Bootstrap components in their designs.
• Integrate responsiveness into design so that it works well on different screen sizes right away.
   

Collaboration between designer and developer is important

It is important for web design designers to work closely with developers so that together they can determine what is technically possible and the end customer gets the most appropriate solution.