Top PSD to HTML Services

I know I mention it a lot, but I’m a huge advocate for having a great custom blog / web site design. With that said, I am always finding new designers to work on web design, but it is always tough to find a quality designer that can provide both high quality design and PSD to HTML cutting as well. If it isn’t the quality you are having an issue with, it might just be the extra cost. You do have an alternative though, there are many sites that specialize in just PSD to HTML services, where they will cut up your design and have it ready for you within a day, or even hours.

Whether you are looking to have a full site designed, or even just a landing page, this list of html cutting sites should be a very useful resource to come back to. The selection of services below include companies that offer PSD to HTML/XHTML/CSS coding. These sites also have other services, such as search engine optimization, easy integration to WordPress, Blogger, and Joomla, and others.

Here are seven of the top PSD to HTML sites that you can check out. Necessary information (price, benefits, services) have been included. I’ve personally used W3 Markup and PixelCrayons a few times and have always been happy with their work.

XHTML Team (http://www.xhtmlteam.com/)

REVIEW:

XHTML Team provides clean coding that works in all kinds of browser. Their codes also work on iPhones and Blackberries, so you don’t have to worry about your page looking different when accessed on an iPhone or Blackberry. XHTML Team can also do complicated pages, and many web developers have commented on the company’s efficiency and fast turnaround time. You can get the codes in only 24 hours or in a couple of days.

SERVICES:

• PSD to HTML
• PSD to XHTML
• PSD to CSS

PRICE:

Starting from $50

BENEFITS/OPTIONS INCLUDE:

• Clean W3C Valid HTML+CSS and XHTML+CSS Coding
• HTML 4.01 Transitional and XHTML 1.0 Transitional
• Easy integration to any CMS
• Cross-browser compatibility
• Optimized for fast loading

Pixel Crayons (http://xhtml.pixelcrayons.com)

REVIEW:

Pixel Crayons has been providing PSD to HTML/XHTML/CSS conversion since 2004. It currently has more than 120 staff members, so you can be assured that your projects will be done and delivered on time. You also won’t be disappointed with their support staff and turnaround time. Their project managers respond fast, and once the QA has finished checking and testing the markup, the project manager would deliver the project to you. If you’re a web designer who doesn’t enjoy coding, you should check out Pixel Crayons for their clean and good quality codes and great service.

SERVICES:

• PSD to HTML
• PSD to XHTML
• PSD to CSS

PRICE:

• Basic package costs $99
• Professional package costs $199

BENEFITS/OPTIONS INCLUDE:

• W3C Validation: CSS, XHTML & HTML
• Markups: HTML 4.01 Transitional, HTML 4.01 Strict, XHTML 1.0 Transitional, XHTML 1.0 Strict

• Pixel-precise hand-coded conversion
• Integration to third party CMS, blogs, and more
• SEO Semantic CSS-based XHTML code
• Load speed optimization
• Complete presentation separation
• Cross-browser compatibility

PSD2HTML (http://www.psd2html.com/)

REVIEW:

PSD2HTML is undoubtedly the most popular PSD to HTML/XHTML conversion site. They were one of the first sites to offer this kind of service, and many web designers have used the site for their projects. PSD2HTML pays attention to detail and their codes are clean and efficient. In addition, the company constantly develops new technologies and techniques to make sure they have the best services. They also follow international quality standards.

SERVICES:

• PSD to HTML/CSS
• PSD to XHTML

PRICE:

Starting from $159

BENEFITS/OPTIONS INCLUDE:

• W3C Valid HTML/XHTML/CSS
• Cross-browser compatibility
• SEO semantic coding
• Optimized for load speed
• Implementation to WordPress, Movable Type, Joomla, Blogger, CMS, X-Cart, others

W3 Markup (https://w3-markup.com/order)

REVIEW:

W3 Markup has been around since 2003. Some of their satisfied clients include owners and designers of websites and companies. W3 Markup provides PSD to HTML/XHTML conversion, and they always make sure that they never miss a single detail on your original Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator designs. Additionally they can include custom functions for your page to make it easier to manage. W3 Markup has a confidentiality agreement—web designers who are into outsourcing can trust the company not to disclose any details about them or their project. And since W3 Markup’s office is in the US, you can easily give them a call if you have any problems or concerns.

SERVICES:

• PSD to HTML
• PSD to XHTML
• PSD to CSS

PRICE:

Starting from $169

BENEFITS/OPTIONS INCLUDE:

• W3C Valid HTML/XHTML/CSS
• Cross-browser compatibility/accessibility
• FIR implementation
• Presentation technique
• Semantics/Search engine compatibility
• Load speed optimization
• Software implementation (CMS, shopping carts, blog, etc.)

PSDGator (http://www.psdgator.com/)

REVIEW:

So you have a great page design and you’re looking for someone to code for you? PSDGator converts image page designs created on Photoshop into HTML or XHTML. Your design can be in PSD, JPG, PNG, AI, BMP, etc., and you can trust PSDGator to slice it and hand-code it to your preferred markup language. They also have a fast turnaround time; you can make sure that your project will be done in two business days. PSDGator provides good quality services starting from $99, with existing customers getting 10% discount.

SERVICES:

• PSD to HTML/CSS
• PSD to XHTML

PRICE:

Starting from $99

BENEFITS/OPTIONS INCLUDE:

• Valid CSS and XHTML
• Clean and well-structured CSS
• Cross-browser compatibility
• SEO structure
• Semantic XHTML
• Optimized and sliced images

PSDSlicing (http://www.psdslicing.com/)

REVIEW:

PSDSlicing makes it easy for web designers by providing quality and detail-oriented HTML/XHTML/CSS coding. The company has been around for four years, so their coders are experienced and their QA team is very reliable. You can expect a fast turnaround time and an affordable price. Many website owners have been satisfied with PSDSlicing’s services that about 90% of them return for more projects.

SERVICES:

• PSD to HTML
• PSD to XHTML
• PSD to CSS

PRICE:

Starting from $149

BENEFITS/OPTIONS INCLUDE:

• W3C Valid HTML/XHTML/CSS
• Search engine optimized
• Cross-browser compatibility
• Hand-coded and semantic HTML
• Readable and well-structured CSS

WPCoder (http://wpcoder.com/)

REVIEW:

WPCoder is a small company that provides PSD to HTML/XHTML/CSS coding. Its web developers claim to love WordPress, so the company specifically deals with WordPress theme coding. Even though WPCoder is a small company, their coders and developers are very experienced, so don’t worry about their quality of service. They definitely deliver and they can provide you with PSD to XHTML/CSS coding, as well as other WordPress services. Furthermore, if you happen to accidentally delete or screw up your WordPress theme WPCoder keeps a backup of every project they did for six to eight months. WPCoder will make sure you’re satisfied with their services.

SERVICES:

• PSD to HTML
• PSD to XHTML
• PSD to CSS

PRICE:

Not specified on the site, but free project quotes are available upon request.

BENEFITS/OPTIONS INCLUDE:

• W3C Valid XHTML/CSS
• Hand-coded and well-structured
• Tableless CSS
• Cross-browser compatibility
• Optimized and sliced images

Feel free to leave any other PSD to HTML design services you know of, or if you have used any of the following services.

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5 Mistakes Every Blogger Will Make, Including You

There’s a simple truth to life that every human being will make mistakes. Since every blogger is human, at least the ones that aren’t spambots, then every blogger will screw up inevitably.

On BloggingPro, I recently wrote an article about how to recover from the mistakes you make but the question becomes “What kind of mistakes can one expect to make?”

With blogging, as with life, there are very few guarantees but there are a few mistakes that virtually every blogger, at least if they keep blogging long enough to make them. Here’s just a small sample of those mistakes with 5 blunders you can probably look forward to.

1. You Will Screw up Spelling, Grammar Etc.

If you type enough words, you are going to get a few things wrong. It doesn’t matter how good your grasp on your chosen language is, how careful your editing process is or how many eyes you have reviewing your posts, you will make typos and other spelling/grammar errors.

Fortunately, most of these blunders are very minor and can simply be corrected. People tend to forgive these errors quickly because they aren’t important and, quite literally, happen to everyone.

The key here is to just not make too many and you’ll probably find that your audience is forgiving. Still, that’s no reason to get sloppy.

2. You Will Bork Your Theme

At some point you’ll go into your theme, make a change, no matter how minor, and completely screw it up. You’ll get your structure wrong, add to many of a certain kind of tag, leave out space or forget a bracket and your site will be completely ruined because of it, at least until you fix it.

These mistakes are very similar to grammar errors but with code. We all make them and we all pay for them. The key is to repair them quickly and get the corrected version up as fast as possible. It also pays to make and keep backups before doing ANY changes to your site.

Remember, this is why you need to know the basics of HTML and CSS. You’re only human and your best-laid plans will often go astray.

3. You Will Say Something Stupid

Open Mouth, insert foot. We’ve all done it and you will do it with your site too. Eventually you’ll write something that, in your head makes sense but when put out on the Web is either taken a completely different way or is simply flat-out wrong.

No matter the cause of this, you should be prepared for it and take appropriate action. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this as every case is different but generally speaking the best approach is to be honest, apologize, correct the error and move on.

If you can do that, it’s usually pretty easy to put this kind of mistake behind you.

4. You Will Get Heated

A big part of blogging is dealing with people and whether it is via email, via comments or something in between, you will, almost certainly, respond incorrectly at least once.

Though we all know not to feed the trolls or start flame wars, inevitably someone says something that gets under our skin or we make the mistake or we let a civil discussion go too far. That creates a hostile situation that we have to deal with.

The best way usually is to disarm the argument by apologizing if necessary, seeking common ground and then highlighting differences in a more positive light. If you can’t end a flame war through being the bigger person, it’s usually better to just walk away.

5. You Will Anger Your Audience

At some point something you do will upset your readers, or at least a large number of them. Whether it is a change in direction for your blog, a new theme or even just a new logo, you’ll find yourself taking heat from a large number of your very loyal readers.

Strangely, it doesn’t matter how much warning you give about the change, how many people you ask beforehand or how many polls you take, many will stay silent until the changes go live. That’s not to say you shouldn’t take those steps, they can greatly mitigate any conflict and any warning is better than a surprise, but they don’t ensure a smooth transition either.

Here, you need to make sure that what you did was actually a mistake before backtracking. In many cases, some user heartburn is a worthwhile trade off for a clearly better site. That being said, if it is a mistake and you have a full user revolt, you need to figure out quickly if the mistake was the change or the way things were.

Either way, you need to engage your audience, listen to their concerns and make changes as appropriate. It will help you greatly soothe the heated debate.

Bottom Line

If you blog long enough and grow to be of any size, you’re going to make some mistakes, including these. Though you should work to keep such mistakes to a minimum, you also need to be prepared for them and be able to respond quickly.

If you can do that, you’ll likely find that your goofs aren’t that big of a deal and that most of the focus stays on what you got right, not the few things you got wrong.

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5 Skills Every Blogger Needs to Excel

On the surface, writing a blog and maintaining it may not seem like that hard of a job. You set up an account, pick a theme, write some posts and hit “publish”. Pretty much anyone can do it so long as they know how to use a computer and understand the basics of the Internet.

However, there is a difference between just blogging and blogging well. If you want to do the latter, you’re going to have to learn a few additional skills to help you excel.

The good news is that the skills you need are not great and, even if you don’t have them at all, you can probably pick them up quickly with a few books and some practice.

Still, if you’re looking to move beyond merely hitting the send button and hoping for the best, here are a few skills you might want to pick up or improve on.

1. Writing Skills

This one seems fundamental but it is still often overlooked. Even if you’re a podcaster, a photographer or running a video blog, you’re going to have to write something, even if it is just descriptions.

You don’t need to be a poet in order to write a blog but you need to be able to write clearly, concisely and in a manner that doesn’t sound awkward or forced. Search engines strongly favor well-written content (because people spend more time on pages with it) and the easier your content is to read, the more people will enjoy and the more visitors you’ll have. It’s that simple.

If you struggle with this, it might be worth your time to pick up a few books on writing or even taking a short writing course. A little bit of time invested here can go a long way to helping your blog.

2. HTML & CSS Skills

Sure, every major blogging platform comes with themes that you can just click to install and use, but what happens if you want to make it unique or fix something that’s broken? If you don’t know at least a little bit of HTML, you may be in big trouble.

Knowing the basics of HTML and CSS is the difference between having a site that looks like everyone else’s and having something that is truly unique. You don’t need to change much code to make a very big difference but you do have to know what to change.

If you’re weak in this area, pick up a few basic HTML books and practice with them. Also, you may want to learn the basics of PHP if you’re using a platform that’s based on it, such as WordPress, so you can fix minor problems with plugins and themes.

3. People Skills

Blogging may seem to be a solitary activity but you have to deal with other people all day long. Though the interactions may not be face to face, instead being via email, comments and social media, the rules for how to treat others doesn’t really change.

If you treat people good and trust those who are trustworthy, you’ll probably have no trouble with you people skills, However, if you are struggling in this area, it is really about practice more than anything. Though being shy is understandable, getting out there and talking to people is crucial.

Besides, if you can comfortably talk with and work with strangers face-to-face, working with them online should be easy.

4. Image Editing Skills

For most bloggers, the primary medium is text, but, at some point, you are going to want or need to work with an image as well. Whether it’s a logo you’re adding to your site, images you are inserting into your posts or just a new avatar for Twitter, you will likely find yourself manipulating images.

As such, it’s important to understand the basics of image editing including how to crop, resize, correct, reformat and do other simple changes to an image. It doesn’t require a Photoshop wizard to be able to run a blog, but if you can do the basic changes yourself, life does get a lot easier.

If you’re weak on your photo editing skills, the easiest way to learn is usually to just download a photo editing program, such as Paint.net, and practice or read through the provided tutorials. For the most part, this is something best learned by doing though there are great books available as well.

5. Social Networking Skills

Though I am loathe to agree with the army of social media and social networking “experts” who add me on Twitter every day, they are right that a blogger, or any business for that matter, needs some basic social networking skills. To be clear, this shouldn’t be an obsession but learning how to use Twitter and Facebook as well as other relevant services can be a major help to your site.

Part of social networking is the aforementioned people skills but it also plays a role in promotion and encouraging others to spread around your site as well.

Once again, the quickest way to learn if you need some help is to simply dive in but, with a simple search, you’ll find that there are literally thousands of tutorials and guides on this topic. There is no shortage of information out there.

Bottom Line

You’ll note one of the skills I didn’t mention is computer skills. The reason is that it should be assumed. If you’re on the Internet and running a blog, you have a certain amount of computer knowledge already and the additional skills you need are more specialized (and mostly listed above). You don’t need to know how to work on a computer of replace a hard drive to be a good blogger, but knowing how to use one well helps, obviously.

In the end, the skills you need to be a good blogger are not that great or numerous. Though there are some not on this list, these are some of the big ones you definitely will need or want. If you don’t have them, it may be time to brush up on them and, if you do, there is always room to improve.

After all, one should never stop learning, especially when it comes to the skills at the core of something they love. You can always take things to the next level through practice and education and there is almost never any harm in doing it.

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