Drupal is one of the leading content management systems in the world. To push this CMS to its threshold and developing robust websites on it you need to look the PSD to Drupal conversion way.
Now you might think this to be a little complex, time consuming and expensive affair compared to using a template in building your website. Yes it is, but the advantages that a PSD to Drupal website offers you are unmatched. You not only create a website using this method, you create a brand.
When you convert PSD to HTML/Drupal, the website is designed in Photoshop which is the best design platform in the world. This allows you to get a distinctive website which your customers can easily identify with. Such a website is highly customizable and helps you stay in sync with the latest trends in web design and development. There are a lot of third-party plugins available which help in adding to the functionality of your website.
PSD to Drupal Theme Conversion Process
Slicing the PSD File – A PSD file offers you high levels of creative freedom as far as designing is concerned. But this format is not web compatible and needs to be converted into a markup. The process starts with slicing the PSD file with precession. The different sections of the website are sliced apart and saved as images. You need to name them logically as this will help you in the later part of conversion.
PSD to HTML/XHTML – This is the most important stage in PSD to Drupal theme development. Here the individual image files are coded using HTML/XHTML to make them web compatible. This conversion is done manually as this helps in improving the quality of the codes. Semantic coding techniques are applied which increases the search engine marketability of the website. Once the coding is done the HTML files undergo W3C validation which ensures that that there are no errors which can affect the performance of your website.
PSD to CSS Conversion – A well coded HTML/XHTML files needs to be complemented with a high quality Cascading Style Sheet with PSD to CSS. The CSS file defines the visual attributes of the website and lends uniformity to it. Things such as fonts, color schemes and navigational functions are defined here allowing you to separate the design element from the content of the website. The CSS file also ensures that the website is browser compatible and takes less time to render.
Drupal Integration – It is the final stage of the conversion process. Here the different HTML/XHTML and CSS files are integrated into the Drupal admin. Directories and sub directories are created and the admin is linked to the website. This integration allows users to manage their website using a web based interface without the knowledge of coding.
You need to hire the services of a professional web development company which has expertise in PSD to XHTML/Drupal conversion. They should be able to hand code the website and offer you excellent support services.