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November 24, 2008 by John Cottone
Filed under Freelance Advice, Product and Service Reviews
Timely and Quality PSD to XHTML Conversion Services
For every busy web designer and developer, there comes a moment when they want to kick the clock so hard that it stops time in its tracks. For our businesses, time is money; however, we cannot just stop taking on additional orders because we have too many- or do we? If your answer is often ”yes”, I’ll tell you something that might change your perspective for the better. Suppose, you have multiple web designs ready for coding, project submission dates are coming on quickly, and your inbox is brimming with yet more web design orders, what would you do?
Do you push back delivery dates? That’s not so great for your client relations. Do you divert all your resources toward timely delivery? Clients are happy, but you increase your stress and can push back other high-priority tasks. When situations like these happen, hiring a conversion company may be your best choice.
That’s where xhtml.pixelcrayons.com steps in with its PSD to XHTML conversion services. According to its clientele, case studies, and my own test with them, you know exactly what you are getting, when you are getting it and how much it will cost.
PixelCrayons is an online service that offers effortless manual conversion of static design files into high quality XHTML. Essentially, the idea is that they can return professional-grade XHTML design within 8 hours! You can send your designs in PSD, JPG, GIF, PNG, AI and even HTML markup. Here are the two coding packages they offer, in addition to the various add-ons including layout options, markup options and integration services:
The Basic Package – starting at $99
- Markups: HTML 4.01 Transitional, XHTML 1.0 Transitional
- W3C Validation: CSS, XHTML & HTML
- I.E 6.x / 7.x, Mozilla Firefox, Safari
The Professional Package – starting at $199
- Markups: HTML 4.01 Transitional, HTML 4.01 Strict, XHTML 1.0 Transitional, XHTML 1.0 Strict
- W3C Validation: CSS2 (Advanced CSS Code Structure), XHTML & HTML Browsers Compatibility: I.E 6.x / 7.x, Mozilla Firefox, Safari 2.x/3.x, Opera, Konqueror
- Includes: SEO Semantic Code, Load Speed Optimization, Complete Presentation Separation, Maximum Cross-Browser Compatibility
Work Process
Placing an order is quite simple, and the order form is self-explanatory. Just fill in the required blanks, and then wait for next 8 business hours for your XHTML design. You may upload your file in various formats (PSD, JPG, GIF, PNG, AI, ZIP or PDF) and can also have it integrated with CMS/ Blogging Engine/ Shopping Cart of your choice. If you want to mention specifications about your file, you can use the Special Comments Box. After uploading the file and completing the order form for the chosen package, an order-confirmation e-mail is sent to you with your order placed in the queue.
Client Support
The response time is quick and thorough. You would be asked questions regarding file related issues and other clarifications on design implementation and stuff. After a quick review of the work you need and clarifications over phone and mails, your markup will be available to you within 8 hours. They also have instant chat options where you could directly communicate via Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, Skype messengers.
Work Quality
The emailed markup is sent as a zip file that would include XHTML files and a folder containing CSS files, JS files and images. The quality of the markup speaks for itself, the coding is kept clean and semantic, and the CSS files are nicely organized.
Conclusion
Their manual coding provides cross browser compatibility, with equal clarity in all versions of IE, Firefox, Safari and Opera. The prices are economical and quality is surpassingly good. I think it is an excellent service if you need (and have the budget for) extra help in coding your designs, while maintaining the high-quality standards of your own work. So all in all, do I recommend Pixel Crayons for XHTML Conversion? Certainly yes, if you need a cost saving, time-saving and convenient conversion.
What I’d really like to see with these kind of services is the original .psd file that was submitted, preferably a text/graphic-heavy page with multiple columns and maybe a chart here or there. The more complex the better.
I was thinking a PSD to HTML as a side to my professional website design business, however this is probably the cheapest I’ve ever seen one of the sites advertise. I agree with the comment above and would like to see how they would do on complicated layouts. What about drop down menus? Rollovers? transparent PNGs?
The site looks nice, however after I checked one of their examples:
http://xhtml.pixelcrayons.com/common/work-sample/creative/disha-next/index.html
I found out some problems.
For example, see the list in the footer:
Home
|
Colleges
|
…
Why would anyone use |? This is not semantic, and this can be easily set as a border, or as a background on li items.
Another example is this part of code:
Feature Title
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consec
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
Lorem ipsum dolor sit
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectet
this should definitely be a lit, using ul/li structure, not 4 divs.
There are also flaws in the CSS, for example:
1)
padding:0px;
you do not have to define px, after a 0 value, so it should be – padding:0; instead
2) margin:0 auto 0 auto;
padding:6px 0 6px 0;
font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 100%;
line-height: 1.5;
This is not the Shorthand nor Optimized, it should be:
margin:0 auto;
padding:6px 0;
font:100%/1.5 Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
It’s very sad that “professional code” they offer, is not flawless. I just hope that they can learn from this comment and review their product, not to make such mistakes for their clients.
Thanks for the comments. As far as pricing goes, their base prices are inexpensive, and it’s possible that being located in India has an effect on that. You can add-on “advanced options” (dynamic menus, javascript, rollovers, etc) for additional fees, which can be viewed by expanding the advanced section here: http://xhtml.pixelcrayons.com/order-now.html
It is confusing to choose one out of so many providers (htmlboutique, cssrockstars, psd2html, w3-markup) and due diligence is a must, specifically if you’re on a look for a long term vendor.
I did my own little research and used XHTML.PixelCrayons.com for a couple of my projects. I should say I am more than pleased and happy about my decision to choose them.
Since then, I have done ~100 pages and the quality/communication is spot on. Highly recommended!
I have been dealing with PixelCrayons for the last 1.5 years and they have assisted us with our PSD slicing/web development projects. They have done a first class job in these areas for us and our relationship has strengthened. The project managers assigned to me were always on message and I would not hesitate to recommend PixelCrayons as a solid company that delivers.
I have been their customer for a while and I would strongly recommend them if you’re looking for quality markup and fast turn around, without burning a hole into your pocket.
while browsing for slicing service providers for my designs, i came across xhtml.pixelcrayons. The first thing that stole my attention was their quality portfolio and last things was their discount packages with numbers of options with it which made my decision clear and solid to choose them. Since then we are working together and recently we have closed our 3rd project.
Seems like PixelCrayons has a pretty solid fan-base
For those interested, I have actually been to their office in New Delhi (India) and have met their team. I was surprised at the kind of infrastructure that these people have… honestly, I was not expecting as strong an infrastructure and such a large team (they are 120+)!
More importantly, I love the kind of professional attitude these guys possess towards their work. I have worked with many web design/development agencies from India/Romania/China but had not seen any have their team work until 4:00 am to fulfill client commitment, until I came across PixelCrayons. They are a breath of fresh air, when it comes to outsourcing.
Starting with a single project, we now have a team of over 7 dedicated resources with them and are planning to add 3 more.
Count me in and add 1 more to their fan base John
- Alex Dodd
Dear IWebMaker
My name is Parvesh Aggarwal and I represent XHTML.PixelCrayons.com
First of all, I would like to thank you for your inputs – we value the feedback received from experts like yourself.
I would however like to share that this particular website was done per the client’s specifications and required integration with their web application. In fact, there was an iteration due to the fact that we did the “right” way.
Secondly, the package opted was a Basic Package and not the Professional package and hence CSS ShortHand/Load Speed Optimization is not a part of the product delivered.
Finally, I would once again like to sincerely thank you for your inputs and would invite you to e-mail us at pm[at]pixelcrayons.com should you want to communicate further.
On a different note, I would like to thank everybody on the blog for their kind words – it definitely motivates us to serve you better. Thank you for your business and we look forward to a long term association with you all.
Warm Regards
Parvesh Aggarwal
http://xhtml.pixelcrayons.com
I’ve used Pixel Crayons and found them to be very professional. This is so important. They were very responsive to my requests of coding changes and preferences. They were as quick as possible, given the time zone difference, to resolve issues. They did a great job translating my Fireworks PNGs to XHTML. There are some coding things that I would have done a little differently, but everything is to code and using them was very helpful. If you have a particularly small website you will be pleased at the time and cost savings. On larger sites, you are looking at a unique page completed per day. They are absolutely worth the money. I plan to give them more work.
Used them. They are good, code is high-quality, support was good. But, price was a little high…
I used codemyconcept.com a few times recently, support was good…code was awesome – and the pricing is amazing. $75 for first page and $40 per subpage…where else can you find that?
But pixel crayons….thumbs up.
I appreciate your qualified service. You have good reputation. But price seems little higher. Actually price is not a factor where you provide best quality service in timeline.
A. Belon: I found this site : http://www.psdtohtmlcompanies.com and they make it easy to find the right PSD to HTML provider. You can refine, compare and send inquiries. Interface is quite clean and easy to use.