20 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
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Hello all,

What is the best program to use that will convert a PSD to a Wordpress template?

TIA
#conversion #suggestions
  • Profile picture of the author Sam Pap
    you need to hire someone is the best option
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  • Profile picture of the author klickgablow
    Hi Dgmufasa,

    I convert PSDs to WordPress as a service for my clients and unfortunately there is no "program" that will convert a PSD to WordPress for you.

    Instead its a job that needs to be done manually. Of course, developers have their tricks for saving time, but that's something that you acquire with experience.

    If you are working with a PSD, then you're going to need Adobe Photoshop and the knowledge of how to write a custom theme.

    There are many tutorials you can find online, some better than others, but either way this is going to be one of those jobs that you need to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.

    If you don't have the patience or time, you will need to hire someone.

    Knowledge required:

    HTML
    CSS
    JavaScript/jQuery
    PHP
    WordPress API
    Adobe Photoshop
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    • Profile picture of the author dgmufasa
      Originally Posted by klickgablow View Post

      Hi Dgmufasa,

      If you are working with a PSD, then you're going to need Adobe Photoshop and the knowledge of how to write a custom theme.

      There are many tutorials you can find online, some better than others, but either way this is going to be one of those jobs that you need to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.
      Thanks for the response. I have experience in some of the items you mentioned but not all. I have hired people in the past to configure WP themes - I find that they tend to waste time and generate problems where there are none (in order to run up the bill and feed their egos). Nothing but bad experiences there, my friend.

      Do you have any opinions on the info I posted just above?
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  • Profile picture of the author run
    There is no programes that will convert PSD into WP theme for you. You need to DIY or seeking the service to convert for you out there.

    For Programe to work with, I will use Photoshop to slice and do coding in Dreamweaver to convert it into WP Theme. Both are piad programes as everyone know already.
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  • Profile picture of the author dgmufasa
    Oh - I saw these online:

    WordPress Theme from your Photoshop Design in Seconds

    How-to Convert PSD template to a Wordpress template using Divine-project with ease

    and thought that perhaps there could be others out there. Has anyone out there used any of these?

    TIA
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  • Profile picture of the author webzwizardz
    Hi there contact me via email and I'll get one of my developers to take a look and I can give you some advice and help
    webzwizardz1@gmail.com
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    • Profile picture of the author dgmufasa
      Originally Posted by webzwizardz View Post

      Hi there contact me via email and I'll get one of my developers to take a look and I can give you some advice and help
      webzwizardz1@gmail.com
      Thanks for the reply. Do you have an opinion on the two vids I posted above? They seem to be ways of automating the conversion of PSD files to a Wordpress template.
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      • Profile picture of the author webzwizardz
        The conversion of PSD to WordPress can be very difficult because it is technically complicated and can take up a lot of your time, best thing to do is to get an expert to do this and they take the bulk of the work, the software in the video looks good but hand coding is still the best option , I hope this helps you, let me know if I can help you anything else
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  • Profile picture of the author cssbros
    Those softwares will convert your PSD into Wordpress but with very limited options available.

    Hand coding is still the best choice, and you are indeed sure that the codes and w3c valid, clean, and optimize.

    I suggest you hire someone professional and highly experienced for your project.

    Hope that helps,
    Arman
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    • Profile picture of the author dgmufasa
      Originally Posted by cssbros View Post

      Hand coding is still the best choice, and you are indeed sure that the codes and w3c valid, clean, and optimize.
      I beg to differ. I have already tried hiring someone when I had no clue how Hostgator and WP worked. The person lied about how long it took and things that should have taken 5 minutes he would charge 5 hours for. This was on the ODesk site.

      The second guy took his time to make changes to a template - moreso for the sake of ego I think. Some programmers are like that. He also came from ODesk.

      I have programming background as well. I have done PHP client coding to a SOAP server. I have made changes to WP sites. I don't like doing it as it is more of maintenance programming - which I hate

      I was just looking for info on the tools themselves and how to use them. In other words, looking for someone who can tell me what I CAN do and what is possible - not how "hard" it is and that perhaps they are the only ones who can do it :| I'm not in to paying people for things like that anymore.

      Thanks anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author DCSLCFR6243
    You can try and go through automated tools, however PHP is so simple and flexible that it needs someone to code the functions, and every coder will work around the functions in their own way to the standard - its like getting siding put on house everyone with a little brain and skill can get it done including yourself - however the issues that arise even by the best professional will lead to hard times. So, I think it may be hard to find anyone satisfied with any system or coder for that reason, yet as must best to have someone who can code, both backend and front end website language and who has experience navigating the PHP function folders for your WordPress install. Every tool i have tried I have had to have someone edit the code to get it to cross browsers and hold the design as intended and crafted...So find a coder alot of good ones here and go with it
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  • Profile picture of the author chretit
    Hi, dgmufasa
    If you're prepared to do it yourself - that's great. Everyone's telling you that you're not going to get pro results first time around. And of course, they're right.

    If you accept that and understand the consequences but still want to do it, then, it'll take practice but it's so not rocket science.

    I haven't looked at the tools you posted but I'm sure you, yourself, can do it manually. Have you got Photoshop? Post back, we'll guide you through it, no biggie. Just a learning exercise.
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  • Profile picture of the author gcampton
    seriously, slicing up a PSD is hard enough in itself, divine only bridges the gap between exporting to WP or HTML (maybe not both)... but if you already know how to slice some up then go to Wordpress Codex, it explains everything very simply and gives you all the code you need to create your own theme.

    Look for an ebook called "How To Be a
    Rockstar WordPress Designer" by Rockable press.. it goes through exactly how to turn a PSD into a theme and includes a great looking example theme which is still available via the repository.

    ebooks are cheap, if not free if you know where to look
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  • Profile picture of the author dwoods
    I concur with Daniel Fonda, the "scripts/programs" that automatically convert PSD to html/markup (ala sitegrinder) do a horrible job of creating a semantic markup and will hinder your on-page SEO efforts by quite a margin.

    Either learn it yourself (though time consuming, it's easy) or find someone on freelance website or psd 2 html service to do it for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author mediabay
    You can cut slices and save to HTML, open in Artisteer then make necessary adjustment -> save to WP theme.
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  • Profile picture of the author kamran9868
    There is no as such program / software available to code PSD into WordPress theme automatically.... all is to be done manually.... it's good choice to hire a developer ...
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  • Profile picture of the author OmiTaylor
    I am with those suggesting you hire a developer. However, it's not a hard process. It's basically slicing the PDS then copy/pasting the code into a new theme template. It shouldn't take more than 48 hours. I've done this dozens of times, it's actually really easy to learn if you do the research.
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  • Profile picture of the author AFineWebDesign
    If you just Google: "How to create a Wordpress Child Theme" and you already have basic knowledge of CSS and HTML you should be good to go. I did my first PSD to WP with no knowledge of WP at all, but I am familiar with HTML, PHP, and CSS but realistically you don't need any extensive PHP knowledge at all it's mostly going to be editing the CSS file and sticking a couple divs here and there in the PHP code.

    This tip will save you tons of hours right here: Use Google Chrome and open up the "developers tools" in the options. When you look through the HTML coding and highlight different DIVs and such it will pop up all the corresponding CSS code on the right hand side. Seriously this will save you HOURS of messing with the CSS.

    Hope it helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bryan Zazz
    How about a contrarian view on this topic:
    actually, programming a slicing of a PSD is not very complicated
    (once you've done it before).
    The secret tool is GIMP (ok, "my" secret tool as that's what I know)
    so I'd open your PSD in gimp, then write a script on how to slice your PSD,
    and let gimp do it.
    But then again using those slices in WP is another matter ... although that could
    be automated also.
    The problem here is not that it can not be done. it CAN. And it's not too complicated.
    The problem is elsewhere: is it worth it?
    Coding this for only 1 PSD file is a big waste of coding time.

    So if you have a lot of PSD files you like to convert into WP templates,
    like 20, 50, 100 files, then it's another matter,
    so in that case it's worth the trouble of automating/coding this process.
    But for only 1 file/incident, then nothing beats doing it manually - your cheapest way is definitely manual.
    hope this helps a bit...
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  • Profile picture of the author ckdaro
    You can get someone to do it all for you for 5 bucks on fiverr. It saves you all the hassle.
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