It is no easy task to actually build a working site that matches a visual design created in a tool like Photoshop. Photoshop is designed to give total freedom to the artist. The web, on the other hand, is built on top of many confusing technologies and standards that place other concerns ahead of preserving visual design integrity.
This situation has understandably intimidated many users who are good at Photoshop but don't want to spend months or years learning the gory details of the internet such as XHTML, CSS, javascript, etc.
SiteGrinder 2 successfully turns Adobe Photoshop into an easy-to-use and powerful website design and production tool. While SiteGrinder is not aimed solely at the web neophyte, a SiteGrinder-equipped designer with no previous web experience can use only their Photoshop skills to go from concept to deployment of a professional, standards-compliant site in mere hours with no slicing or programming.
Behind the scenes SiteGrinder creates graphics, text, and interactivity using the latest in web standard technologies and also takes into account more of the technological requirements such as cross-platform browser compatibility.
You know Photoshop, SiteGrinder knows CSS, HTML, and web image formats. You tell SiteGrinder about special layers, like buttons, by adding "hints" to the layer names.
To the right you can see how the words "button", "rollover", and "popup" are the only things required to create interactivity. Once you've added a few hints you can open SiteGrinder and build your page with one mouse-click.
The nice thing about this system is that it works the way you do, which turns web design into a uniquely satisfying activity. You can enable your web site's functionality as you design it, and easily test it in a web browser whenever you feel like it.
You can even make major design changes, like choosing a new background color or image, at the very last minute without headaches using this easy workflow! SiteGrinder
You may be wondering how SiteGrinder can create many web pages from a single Photoshop document. The answer is simple really, Photoshop has a little-known but amazing tool called the "layer comps palette". This palette enables you to save and name a variety of document states, including the position and visibility of every layer.
You simply need to make your Photoshop document look the way a page on your site should and then make a layer comp. You then set up the next page and repeat. SiteGrinder will use these comps to decide what to include on the web pages it creates. Even more amazing: if your layer comp names match your button names SiteGrinder will link them automatically. You don't even have to give the URLs!
By: DavidPeters
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