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I feel like this could be used to automatically convert a simple .psd web layout to non-shitty HTML and CSS.



Look up markupwand.com an YC alumni. The problem is harder than it looks. Now, I am not an expert in PSD format but a PSD that can be automatically converted to HTML has to be specifically formatted. For example, if you merge text layers with image layers, it becomes difficult to extract the information.


We've actually solved this and will be launching in about a week. We've been working on it for over a year now.

It runs inside Photoshop (there is no upload stage nor do you have to open up separate software) and it generates HTML and CSS that looks like a designer wrote it and slices up all your images. It also outputs LESS, SASS, HAML, Slim, Jade and I think there are some other formats I may be forgetting.

Text is output as text. If you use a Google font, it automatically links the fonts in for you.

It does not use absolute positioning so if you modify things like text and it grows taller or shrinks shorter, other items will be positioned properly (initially we did it with absolute positioning but later I figured out an algorithm to make it work the way it should, even with overlapping elements).

It's definitely not an easy problem to solve (hence why we've been working on it for over a year although not full time).

We've done some outputs now and the results are amazing.

I would link you to the website but it looks so bad right now that I don't want to show it. Anyways, we will launch in about a week so look for an announcement. If you have any questions about it, please leave a comment.

Sunny


There are a bunch of those tools which run inside PS, but the point is that I really don't want to run PS. Ever. My designers do and now I have to pay / upgrade licenses too because there is no solution. I think PS is overused and abused for anything 'design' while for programmers it's an annoyance more often than not.


Awesome.We own bunch of CC licenses and I am happy to beta test, if you guys want. :-)


> The problem is harder than it looks.

markupwand.com is pivoting...


isn't that the point?


Thought that GP was not aware of the fact and just linked a relevant company from memory. Makes more sense this way, thanks.


That's true.

Ideally, you'd have to spend some time making sure your .psd is formatted properly instead of just 100 layers names Layer X.


There is certainly the potential for that. The library still has a little ways to go until that's possible.

If anything, I think it would be a cool project to build on top of PSD.rb instead of bloating the core library.


CSS Hat gets you part way there: https://csshat.com/




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