Psd to Wordpress - Limitations?

changes in WordPress from PSD file

[PhotoGuy]

I am in the process of hiring a designer to refresh a site. He will use Photoshop, illustrator or other tools to come up with a great design.

He will furnish me with a PSD format for the final product. I then want to convert that into a WordPress site. My question(s) center around just what elements of the PSD can be changed in WP and what if any elements are "fixed" and I am unable to find the answers to these questions.

Some examples:

1. He designates a 960X245 area for a slider. But I end up with photos that are 960X300. Is the "original" size provided me by the designer "frozen" or can it be changed when ported to WP?

2. Let's say I want to add a navigation bar that wasn't included in the original design. Can that be added as an "after thought" when the PSD design has been converted to WP?

3. If the original design was 2 columns and now I want a new page with 3 columns, will I need a new and different PSD layout or can additional columns, widths, etc. be accomplished after conversion to WP?

Hopefully the questions I have asked will help you understand just what I am wanting to clarify. And Yes I know that a PSD can be converted to a WP theme and No I don't want to use a WP theme to start with.

Anything that will help me understand what can and more importantly can not be accomplished when converting from a PSD will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Ron

[sonjay]

The .psd won't determine any of those things. The HTML & CSS that are used to create the WP template will determine those things.

If you have specific requirements (i.e., a 3-column option, variable-size slider, etc.), make sure those are in the specs so that whoever creates the html & css knows to allow for those options.

But .... the visual design of the .psd can make it easy, hard, or impossible to offer those options in the html & css, so make sure your designer knows your requirements too, so that he can design a visual look that can be adjusted to accommodate those requirements.

[PhotoGuy]

Thanks for the reply. However, questions like; "If the original design was 2 columns and now I want a new page with 3 columns, will I need a new and different PSD layout or can additional columns, widths, etc. be accomplished after conversion to WP"?

Weren't answered. Do I need separate psd layouts?

[lorax]

It sounds to me like you're not quite familiar with how WordPress works. The answer is, someone needs to convert that pretty PSD file into a functioning theme that WordPress uses to display your content. You can have whatever you want - as long as you plan for it and build it into WP ahead of time.

If you want 2 or 3 or 5 columns, you can have them. Do you need to have another PSD? Not unless you want one to convey the visual design to whoever is going to build this for you. A good theme developer should be able to build out a 2 or 3 column layout pretty quickly so you can see what it migh look like - providing the design isn't overly fancy. If you want the ability to switch between the 2 or 3 or 5 column layouts, you just need to build the different templates (subset of the theme) and make sure each is designed/built the way you want them.

If I were going to have someone build this for me, then yes, I would want a PSD of each different template and page.

[PhotoGuy]

Hi

Thanks for your helpful reply, that was just the kind of information I was seeking. Sorry it took so long to get back to you.

Again,
thanks.