Come to the CMS

March 30, 2008 10:32 AM

How to convince web designers to move from Photoshop-ImageReady to [insert favorite] CMS?

Several web designers I know use Photoshop-ImageReady workflows for their web publishing. OK if everyone used the same web browser as them, otherwise gaps between the 'sliced' images and slow page loading times are the norm. Thanks metafilter.

posted by acro to computers & internet (10 comments total)

They'll do what it takes to make their output acceptable to the people who pay them. I don't know how much influence some uninvolved third party is going to have.
posted by winston at 10:35 AM on March 30

I also don't understand how a CMS is going to solve this problem. Honestly, I'm not totally sure what the problem is- are these folks creating entire web pages in Photoshop? Do these people work for you?
posted by mkultra at 10:42 AM on March 30

These designers do most of their work in other mediums (film & print) so the web stuff is mostly secondary to their main incomes. I'm looking for a way to help them transition into using CMSs...I've been working with them from the hosting side.
posted by acro at 10:50 AM on March 30

mkultra - entire web pages in photoshop :(
posted by acro at 10:52 AM on March 30

If your web production/design is producing bloated pages that look broken on certain platforms, then it's not their tools that ar at fault.

Specify a requirement of "must be pixel perfect across the following browsers: ..." If their output isn't correct, then their job isn't finished, and they need to correct it. If they can't, then find better production folks.

Don't require your artists and craftspeople to use specific (and probably inappropriate) tools to do their job. It's like asking your house painter to use a 3" wide brush for the entire job, instead of sometimes using a roller, and sometimes a 1" trim brush.
posted by toxic at 10:53 AM on March 30

/googling unsuccessfully/ 'key web deliverables'
posted by acro at 11:01 AM on March 30

This is nothing to do with CMSs; your designers need to learn how to build web pages properly, or work with someone with that expertise.
posted by malevolent at 11:09 AM on March 30

These designers do most of their work in other mediums

This is the root cause of your problem.

Design of print, film, and web are different disciplines. They're all based on the same concepts, but the execution (especially at the professional level) is specialized enough that you need to have specialists. People watch films. They read print. They interact with web sites. How you create compelling experiences for each of those actions is different.

It's like having the best oil painter in the world give you a tattoo. The final output won't be what you or the artist really wanted.

If the web site is important to you, have your existing designers work with actual web designers to design and build your site, and you'll get what you want. (Like giving your tattoo artist an oil painting to start with). It will take more time and cost more money than you expect, but the final project will load and display and work the way that a web site should.
posted by toxic at 11:28 AM on March 30

Don't require your artists and craftspeople to use specific (and probably inappropriate) tools to do their job.

Corollary: Forbid your artists from using tools inappropriate to their job. If I need to paint the outside of my house, I'm going to be pissed if the painters show up with a couple rollers and small brushes instead of a spraygun.

It's simply not considered acceptable to deliver web pages made in a graphics program as anything other than UI mockups for a real web designer. There is definitely an art in knowing how to produce images for the web, but laying out web pages is a separate skill- I could sympathize more if these were people using InDesign or Quark, which already deal with layout.
posted by mkultra at 12:26 PM on March 30

well said, thanks toxic.
posted by acro at 12:26 PM on March 30