This is completely up to the designer.

If you have looked at any of the code for C5, you will see that there is little actual structure of a page. Your basic layout with appropriate php tags and of course your div's.

MOST of the look and feel are done via your CSS files. Having said that, the meat of your page(s) are then made using blocks.

I have done both PSD proofs along with static proofs only because it can be easier to get the client to understand and give input on where and what they want, not leaving it entirely up to the designer. After the proofs are approved, you create your standardized pages in your theme and any single pages you then need. Remember that a lot of singular distinct functionality is done this way and if it is going to be used over many sites, you may want to consider creating a package for that specific type.

Hope that helps
Bill

What I like to do is get the design sliced from a psd, get it working as a static html page, then create a new theme from that static page.

Once the basic theme is there I'll typically let the customer start working with content as I finish tweaking the block templates & adding any other functionality that's needed.

I design strictly in Fireworks, and illustrator if I must.

I break payments out so that it is known at the start of the project that paying X% to approve the design, and that any changes beyond that point encure charges. This makes sure you are not getting jerked around. The layout is strictly a Fireworks layerd png at this point, and does not progress until the design is approved and payed for. When payed, the client now owns creative rights to the design. If they wanted, they could stop the job and have someone else port it. else, I implement and charge the remaining fees.

depending on the complexity of your design, you can output XHTL, div's, and CSS right from fireworks CS4, then just add your areas. and the job is nearly complete.

Chad

Hi Chad,

What is the quality of the html exported from Fireworks? I have it but haven't used it for years.

I recently have used Xara instead, but it generates hopeless html. I also just started using Artisteer which is brilliant for design, but the html is a bit too complex and I have to spend a bit of time simplifying it.

personally i would stay away from any code spit out by any design application. Your code should be done by hand. XHTML and CSS are not very hard languages to learn and knowing how to code by hand will save you time and money in the future. Plus once you get the hand of how to code for basic problems/layouts, then you can make a default starting point which you would use for all of your sites.

Some say that puping html out of a design application is a good way to show a client a preview, but I've found that sometimes that can waist time. For example a client might start to ask you questions about why something is the way it is and not understand that what they are looking at, although is somewhat functional, is not a representation of the final product.

just my thoughts.

It's great to read some strategies. Thanks! I hope others will chime in as well.

The first c5 site I did I took the PSDs and made regular html/css pages out of all the templates (that would become page types or single pages), including all the content and a full working navigation (which was super-fish style).

I'm building my second c5 site now and thought it might be easier to go ahead and build using c5 areas and blocks, adding content and functionality that way. You know, to keep from double entering content, once in static html, once in c5 blocks.

But I'm realizing now that I won't have a full navigation to check functionality until a sizable number of pages are added :-(

I'm also developing the site locally which is so much faster than online... but once I push the files up I guess I'll need to do everything online? Any tips on that?

I wouldn't bother with any static html at all unless you absolutely have too. It negates using a cms.

This is what I do.
a. Determine my page types I want in my theme other than the required (default.php, view.php, etc) and build them.
b. Get my CSS file down pat as best you can locally. Testing in all major browsers will help a lot prior to production mode.
c. Determine the main set of blocks you will need. Mine is typically the Content Block. Various others such as the Image Block. (Don't forget the Marketplace for additional functionality.)
d. Develop localy, upload to production server put it in admin mode and enter your data. Only those persons allowed will be able to view it. (username/password required)

Having said that. I believe some folks enter all the data and page settings on a dev/local machine and then export their database to the production database and this doesn't create too many problems as long as its a clean install and no fancy or custom stuff has already been done on the production server. Someone else (since I haven't done this) may be able to better let you know what they do.

Thanks for starting this thread.
Bill

@bcarone (or anyone, really)
Do you set up a document with all the various styles with dummy text?

I'm so used to having all the content available for styling and dealing with edge cases that designing into a CMS feels foreign. Starting to get the hang of it, slowly.

I'm also used to being able to throw little exceptions into the code to make everything look right, but that's another story :-)

when I start a new project I always work from a design in Photoshop or very few times from Illustrator.
All is designed and the client approve from this.
When the design is approved I make the css and the set up of the system that the client have bought (I just started using Concrete5) and it is mostly just cut it from Photoshop and make the corrections in the CSS and it is all done... from then any client gets access (if they wants) as we finish the things like forms or other more special things.

Doing like this, I can invoice the design when approved and the programming when this is done.

personally i take the psd make it into an html page, make all the different page types (full right sidebar etc) then from those just stick in the php code and tweak it

I do the same as I've always done. Image layout in either Xara or Fireworks, then hand code in either Dreamweaver or Coder (depends if I'm using Mac or Windows). I don't like to slice because of bad code (usually) and I hate having to clear up. I don't like templates, free or otherwise because of bloated code(usually CSS). Certain elements are standard in the header and footer content, I just fiddle with the in-between bits.
If a client has their own photos, images or sprites I only use Fireworks or Photoshop to crop, trim and optimise, nothing else.
Converting to C5 is SOOOO easy!
So I would say build with what you know best and then convert!!

Roll on Summer I'm p***** off with the cold weather......