When to use slicing?

[gilyotina]

Hi,

I build webpages for some time now. I do the graphics and the code.

I've noticed manu designers slice the images after they make the photoshop design - when do they use slicing and why not just creating separated images from the start?

if you know of any interesting article about this issue, either from the designer or programmer pov, let me know.

thanks!

[KDLA]

Many use the design-then-slice method in order to see the "big picture."

[gilyotina]

i can see how it's easier for the designer. Besides the time consuming process of slicing. How about the programmer's pov?

[KDLA]

Most programmers don't deal with the design aspects.
If the designer has done a good job with the layout, separating presentation from content, the design does not interfere with the programmatic aspects of the page.

[pathfinder74]

I think sometimes slicing it just easier when you have a ton of layers and rather than show just the layers for one intended image, cropping it, saving it as an image, then reverting back to the original canvas size to repeat the process however many times you have to do it, it might be less time consuming to just leave all the layers visible then way you want the page to look, the slice it all up.

That's how I do it from time to time... I'm sure other people have a different (and more likely easier) way of doing it... I tend to do the more time consuming method more than the slicing one though.

[sstalder]

As a programmer I would prefer to not get sliced up images and expect me to code it to look exactly how the designer had in mind. I would probably just delete it and charge for wasting my time.

I think it's important to design everything as a whole then slice it down from there. But that can depend how graphically intense the site is.

[elv8]

I believe it comes down to experience of the programmer and the complexity of the designed layout. I have been coding a site for a mate who is a very good graphic designer. He has done a lot of graphic design work but none in web template design. I have found that the layout in Photoshop looks excellent but the some detail and shading on individual layers is a bit over the top. By this I mean 1 layer has shading that overlaps 5% of another layer. I found it to be very frustrating coding it and takes a lot more time to complete (but hey, it might be due to my programming skills).

As I have been practicing coding sites I have come to learn that it is important to know what you want from a website layout and if a graphic designer is to design one for you then you need to be very precise on what you want in the design and how you want it to look. Some things may just need to be excluded as they can complicate the coding side (I have come to learn). I believe that it is important to give as much instructions to a designer who designs a template for you so you know how it will look and how you will need to code it rather then modify the layout at a later stage. Thats my bit on what I have learned from my coding from designed templates.