A plugin for handing UI designs over to developers by exporting PSD Layer Comps to HTML and CSS web comps.

“Handover Pro” demo

Background

This was a project I started back in April 2015 to help handover UI design files to developers by exporting data directly from Photoshop.

Communicating sizes and style information about a design is very time consuming when creating documentation by hand, and that’s what I did for many years. So knowing the data was already in Photoshop and just had to be converted to a format a developer would understand, this plugin exports interactive web pages of each Photoshop Layer Comp.


Web Comp User Guide for Developers (click to open PDF)

Fun Fact

I was introduced in 2017 to Zeplin, which was launched into the market a few months after I started working on Handover Pro. It is the same concept with a lot more features…but, hey, that’s a product created by a whole software company and I’m just one guy! I do use Zeplin much of the time now, but I still use Handover Pro on occasion.

Features

  • Very simple operation for designers. Prepare your file and hit “Presto!”.
  • Choose to export layers as PNGs or JPGs.
  • Transparent padding can be defined using vector masks.
  • Images with the same name are reduced to a single source graphic, which makes for leaner exports.
  • Live Shapes in Photoshop are converted to pure code in the browser to retain their properties.
  • Creates very clean code that’s easy for developers to read if they want to examine the source.
  • Quickly and interactively retrieve any font, colour, size, position, source image or distance in the browser.
  • Text, CSS bitmap and distance information are conveniently marked in different colours.
  • Exports a reference table of each web comp’s element.
  • Exports flattened preview images so that the web comps can be checked for accuracy.
  • Quick navigation between web comps using the arrow keys.
  • CSS can be copied directly by hovering over an element.
  • Distances can be measured between 2 elements by clicking on them.
  • UI design, coding: Ryan Gilmore