How much does it Cost for Sketch to HTML5 Conversions

#design #webdev #html #css

In this post, we discuss the benefits of using Sketch for all stakeholders and the top factors that impact the overall project cost for transforming your Sketch files into HTML5.

PSD and Sketch are the two most widely used design tool right now. The 2018 Design Tools Survey, ranked Sketch as the most used design tool for various stages of the design process. A large number of web, app, and UI designers have migrated from PSD to Sketch. It’s used in various stages of the design process right from brainstorming, wire-framing, user flow preparing, prototyping, and UI design.

Sketch – An Advantage for Designers, Front-end Developers & Site Owners

*For the rest of the post, when I refer to front-end developers for the sake of brevity I will use just developers.

Sketch is a win-win for both designers and developers. Just a few years ago, developers and designers never worked coherently. Today, the situation has changed a lot, and designers collaborate with developers a lot. They work together to ensure that the final user interface is not just stylish but offer great functionality.

When designers hand over smooth designs created using Sketch, it helps the designer demonstrate their design structure clearly to the developer. The developer then understands the structure and flow, converting the Sketch to HTML5. Sketch makes it easy for the developer to translate the design into clear, well-written codes.

Here’s a summary of the benefits of Sketch:

For Designers

Helps you create responsive designs from scratch
Agile and leaner workflow
Create designs that can be easily understood by developers
Share and collaborate with developers

For Developers

Generate optimized HTML/CSS codes from the design
Instead of writing each line of code from scratch, make use of the extensive library

For Website Owners

Quick turnaround times
Responsive, mobile-friendly design

What’s the Expected Outcome when you Convert Sketch to HTML?

The developer(s) must be able to provide you with a:

A fully responsive, pixel-perfect and mobile-friendly site
Code that is structured, readable, easy to edit and maintain
Web pages that are optimized – fast loading times enhanced user experience, etc.
SEO friendly codes that help your site rank higher in search engine results

Sketch to HTML conversion is a detailed and meticulous process. Generally, designers do not have the technical skills (nor are they expected to) to convert their designs into fully-functional web pages. If you find yourself requiring Sketch to HTML5 services provider, you have two options:

Automated Conversion
As the name implies, here you feed your Sketch design into software that automatically transforms your designs into lines of codes. Depending on the type of automated conversion software you use, this could be free, or you may have to pay for the software. While this is the simplest way to convert your PSD to HTML5, it’s not the best choice.
Automated software, however, advanced it does not give you the level of expertise like hand-written code. This brings us to the next method of conversion.

Manual Conversion
Here, you hire a team of expert Sketch to HTML5 conversion service providers to do the work for you. Depending on the size and complexity of the project and the team you hire, this process takes a few days to even a few weeks. The team you hire hand codes your Sketch designs into responsive and mobile-friendly HTML and CSS codes.

So, how much does it cost to Transform your Sketch Designs to HTML5 using Manual Conversion?

Several factors determine the cost and timeline of the project. Let’s take a closer look at each of the factors:

The complexity of the Design and the Number of Pages
The cost of the project depends on the complexity of the design. Higher the number of Sketch files, higher will be the conversion charges.
Apart from the number of pages, another defining factor is the complexity of the design. If the file has plenty of animations and effect, your developer has to put in more efforts. This increases the overall cost of the project.

CSS Framework

Developers use any one of the popular frameworks like Blueprint, Bootstrap, and others for Sketch to HTML5 conversion. The cost of the project depends on the type of framework used.

Nature of the Project
If it’s a simple static webpage, then the overall cost would be lesser. On the other hand, if you are building a website with plenty of interactive and advanced features like custom layouts, dynamic coding, back-end framework, and more, then the developer would charge you extra.

Turnaround Time
This is another crucial factor. If you require the conversion to be completed immediately, then your developer would have to use a bigger team, pull in more resources to work on your project, all of which cost extra.