Why do people design text in Photoshop, but when the convert to HTML they use CSS for fonts? I'm doing this tutorial http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/tutorials/complete-websites/design-a-professional-blog-layout-in-photoshop/ and alot of it is designing text in Photoshop. This text won't be used as the fonts will be managed by CSS. Wouldn't it make sense just to design the backgrounds in Photoshop? Can any web designers tell me?
Text is used in PSD files to give designer a full image of how that template will look on a live website. It's also something orientative for the person that will convert that PSD file to HTML, because will have already some informations about text (even if they use css to style it), info like font size, font family, font decoration, font weight. Also based on text position in PSD, can get some data about pading , margins, text align, ...
Why? Because people are **** STUPID. Starting out dicking around in photoshop before you have semantic markup of your content (or a reasonable facsimile) and a working set of CSS layoutS (yes, PLURAL) is putting the cart before the horse and a idiotic back-assward way to build a website -- most such people sleazing out PSD's and having the giant brass monkey balls to call it a "Layout" or "Template" don't know enough about HTML, CSS or accessibility to be designing jack!!! Hence why such craptastic designs -- no matter how 'pretty' they are -- usually end up an inaccessible slow loading bloated mess that does more to get in the way of the user than they do to actually deliver what the user is on the site for -- the CONTENT. Semantic markup of the content (or something resembling your content) for a working style-less page, progressively enhance it into your layoutS Again, PLURAL for your various media targets with CSS, then and only then start up your goofy paint program of choice to make graphics to hang on the layout -- IF ANY (thank you CSS3). Photoshop and it's kine (GIMP, PSP, whatever) should be the LAST step in the process of building a site, NOT the first. At least if you give a flying purple fish about people actually using the site. Because again, people do not visit websites for the goofy graphics and "gee ain't it neat" animated scripttard crap -- they visit for the content. This is why the major success stories of the Internet quite obviously do NOT have some artists spanking it on a tablet in photoshop for their layouts. eBay, Amazon, Google, Facebook -- not exactly a visual tour de force. Content first, everything else is 100% grade A farm fresh manure... though try telling that to the people who are more impressed by flash instead of substance, which is usually all the dipshits vomiting up PSD's and calling themselves "designers" are capable of.