If you work for yourself, outsourcing has no doubt crossed your mind. It’s something that requires a decision sooner or later. Whether your preference is to defer to another designer, outsource entirely, or simply turn work away – the question remains.
One option designers now have is that of partial outsourcing to any one of a growing list of coding services that have sprung up in the past year or so. But how do you make the determination which firm to go with? Well, figuring that out has been on my mind this week, so I thought I’d share my selection criteria.
Judging quality
First, is the site in question easy to use? Is it designed well – and more importantly, CODED well? As a service seller, your site IS your portfolio above any other work you decide to showcase. Your outsource must play by the same rules. Poke around under the hood of their site. Does the code measure up to their claims? What about any client work they have listed?
Gaging responsiveness
Before you upload a file or spend a dime, email them a couple questions. If you don’t hear back from them in 24 hours, they’re not your best bet. You need someone who can crank out quality work, but you also need reliability. If they’re promising delivery times of 8-12 hours, but they can’t answer a simple email, getting your code on time becomes a valid concern. Many of the services I reviewed had live chat available via Skype or Yahoo. This speaks volumes about their willingness to provide good customer service/support.
On a sidenote, I recently contacted a company called Stoodeo, to see what they were all about. Because their main selling point is discretion, there’s very little info on their site, and no testimonials or recent projects, save one. I sent an email briefly outlining an upcoming project, along with a few questions. That was three days ago and I still haven’t heard from them. A response time like that (without at least an auto-email) is disgraceful. I’ve already dismissed them as someone to do business with.
Protective measures
One of the main concerns about contracting a secondary source is transparency, and with it – confidentiality. Does the service your considering have a privacy policy? If not, proceed at your own risk. I’m not saying Company X is going to rip your stuff, contact your clients without permission, or do any other despicable thing you might worry about when outsourcing… but if there’s nothing in writing… well you see where I’m going with that.
Pricing and time-lines
The big question is always “what’s it gonna cost me?” Well, here are a few more questions to ask while you’re shopping:
- Are their prices listed, and are they competitive?
- Do they offer any discounts for subsequent pages?
- Do they offer different time-lines? Can you get deliverables cheaper from Company A for a 12-18 hr turn-around, as opposed to only one option of 8 hours from Company B? (Sometimes there’s no hurry, why spend more?)
Also, be wary of someone who does not list their prices at all, or who wants you to request a quote. As designers, we must quote projects based on the given parameters, but a coding service? Design slicing is an assistive service specializing in expedited code! Providers don’t have to give any thought to UI, dance around client demands, or build out content. They don’t need to worry about client branding, site goals or file structures. All they must do is follow an approved concept, along with your notes. Asking designers to request a quote negates the point of the service in my opinion, especially if you need it yesterday.
Where to look
Because this guide is intended to help you evaluate a coding service, it would not be complete without a list for you to review on your own. I looked through 15-20 sites, and those that stood out were psd2html, psdSlicing, and htmlBlender. All three have their prices clearly posted, a privacy policy in effect, and readily available ways to reach them if you have questions. In terms of options, psd2html was the most impressive, but htmlBlender offered the lowest (starting) rate. Some more services of note:
- Choppr – offers WP, Drupal & Zen Cart integration
- Frontenders – options include WP & Drupal integration
- HTML Slice – offers OS Commerce integration
- Markup4U – some additional options
- PSD to XHTML – no ordering options, flat rate
- SliceIt – ports to WP, MT, EE and more
- SliceMyDesign – options include WP integration
- Slice n Dice – no ordering options, flat rate
- XHTMLit – additional pages 50% off
- XHTML Slicer – integration with EE, Textpattern & WP
Update: Just discovered another service called CSS Rockstars. Haven’t tried them or heard much about them yet but they do have a nice looking site. 5/15/08
Hi. Have you tried any of these yet? I might need a company to use soon, so I’m wondering what your thoughts on the matter are now… Thanks!
Hi Valerie. I have not tried any of these services, but I have narrowed my selection down and decided to start with SliceIt. (The working file isn’t ready yet, but when it is I’ll be sending it to them.)
Their prices are reasonable in comparison to some of the others, and something about the simplicity of their one-page set-up appealed to me… like they don’t waste time. ;)
DO NOT USE HTMLBLENDER!!! THEY HAVE RIPPED OFF TWO PEOPLE I KNOW.
I ended up using W3 coding–twice. They were prompt, even early on deadlines, which was good because I had to go back to them and ask for IE6 compatibility and some other things that weren’t done the first time. I went back to them, though, because they came through after the back-and-forth and I still met my deadline. I don’t know enough about the coding to know if the hacks were good or not because they seemed to be fairly complicated hacks. All I know is that the site looks good in all browsers now and it didn’t cost much and I met my deadline.
I’ll probably go back to them again.
If that were true “Anon”, then why wouldn’t you reveal your real name? You say they’ve not ripped you off, but two people that you know…yet you fail to explain any details. Sounds awefully strange to me! :)
The reason that this doesn’t sound right is because I’ve used htmlBlender.com before on a few projects of mine. They have done an amazing job and their prices are very competitive. htmlBlender is also one of the ONLY sites in the business I know of that have an actual chat tool so you can speak to them LIVE.
One of the reasons I like them most is that htmBlender is located in the USA, unlike many of their competitors who don’t even speak good english.
I agree. Anon’s comment above does appear rather odd. He provided no details. Just claims that two people he knows have been ripped off, but nothing else.
I don’t know a whole lot about htmlBlender.com, but then again I’m new to site design. I do know they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on their website (www.htmlblender.com), and they are happy to make any necessary revisions.
@Greg – geographic location was something I never thought about, but now that you’ve mentioned it, that’s a good tip. Not that services abroad are devalued simply for being abroad, but not having to deal any major time differences is a strong selling point. It would make things easier anyway.
I have used htmlBlender for a cms integration. Their slicing was good, even though they took 3x as long as they said it would take. The problem I had is the integration. Even though they are US-based, they farm out work overseas. The work came back sub-standard with many, many issues that they couldn’t rectify. And most of those issues were with things that were standard with the cms. Response time was horrible, and they would fix one thing at a time, leaving 24hr turnaround for the next piece. If you need just markup services and understand that the turnaround is not what they promise, they are ok. But don’t use them for any cms integration of any kind. I personally don’t and won’t recommend them and I won’t use them again.
If you want something solid, go to psd2html. They are more expensive, but they get it right the first time. Unfortunately, conversations with them are tough, being overseas and a totally different time zone.
I’ve used PSD2HTML and CSSRockstars. Rockstars is more expensive, but they are us based I belive. PSD3HTML is overseas but cheaper. Pros and cons ;)
Our experience with htmlblender has been pretty horrible and I agree completely with what maddog said. They never answer their emails and even though they said we could contact them through phone, they never gave us a number. We said we would call our cc company to get a chargeback before they began to answer their emails. Their code was subpar and for a lower price, they really aren’t worth it. Good luck trying to ask for revisions because you’ll never meet your deadline since they never respond.
It doesn’t matter that they have a live chat when their live chat can’t help anyone out. All they say is “so-and-so is out of the office and will get back to you” but never do. Just beware of them.
XHTMLIZED has great service and very fast response time. They are almost twice the price of htmlblender, but in the end it’s well worth it.
Even with my review, if you decide to go with htmlblender, beware if you get paired up with a rep Jonathan Klein – he never responds and often poses as “Darren”.
Look around before using HTML Blender I had used them for a few projects each of them had problems. The final one they were going to be almost a week late but never bothered to communicate. They do not do 24 hour or 8 hour turnaround. At least in my experience every project was late by minimally 2 days. The timing is less an issue than the fact that the code was problematic in every situation.
They were really harsh and unprofessional and offered no apologies for being late. Honestly it would have been fine with me to be a little late of you are going to communicate that and deliver a good product. I wish I had read up about them first as I have seen a ton of negative posts about the services they proport to offer.
Thanks for the input everyone. Collectively I’m sure this will be a big help for anyone trying to decide on a coding service. Personally, I think I’ll steer clear of htmlBlender. Several negative comments here on just one blog is not a good sign.
@Mike, I’ve been wondering about CSS Rockstars lately. Haven’t heard much buzz about them, but that could be a good thing. Did they produce clean code, timely service, etc? Were you happy with them?
We tried to use CSS Rockstars having used PSD2HTML repeatedly and part of our desire was based on location. We weren’t unhappy with PSD2HTML but had found them expensive and occasionally slow on deadline. Spot on matching design though.
CSS Rockstars
- It doesn’t appear they use US labor. Not a problem except when you need changes ASAP and expect US labor will enable that.
- When there were significant issues in the delivered product, CSS Rockstars refused to fix them until final payment was rendered. We refused to pay until the product was delivered and they threatened us with collections.
In short, compared to PSD2HTML, CSS Rockstars delivered poor customer service, poor product and was surly and threatening when we requested changes.
Others may have had great experiences but I’d recommend someone else.
I like PSD2HTML but they are expensive and since they’re overseas there is a 24 hour communications loop.
just ran across this site tonight. with my experience running my own business, it seems that the more customers you get, the more chance there is for complaints. those who have issues will quickly get online to speak their mind, I’ve found…and often do exaggerate.
i don’t get why M Slater would keep ordering if so unhappy. that’s seems rather odd. also htmlBlender DOES offer 24-hr turn around because my friend used them on a project and got it back well before then. they must be good, otherwise they wouldn’t still be in business after all these years.
as with any slicing service, it’s smart to do your homework, speak to others who have used them, and ask for examples of their work.
Jim not sure why you focus on my response when there is a litany of complaints above. I find it curious again since my post seems fairly benign in comparison to others.
Nonetheless your point is well taken and to be honest I used them again because I was genuinely trying to create a relationship with one company where I could send a lot of work. Their pricing was among the lowest and there was one person there who really tried to make up for the problems. So I took the good with the bad initially as I expect you have to in most situations.
Since you are recounting someone else experience i think it is a little unfair to broad brush complaints as exagerated. It’s very “fox news” to sort of undermine other peoples posts that way.
The fact is that they never once were able to provide 24 hour service even on small projects. They had no mechanism during checkout to let you know what the queue was so I often used the chat to ensure that I could get the project back before my deadlines. Every project I had with them had problems some small that i could fix but nonetheless every project. Again while they say they offer 24 hour service, and you pay for it I never got 24 hour service.
When i brought my concerns to them on my last project I was soundly rebuffed in one of the most unprofessional displays I have ever seen. I was blamed for the problems with the code.
There is one person there that I interacted with Darren who seemed very bright, very professional and if he worked somewhere else I would take all my business to him.
I wish I had read all the other reviews before choosing them but I did not so I posted my comments, albeit while still mad, to help other people avoid the same problems I have had. I stand by them they are not exaggerated.
The most affordable PSD to HTML service for freelancers with high-quality slice in 24 hours for me. http://www.mydesign2html.co.uk
You send a design in any of common formats (PSD, PNG, JPG, GIF etc) 
and you receive a high-quality XHTML-CSS page.
I’ve recently took the time to compile a list of 83 psd to html vendors
From the looks of the quality of the code, I’d probably go with http://www.yummycss.com or even http://www.xhtmlizers.com
There were a lot on the list with really bad code. I’m surprised they get clients.
Htmlblender’s offer for a table-based code is highly questionable. Someone who really cares about standards wouldn’t even dare offer table-based coding.
They offer table-based coding as an option as there are those that still request this service, for instance e-mails.
I am having a bad experience with HTMLBlender. I even selected the 48 hour turn around because I was not in a rush. The order was placed on July 24th, and today is August 5th. Nothing! I have only received one reply to one of my emails in which the told me it would be another day (that was a week ago). Then I got on their website with the support chat and they told me I would receive the files today.. nothing yet. WTF! Not happy with htmlblender.com and now I am worried about the quality of the code after reading the posts here.
I wouldn’t worry Steve. They have a satisfaction guarantee should you not be happy with the quality of their work.
Would the satisfaction include ontime delivery and basic communication? I would worry. Let’s face it there is enough on this list to determine that working with this company is risky at best. The folks who keep defending them should offer up their experience but not broadbrush it for everyone else since clearly several folks have had problems.
To be fair they just delivered the files and gave me a $49. credit for a future order. I will keep you updated on the code quality. I just feel the communication is very poor and I had to make quite a bit of noise to get results. They also monitor this blog, which is an interesting way to do business.
Yeah I have an active order with HTMLBlender right now. I’m currently looking at about 7 day turnaround time (if they get it right on the next revision). The last revision they sent me was actually a regression from the first proof they sent me.
Looking at the other comments here, pretty much sounds like I shouldn’t have made the decision to go with HTMLBlender over psd2html just cause of a few bucks :)
Oh well, live and learn. I would NOT recomment HTMLBlender to anybody at this point. I’m considering a chargeback at this point.
w3 Markup is very impressive. Everything from the order process and level of detail they provide is really solid. Their own marketing is pretty bold in that they say they never miss a deadline. My project was delivered on time and the code was not jsut solid it was really elegant.
Worth the money and then some.
I have used w3 Markup a few times already. Expensive but they do have quality code. Customer service is so-so. They’re good sometimes, but bad and unresponsive in the other. Don’t count on same day responses though. An email inquiry through their client support version gets an average response of the next business day, imagine if you just have a small and urgent question to wait for a response and have to wait at least 24 hours to receive… However, they missed one of my deadline in about 2 months ago when I paid them more for shorter return around. (Their explanation was that they have many unexpected order).