October 09, 2007

Create grids easily in Photoshop, Fireworks

Grid-based Web design has gained currency as a best practice, as articulated by various experts.  For example:

• Mark Boulton talks about why to use a grid, and he offers Five Simple Steps to designing grid systems.
• NYTimes.com design director Khoi Vinh shares his approach.
• Mark & Khoi elaborate on their techniques in the SXSW presentation “Grids Are Good” (8MB PDF).

Now Andrew Ingram has stepped up with GridMaker for Photoshop, a script that enables easy creation of a grid comprised of Photoshop guides.  He’s also created a version for Fireworks using a Flash-based panel.  Many thanks for your efforts here, Andrew.

Elsewhere Matthew Pennell has created a Web-hosted approach to grid generation, complete with a nice set of draggable sliders.  It would be cool to see someone combine these approaches, using a Flash UI inside Photoshop to drive the guide-creation script. [Via my old roommate Khoi Uong; doppel-Khoi powers, activate!]