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!]
