I’ve always been curious as to how much money those cheap PSD to XHTML companies make. It seems impossible that they make a ton of money by only charging $150 per site, plus I’ve noticed that they always take out big ads on large blog sites that charge over $600 a month per ad.
This also leads me to another thought – just how good can their code really be for only $150?
I went through several of these PSD to XHTML sites, looked at the source code of both their sites and their portfolios, and here’s what I’ve found.

It’s Raining Scripts!

One thing I can’t figure out is why all of these sites insist on having 10+ scripts in their header. Is really necessary? Have they heard of optimization or minifying their JS?

Divitis

While several of these sites claim to have “handwritten” code, I really find that hard to believe. They always look like they’ve been run through those slice n’ dice programs. The div names are always funky and generic. They contain divs wrapped around divs wrapped around some more divs. Most of these seem to come from some kind of template.

Weirdo Meta Tags

One of the sites I viewed had the weirdest meta tags I’d ever seen, a bunch I’d never even heard of. It’s like they read a beginner’s HTML book from 1994 and decided to use everything the book talked about, whether necessary or not.

IE Or Bust

All of these sites used IE hacks, which meant that none of these developers really know how to properly code, especially since almost ALL of the hacks were for IE8! IE8 is the easiest IE browser to code in, and you normally shouldn’t have any problems with it if you’re coding correctly.

Go To Class

Not everything needs a class, but according to these sites, everything must have some kind of class or ID. While it seems marginal, you should always try to use the cascade to style your elements, instead of classing everythin. Not only does that save on file size, but reduces confusion and mess in both your HTML and CSS.

Validation

The best part of all of these sites – most of them were validated, and in XHTML Strict no less. Kudos to them.
But validation isn’t everything. Semantics is just as important and is something missing in all of the PSD to XHTML sites. Someone please tell me what the divs “b-box” and “c-150” are supposed to do?

Logoworks and Factories

These PSD to XHTML places remind me a lot of Freelancer.com, Logoworks and other crowd-sourcing factory type sites. Sure, you’ll get the work done quickly and cheaply, but you’ll sacrifice in quality and it’s very, very noticeable.

The Difference

Which brings us here – so what’s the real difference between us (the good developers) and them? We’re not a factory. We don’t churn out the same junk over and over. We learn and improve our code with each site we make. We pride ourselves on using the least code possible while maintaining semantics, validation and accessibility.
We don’t hide behind a web form. Clients can find us and talk to a real person and ask questions, instead of simply submitting a design on one end, and having a template spit out the other.
This is why the best clients will always pay more for us.

Your Thoughts

What do you think about these PSD to XHTML places? Worth the price?
image by ecastro

Amber Weinberg

Amber is a freelance front-end developer specializing in semantic and accessible custom WordPress themes. She works with agencies and other freelancers to bring their designs to life using custom ACF flexible layout builds - making them more performant and less buggy while allowing the client easy customization without breaking the design system.