There are numerous Photoshop plugins available for web designers and some of them are quite essential that as a web designer you can’t afford to ignore them. And with the same concern, in this article, we’ll discuss several prominent Photoshop plugins that’ll surely make your work easier and efficient.
But before moving further, let’s take a look at a frequently asked question – What does a plugin or an extension do? In most simple words if we try to answer this question, we can say Plugins/extensions are something that acts as an add-on to the browser and provides leniency & makes our task easier by providing some additional functionality within the browser.
Now, let’s begin with the Photoshop Plugins:
1. CSS3Ps
CSS3Ps plugin fledges us to easily transform the Photoshop layers to CSS3. You just need to choose in which layer you want the conversion into CSS3s and click on the CSS3Ps button to submit your request for conversion. CSS3Ps is a cloud-dependent plugin, and you needn’t worry about new updates arrival and errors or bugs. Also, you can conveniently check the results of the calculations made in the cloud. It allows you to edit multiple layers with one click and it is free to use. Several other remarkable features of CSS3Ps are – Text Layers, Drop Shadow, Outer Glow, and many more.
2. Ink
Sometimes lack of deep information (specifications) leads to vicious front-end outputs. Thus, the final product output just mismatches with the actual output and comes beyond our expected result. Ink is a plugin that fledges you and imparts a few extra important information about your mockups by documenting your layers, from typography to effects and shape sizes. The Ink panel renders you several extra features and functionalities as well. For example, you can print measurements and colors of the layer, can generate an XML file, and document typography, gradients, stroke effects, and other style elements. All you need to do is select the layer you want to document and then you can start to append the information that you want to deliver to the developers. Also, Ink can work on both – Mac and Windows.
3. Shutterstock
It provides different features for four different types of Adobe Instances:
i. Adobe Photoshop: Here you can access the largest and latest collection of images without leaving the Adobe Photoshop application with the original plugin.
Features:
- Latest curated Collections of portraits, scenery & backgrounds
- More streamlined design to save time
- More royalty-free content to discover
ii. Adobe Illustrator: You can create graphics, illustrations, icons, etc. with the plugin for the Adobe Illustrator application. Also, you can acquire easier access to numerous vectors and can find your specially curated Collections including:
Features:
- Backgrounds such as textures & patterns
- Characters and fonts are available, from flat to 3D type, pop art to silhouettes
- UI elements, with templates, icons, fonts, and infographics.
iii. Adobe InDesign: It allows you to design without delay and whether it’s for print or digital, you’ll find images for every design project.
Features:
- User can access any image that an individual needs without leaving or come out of the working application
- Preview any watermarked image free of cost
iv. Adobe Premium Pro: Work without interruptions or distractions with the Shutter stock plugin.
Features:
- View and edit clips in your timeline
- Your photo and videos will be automatically reapplied
- Here you can search the video clips by their corresponding frame rate and screen resolution
4. Getty Image
Getty image enables you to efficiently work on your Photoshop software without being come out of your software to add unparalleled high qualities videos, photos & vectors. It is available for Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and After Effects. It contains a gigantic collection of royalty-free images.
Requirements:
- To use it in your system you need, Mac OS X 10.9 Operating System or greater version,
- For Windows OS it should be – Windows 7 Service Pack 1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 or greater
Features:
- It helps to quickly search and filter the images, illustrations, videos and provides a handy menu palette board deployed with the advanced Getty Images search feature
- You can choose your best design among available thousands of image and video clips
- It provides you the Auto-update feature to carry over your images and videos edits when going from the beginning phase to the final, licensed version
- You can also set your own preferences that you like to have for a more handy and efficient plug-in experience.
5. HTML Block
This plugin uses the WebKit engine and provides a special block within the Photoshop application where we can place our HTML/CSS code and can see the real-time effects (provide browser view within Photoshop). It can be used for Web Fonts, Font Smoothing, External CSS, Native Elements, etc. Also, HTML Block is free to use!
6. Retinize It
RetinizeIt is the best choice and recommended for routine designers and front-end developers who need to slice UI-elements from PSDs for iOS-based or Retina-ready websites. Though you need to remember that if you are using Drop Shadow or Inner Shadow properties for the layer that you want to slice, you must ensure that the “Use Global Light” checkmark is unchecked. Otherwise, the shadow’s angle will be changed to the default angle set in Photoshop.
It mainly consists of 3 actions within the package:
- 1x which is used for slicing selected layer or group only and is great for a quick export of the element in the original size.
- 1x,2x that is used for slicing selected element and it is scaled by 200% version. It is perfect for Retina-ready websites.
- 1x, 2x, 3x that is used for the selected element + scaled 200% + scaled 300%. This is perfect for iOS assets.