3 useful tools for Pixel Perfect Frontend Development
These days I have been working on the static page for Billie. The main job is to make a current static page as close as the mockup that a UX designer provided. We call it Pixel Perfect Development.
Honestly speaking, I was irritated sometimes as making a website as close as mockup is not always an easy thing. On the other hand, I have learned a couple of things along the way. Pixel Perfect development is a mandatory skill for frontend developer.
Why is pixel perfect important?
As the name says, we have to make website PERFECT. If you are not a designer, you might not care about spacing between the title and the component. From the designer point of view, it matters a lot. Designer intentionally creates the best space between A and B to help users to use perfect website and navigate it easily.
So it’s designer’s job to create a Pixel Perfect Design using Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch or InDesign. Then converting a pixel-perfect mockup to code is a frontend developer’s job.
Useful tools to check if your code is pixel perfect
We at Billie use several useful tools for pixel perfect development. All of them are indispensable. Let me share these tools with you.
Perfect Pixel (Google Chrome plugin)
This is a powerful tool to see the difference between mockup from the designer and website that front end developer created.
Once you install the plugin from google chrome store, you are going to see the ‘Perfect Pixel Icon’ on the right navbar. When you click, the drop zone of an image will show up. You just have to drag&drop your mockup.
Then that mockup will appear above your website. You can compare the mockup and your website. The opacity and the size of the layer is adjustable.
If you use Firefox, a similar pixel perfect tool is available as an add-on as well.
Ruler (Google Chrome plugin)
The second tool I use for Perfect Pixel Development is Ruler. Once you enable the plugin, you will be able to measure any website you want. By measuring the page, you can compare it with the mockup you are using.
One of the drawbacks of this plugin is that it doesn’t work correctly when you set ‘mobile’ or ‘tablet’ screen using inspection tool.
So when I want to measure a mobile or tablet screen, I use another web ruler which calls Edge. Unlike a Ruler plugin, this one looks like a physical ruler.
You can change the position of the ruler so it is easy to measure width and height as you like.
BrowserStack(Google chrome plugin)
Last but not least, we use browser comparison tool which calls BrowserStack. Using this plugin, you are able to test with browser that you don’t have. For instance, it is hard to test Internet Explorer environment if you use MacBook.
You can check your local environment with IE or Safari using BrowserStack. It’s also possible to test mobile environments such as iOS and Android. It’s a very convenient tool to check all environments.
Wrapping up
I hope this article helps you to understand the importance of Pixel Perfect Development and both developer and designer pay a lot of attention to deliver a best and perfect website to you!
