Tips for converting Figma to HTML and CSS

Tips for converting Figma to HTML and CSS

Want to bring your Figma design to life on the web quickly and effectively? Going from Figma to HTML/CSS can be easy if you apply some advanced techniques and practical tools. These tips will help you turn your designs into fully functional web sites with a professional result that adapts to any device.

1. Take advantage of Figma’s features to simplify CSS

Figma includes tools that you can take advantage of to simplify the CSS and avoid writing unnecessary lines of code.

  • Styles and Global Variables: Use color and typography styles in Figma to define your palette and fonts. Then, in CSS, you can create variables for these colors and fonts and reuse them throughout the code. For example, if you have a primary color, define it as --primary-color in CSS and use it throughout your stylesheet. This also makes it easy to make global changes to the design without touching multiple lines of code.
  • Constraints and Responsive Layouts in Figma: Before starting, set up Constraints and Auto Layout in Figma. This will allow you to see how your design will behave on different screens and will give you a clear idea of how to structure the CSS using flexbox or grid.

2. Use automatic export tools for HTML/CSS

Nowadays, there are plugins and tools that can help you extract basic code directly from Figma. Although they do not replace manual coding, these plugins can speed up the work, especially in basic design.

  • Plugins like Figma to HTML: Some plugins export basic HTML and CSS code, which you can use as a starting point. This is useful for saving time on repetitive elements, such as buttons or text boxes.
  • Third party tools: Tools like Zeplin or Avocode integrate Figma design with frontend development, generating CSS and variables that you can adjust to your needs. While you will need to customize the code, these tools provide a solid foundation.

3. Use relative unit measurements in CSS

Once you have Figma’s size and spacing values, translate them into relative units (such as em, rem, %) instead of absolute values such as px. This will help you make the design more adaptive and responsive on different devices.

  • Pixels to rem or em: If Figma displays a 24 px box, consider converting it to rem according to the base font (usually 1 rem = 16 px). This will make the site better adapt to the user’s text size.
  • Fluid settings with %: For large containers, use % instead of fixed pixels. This helps the design maintain proportions when the window size is changed.

4. Control your images and icons with SVG and CSS

Instead of exporting each icon or graphic as a PNG, take advantage of the SVG format. This vector format allows you to maintain quality at any screen size, is lightweight and can be customized in CSS.

  • SVG Inline: Place SVGs directly in the HTML as code instead of loading them as images. This allows you to manipulate their color and size with CSS, as well as reducing server requests.
  • Customize SVGs with CSS: Once embedded, you can change the color of SVG icons directly in CSS. This is very useful for icons that change color in different sections or on hover.

5. Create a base design using Mobile First in CSS

Organize your CSS with a Mobile First approach. This means that you first define styles for small screens and then use media queries for larger devices. This not only makes the code more efficient but also ensures that your design works well on mobile, where many users will access your site first.

  • Mobile First in practice: Set mobile sizes, spacing and fonts as default values in CSS. Then add media queries for medium and large screens. This approach also reduces the amount of CSS code and improves performance on mobile devices.

6. Leverages Flexbox and Grid to structure the layout

Figma allows you to organize elements visually, and CSS gives you powerful tools to reflect that order with Flexbox and Grid. The trick is knowing when to use each:

  • Flexbox for elements in one dimension: Use it to align elements in rows or columns, such as menus or buttons. Flexbox is ideal for simple structures and ensures that elements adapt well to different sizes.
  • Grid for two-dimensional structures: Grid is perfect for complex layouts with multiple columns and rows, such as a product gallery. In Figma, visualize the grids and set a ratio that you can replicate in CSS.

7. Make responsive adjustments directly from the browser

As you convert the design, use the browser’s developer tools to adjust and test the CSS in real time. This is particularly useful for verifying responsiveness on different devices and optimizing the design.

  • Device simulators: Use the simulators in Chrome or Firefox DevTools to see how your site looks on different devices and screen sizes. Make adjustments to CSS directly and, once you’re satisfied, copy and paste the changes into your style file.
  • Tools like Polypane: Polypane is a tool that allows you to view your design on multiple screen sizes at once, making it easy to create a responsive design. It is ideal for developers who want to check the design on multiple devices without constantly changing the window size.

8. Use animations and transitions for a professional experience.

Animations and transitions can make your site look more attractive and professional, as long as they are used subtly.

  • Transitions on buttons and icons: Add smooth transitions to hover effects on buttons and icons. For example, when hovering over a button, change its color or size gradually instead of all at once. This makes the site feel more fluid.
  • Keyframes for complex animations: If you want certain elements to move or appear, use @keyframes in CSS. This is ideal for displaying text or graphics dynamically, capturing the user’s attention.

9. Make accessibility tests

Accessibility is fundamental for anyone to be able to navigate your site. Make sure your content is accessible to everyone, regardless of device or condition.

  • ALT attributes on images: Each image must have an alt attribute that describes its content. This is essential for screen readers and ensures that people with visual impairments can understand the content.
  • Adequate contrasts: Make sure that the contrast between the text and the background is sufficient to be legible. Figma has tools to check the contrast, and once you have the right values, keep them in CSS.

10. Optimize and compress your code and resources

Once the design is complete, optimize and compress your HTML code, CSS, and resources such as images and scripts to improve performance.

  • Compress CSS and JavaScript: There are tools like CSSNano and Terser that compress your CSS and JavaScript, reducing file size for faster loading.
  • Lazy Loading on images: Use lazy loading on images so that they load only when the user views them. This improves performance, especially on pages with lots of images or multimedia.

By following these advanced tips, you will be better equipped to take your Figma designs to the web with HTML and CSS in a professional way, getting a fast, responsive and polished looking site. And if you prefer to concentrate on the design and leave the conversion in expert hands, at Figma to HTML we can take care of transforming your designs from Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch and other platforms into optimized HTML/CSS code. Our service guarantees a fast and high quality conversion so that your ideas come to life on the web without complications.

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