Should You Go Straight From Paper To HTML/CSS, or via Photoshop First?

There are people that prefer the extra step of Photoshop and there are those that don't see the need. However, in most agencies the people drawing pretty pictures in Photoshop don't know the slightest bit of HTML/CSS - someone else does that for them and someone micro-manages that process. This introduces efficiencies and results in difficulties delivering the deliverables on time and to the designer's satisfaction. So, if you can do at least a bit of CSS by yourself then Photoshop is fine. Reality though is that many shops don't do this.

A lot of the points in the article are not strictly correct. Again, presenting a big up front design to the client and saying it is going to look exactly like this is not fair on the client or whomever has to code it up. It is far better to be honest with the client and say 'your logo goes here' and the design will be iterated on to suit user requirements. Casting it in stone is wrong. It is not like you are designing a bridge or something else that needs the big up front design.

Who says Photoshop is easier for playing with the design creatively? If I want to see what the side column looks like on the right I can go in and put 'float: right", bam it is there. If I want to change the font sizes globally, I can do it in CSS just like that. With Photoshop there is quite a disincentive to trying such things: therefore it is a less creative tool in many respects, particularly since the text is shapes on page lorem ipsum rather than content.

Ultimately though, we all work with other people, in teams and externally with clients. The main reason for using one approach or another is for that cohesiveness.