Learn How to Convert Your Adobe XD Designs to WordPress Website

Last update: 6th Oct, 2022

How to Convert Adobe XD to WordPress?

If you are ready to convert your Adobe XD design to a WordPress site, then this comprehensive tutorial is for you. Here, we introduce five different methods that will help you convert your XD designs to a WordPress website, whether or not you are tech-savvy.

But before jumping right into it, let us go through some WordPress fundamentals to help you ease through the methods more quickly.

Don't have time or resources to do-it-yourself? Let a professional team help you convert your designs to WordPress. Click here to find the list of top XD to WordPress conversion service providers.

What is WordPress?

Used by over 38% of the top websites globally, WordPress is a popular Content Management System (CMS) that you can download from WordPress.org. After downloading, you can set it up on your server, and you are ready to go to build a shiny new site.

A CMS is a software that helps you manage your website easily without learning how to code. After building your website, CMS allows you to visit the backend of your website to add new blog posts, pages, and more without having to code anything.

To sum up, WordPress is a CMS composed of HTML, PHP, CSS, JavaScript, and other web development tools that act as a whole website when put on a server. You can edit the website however you want, based on your specific needs.

What is a WordPress Theme?

According to WordPress.org,

"A WordPress Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a website. These files are called template files. A Theme modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the underlying software."

You'll be introduced to WordPress themes after you install WordPress on your server. Once opened, you will see basic WordPress pre-installed themes that you can explore. It's like the operating system of an Android Phone that you can customize with different themes if you want.

Basically, when you convert your Adobe XD designs to WordPress, you are actually converting it to a WordPress theme.

Now that we got the fundamentals covered let's move on to the methods you can use to convert your XD designs to WordPress themes. In every method, we've also listed down its pros and cons so you will identify whether it's something that you can work with according to your skill and time.

5 Different Methods of Adobe XD to WordPress Conversion

Here's a quick synopsis of the five methods listed below: Method 1 and 2 require you to have basic understanding and experience with HTML, CSS, and PHP; Method 3 only needs you to have the basics of WordPress covered, no coding involved; Method 4 requires you to have a grasp of WordPress loops and template structures, and; Method 5 is a method fit for everyone.

#1 Adobe XD to HTML to WordPress Theme Conversion

This conversion has two steps involved: (1) converting the Adobe XD files to HTML and (2) converting the resulting HTML to a WordPress Theme.

1.1 XD to HTML Conversion

There are two main ways that you can convert your designs to HTML:

• by manually hand-coding or
• by using automated tools.

When using automated tools in this conversion, usually you will end up with very low-quality code. More often than not, they are unresponsive and are not usable for WordPress theme conversion. So, for this method, we highly recommend hand-coding the HTML instead.

This will ensure that the resulting website will be responsive. Also, when it comes to the quality of your code, you have full control when doing manually. Begin the hand-coding approach with popular libraries such as Bootstrap or Foundation to ensure a responsive site that works on all devices.

Here's a general guide when converting XD to HTML:

1. Open your XD files.
2. Go to getbootstrap.com and download a starter HTML template.
3. Refer to the designs, then begin building the page layout from header to footer and the rest of the page. Add global.css and style.css for typography, colors, CSS for buttons, and others.
4. Semantically divide the header, content, footer, and other parts of the design into different HTML <section>s or <div>s. This is because WordPress themes are built up of multiple files, so dividing will help you easily put them into WordPress templates separately.
5. Continue building all the pages according to the design. Remember to build them using media queries to ensure they are responsive.

Once you have finished all of the HTML pages, the files are now ready to be converted to WordPress.

1.2 HTML to WordPress Theme Conversion

The HTML files you've finished previously will now be converted into a WordPress theme in his step. Since you are essentially creating a new theme, below are a few official theme development tutorials from WordPress and HTMLtoWP.co we suggest you check out to get a clear idea of the process:

1. WordPress Theme Development by WordPress.org
2. WordPress Theme Handbook at WordPress.org
3. HTML to WordPress conversion tutorial by HTMLtoWP.co

Now that you have a grasp of the process, here are the basic steps you can follow to finally start the HTML to WordPress conversion.

1. Create a new theme from scratch and create the listed files in it:
   1. style.css
   2. functions.php
   3. header.php
   4. footer.php
   5. index.php
   6. single.php
   7. page.php
2. Open your styles file and start copying from your style.css to the style.css of the theme. Remember to keep the commented area on top because this defines the stylesheet header.
3. Open your HTML files and copy the code for your header from your HTML to header.php. Add the native WordPress functions like wp_head() and wp_wp_menu() to convert your normal header code to a WordPress header code.
4. Do the same for the footer. Copy the footer code from your HTML file to footer.php and add the wp_footer() function. If you plan to manage the footer using widgets, include the get_sidebar() function.
5. If you have a static homepage, you can put the rest of the code to home.php. However, if it shows a list of posts, you can use index.php.
6. Now that you have the homepage covered, you can now proceed to the rest of the pages by creating individual page template files for each.

Now let's see the pros and cons of this method:

Pros:

1. You have full control over the quality of the code.
2. Code produced is clean, bloat-free, and well-commented.
3. You can follow your own set of standards in terms of coding freely.
4. You can use any CSS framework you'd like.

Cons:

1. It's a very tedious and time-consuming process.
2. You must always pay attention to everything so you will not miss any important files or pieces of code.
3. All codes done from scratch are always prone to bugs.
4. PHP or WordPress theme development is required.

So there you go. That's the first method to convert Adobe Xd to WordPress.

#2 Adobe XD to WordPress Conversion Using a Starter Theme

It is no doubt that the previous method will require too much work from you. However, in Method 2, the conversion will be an easier task because you will be using a premade theme and all you need to do is fill in your HTML code to pre-built PHP template files.

Here, you can directly convert your designs into a WordPress theme using starter/boilerplate themes available in the market. Each of these starter themes already contain files such as style.css, functions.php, header.php, and more. These are all bare minimum code needed for the theme to work.

Check out some of these starter themes below:

1. Underscores - starter theme built by WordPress
2. Understrap - this is a combination of Underscores and Bootstrap
3. WP Bootstrap Starter - Another starter theme based on Bootstrap.

The highlight of this method is that you only need to do a crash course in WordPress theme structures plus basic functions. You don't even need to learn and remember every function involved in a WordPress theme.

Begin by opening the individual files, then go straight to creating your HTML around the premade code structure. For themes like Understrap, you are also given the option to customize the global header, footer, colors, typography, and layout in its Customizer. 

This method is recommended when you are new to development and are interested in building WordPress themes. It's an excellent way to learn about WordPress themes until you can finally start building themes from scratch.

Pros:

1. It has a faster development cycle, unlike the first method.
2. You instantly get really high quality, lightweight, and well-commented code
3. Codes are semantic and SEO friendly.
4. It is less prone to bugs.

Cons:

1. It may be easier than the first method, but it is still a tedious process.
2. PHP or WordPress theme development knowledge is required.

#3 Convert Adobe XD to WordPress Using a Page Builder

You might have already heard about Page Builders such as Beaver Builder or Elementor. These are drag and drop tools that can allow you to easily convert your Adobe XD designs to WordPress themes even without knowing how to code.

Here, you can combine a rich base theme like Astra or Divi with a powerful page builder in the conversion process. You can check out our hand-picked themes and page builders here.

Basically in this method you use the theme to set all the global layout elements like header, footer, layout width, colors, typography etc and then use page builder to build the content part of pages. This makes it a really good option for non-developers.

Pros:

1. It is the easiest way to convert XD to WordPress.
2. Web designers who have basic frontend knowledge of HTML/CSS can use this method.
3. It does not require previous knowledge in PHP or WordPress coding.
4. When you already have a grasp on using the theme and page builder, the conversion process will be decidedly faster.

Cons:

1. The learning curve when starting out with the initial theme and page builder may be high.
2. Some page builders may create highly bloated code.
3. Websites built using this method are generally a bit slower than when built from scratch.

#4 Automated WordPress Conversion Using Software Tools

Earlier, we mentioned that there are automated tools you can use to convert your XD design to HTML. In this method, we introduce an automated tool that will help you convert your Adobe XD design files directly into a WordPress theme using tools like ExportKit.

It's an excellent method when used for simpler projects. You can check out ExportKit's official tutorial in converting XD to WordPress here.

Now, this method may prove to be very useful and fast, however, when used for more complex projects, the quality of the code may be lower than when coded manually.

The thing is design and code are two different worlds altogether and should always be kept separate and dealt with independently so we do not recommend this method to you. But if you want to try it out, you can surely checkout ExportKit.

Pros:

1. An extremely fast method of conversion.
2. Only needs you to know the basic WordPress template structure.
3. You can actually develop your theme while designing the website.
4. A low-cost option compared to the others in the list.

Cons:

1. May result in bloated code for more complex projects.
2. Basically, not recommended for complex designs.

#5 Hands-free Conversion With 3rd Party Service Providers

All the previous methods mentioned above require you to do all the work. Other than that, it will also require much of your time. As an ideal solution, consider hiring someone to do the whole process of conversion for you.

In fact, there are various WordPress developers out there that you can find who are offering quality XD to WordPress services. Check out our hand-picked list of the best Adobe XD to WordPress service providers here.

Pros:

1. A completely hands-free XD to WordPress process.
2. No coding knowledge is required.
3. You can instead spend more of your time focusing on your business growth.
4. With the right budget, you can hire the best developers who can deliver world-class code to you.

Cons:

1. It will cost you more money than the previous methods.
2. Looking for well-trusted developers who can deliver pixel-perfect conversion without wasting time or money may be difficult.
3. You have less control over the quality of the code and at the end of the day it depends upon the developer how they code it.

So there you go, that's the 5th and last method we had for you.

Conclusion

That concludes the five methods of converting your Adobe XD designs to WordPress. We hope that you've found the method that works for you and your team.

Some methods may prove to be difficult, but some may also be just right for you. Whatever the case, take the time to explore and feel free to go over the tutorial anytime.