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I had this problem in past, and this time I want to address it. I am front end developer. I mainly convert design (photoshop, illustrations) files to working web-standard code and make them interactive.

Scenario: I have been working on a project where the original source wasn't present and only a mocked image for a desktop web page was available to me. I was told to make everything "Exactly the same", spacing, margins etc. In other words Pixel Perfect.

While in past I had made "Pixel Perfect" websites when provided source files but this time too the files aren't available because of cheap labour or to save money on a Visual Designer (talking from experience), the changes are last minute because 'Mobile Design' wasn't available and while starting the project.

I asked the CEO if he wants me to approach what I used in my last design and he agreed. This is a project from "his partner" and now his partner got hands-on source file after I insisted (again not that project but similar and no mobile layout). So the work is like redoing a lot of work and the source he wants me to follow is something like Wix (automated website builder) which has the horrendous source code done by Ex-Developer.

I understand non-tech people do not understand the work goes and I had much experience in past. How Can I ask my manager politely that I need a source file with all devices layout to start work otherwise it is redoing most of the stuff. I do not want to agitate Manager, nor his partner or the CEO but want to convey my message across because without proper source, I cannot achieve "Pixel Perfect" and it will go in circles of "not exactly what I wanted".

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  • This "pixel perfect" obsession was the reason I left my last job after only being there for six months. Asking for a "pixel perfect" recreation of a mock-up completely ignores the fact that screens come in a wide range of sizes and densities. After explaining this to my supervisors many times, they still didn't entirely get it, and demanded explanations when rotating their tablet from portrait mode to landscape and vice-versa. To this day, whenever I hear the words "pixel perfect", I still get mini-panic attacks.
    – user76555
    Commented Sep 11, 2020 at 16:10

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A simple meeting with whoever you report to will do the trick.

Plan and give evidence/examples of why you need the source code and explain to the manager the reasoning that it won't be 'Pixel Perfect' and that it is extremely difficult to match his requirements without it.

Don't make this more complicated than it is. If he can't provide the source code then he is wasting time redoing bits that have already been completed and it will not be pixel perfect.

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  • ..."wasting time and money redoing bits"... You have a strong business reason to obtain this html and css code.
    – O. Jones
    Commented Feb 8, 2019 at 20:17
  • I asked and while my manager appreciate my redoing it is not in his control coz there is no visual designer so it trial and error
    – user15704
    Commented Feb 9, 2019 at 17:03
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Just talk with the boss and explain the situation.

If the mocked image is hand-drawn, and lines are not straight, show him that different measurements of the same parameter (e.g. margin) generates different results.

If it is a computer image, zoom it in and out - and show him that the number of pixels of the same parameter measured in the same place is different.

Be polite, professional, be prepared with clear proofs.

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