How to Slice in Photoshop: A Comprehensive Guide for Web and Graphic Designers

Using the Slice tool, you can slice an image into sections. The image will be cut like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and it is possible to piece it back together as one image. People often use the crop tool without considering the Slice tool. You can select a section of an image and save it using the slice tool. Open your image in Photoshop. From the toolbar, select the Slice tool.

The default setting of the Slice tool is set to Normal. Every slice you make on the canvas will be restricted to this ratio. The slices can be of any size. You can set the Style to Fixed Size. This style is useful when you have a predetermined size you have to stick to. Photoshop won't make any shaped slice other than a rectangle or square. Decide which format you would like to save your slices in. Click on the arrow beside the Slices value box. The Slice Select tool resides in the toolbar below the Slice tool. There is another handy shortcut to use when using the Slice tool. When a slice is selected, its borders change to yellow. The selected slice, numbered six, is placed on top of the other slices. Cutting into them. Below, you can see the slice numbered three slice has been divided into three. Save the Slices to your desktop. Open this folder, and you will find your slices inside.

The most popular is layer mask the image. A dialogue window will appear. the Slice tool and the Slice select tool. Then right click on the slice and choose "Divide slice". The slice NAME. The URL. This allows you to create a link to another page. It can be a page in your site (the page has to be also in the root folder, at the same level than the current page). When all your slices are in place, user slices have been named and links placed if neccesary it will be time to Set the compression of your user-slice graphics. To select, you just click on the slice with the select slice tool in the window (see upper left of the pic).

Remember that Photographic images or those using a lot of gradients should be saved as JPEGs. "2-Up" option in the Save for Web window. The html file's name will default to the name of your photoshop file. You can also change that name before you click the final button, in the saving dialog box. You should save the page in a previously made "root folder" named "yourname_root_test". a Root folder is a normal folder that contains all the site elements and will be copied to the server to put up the site. IF the design of the page uses a flat background color, you can export only the "ALL USER SLICES".That excludes exporting the automatic slices. IF the design of the page uses a background image or complex pattern intertwined with the page design, like in my sample file, you can choose save "ALL SLICES" . With this option you will be using more images for the page and the loading will take a bit longer but the html page will look exactly like your Photoshop design.

To be able to submit everything in one shot you should zip your root-folder. It will also make it slightly smaller. If you are using a mac the zip utility is embedded in the system folder. Right click on the folder name and find the "compress..." item. It will create a zipped folder at the same level that the original folder is placed. If you are using a PC with Windows 8, you can also right click on the file name and choose compress file.

When working with images on the web, there'll be times when you want to load a large image, either as a main image on a page or for a background. The downside is you will immediately run into several problems. First off is the actual file size. Second is the resolution. Third is compression. If the file is large it will take a long time to load, especially for users with a slower connection. You can reduce the file size with compression but you can only go so far before image quality will begin to suffer. The solution to your problem is to use image slicing, which will allow you to load the image, a piece at a time, until the entire image appears on your screen.

How it works

Here is an overview of how it works: when you have an image that will take too long to load on its own, you take advantage of the Slicing tool in Photoshop to cut the image into smaller sections. These images will be saved as a separate file and optimized using the Save for Web command. In addition, Photoshop creates the HTML or CSS necessary to display the sliced image. When used in a web page, each image will be reassembled in the browser using the HTML or CSS mentioned earlier to create a smooth result. Here is an example of a sliced image.

Slicing basics

To keep things simple we will only work with the Slice tool on one layer. In this example I am working with an image which is 960x722px. Some things you need to know before we start: When creating slices, you can do using the Slice tool or you can build them using layers. Slices can be selected using the Slice Select tool. You can move, size, or align the slice with other slices. In addition you can designate a name for the slice, type and URL. Each slice can be optimized using the settings in the Save for Web dialog box. To get started press C on your keyboard and click on the Slice tool.

There are three settings for slices: Normal, Fixed Aspect Ratio, and Fixed Size. Normal: This will become a slice depending on where you begin and end the box you draw on the image. Fixed Aspect Ratio: This is where you set a height and width using whole numbers. Fixed Size: This is where you set the height and width of the slice in pixels.

You have several options when slicing an image. If accuracy is not important, you can slice the image manually and if necessary, move the completed slices around using the Slice Select Tool. If accuracy is important, use guidelines to map out the important sections in the image. At the top of the Slicing menu bar, click on the C or the Slice tool to activate it and in the Slice menu bar above the image, click on the Slices from Guides button. The slices are automatically drawn for you. You can then reposition the slices with the Slice Select Tool.

Editing slice information: After each Slice has been created, you can edit information about the slice in two ways. The first is to click on the Slice Select Tool, click on the slice you want to edit then click on the icon beside Show Auto Slices button in the menu bar. Another option is to right-click on the slice and in the popup menu, click on Edit Slice Options. Both choices will bring up the Slice Options dialog box. You can change the name of the slice, assign a URL, set the Target, Alt Tag, Dimensions, and more.

Save for web: Once you are satisfied with your layout, go to File>Save for Web. Here, you can set the file type and compression for each slice or go with the default listed in the Save for Web dialog box. When you are satisfied with your settings, click on the Save button. This brings up the Saved Optimized As dialog box. Format options include HTML and Images, Images Only, and HTML Only. Slices options include All Slices, All User Slices, and Selected Slices. For this guide I am using HTML and Images, Default Settings and All Slices. When you are satisfied with your settings, choose the folder where you want to save the files and click on the Save button. This creates an HTML file and saves all six images into a folder.

Here is a split screen view of the HTML file in Adobe Dreamweaver. As you can see, the code is straightforward and easy to use. In practice, image slicing helps when a large image needs to load progressively. You export and optimize a sliced image using the Save For Web command. Slices can be user slices, layer-based slices, or auto slices, each with its own behavior and workflow. You can convert auto slices to user slices if needed.

If you only need to export a few clear elements, you can simply select the Slice Tool, click and drag over each area you want to isolate. A bounding box will appear for each slice. For example, when working with a grid of elements, you can define the number of columns and rows, adjust padding, and duplicate slices across rows. You can name your slices descriptively to ensure meaningful filenames. This method is practical for smaller collections or where each file needs a unique name (e.g. product images, banners, icons).

Finally, the export panel allows you to set your preferred file format (PNG, JPG), quality settings, and then hit Save. This workflow results in a clean, web-optimized set of slices that reassemble in the browser to recreate the original design.

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