What Breaks When You Export Figma to HTML?

Test five things after any Figma-to-HTML export: links, hover and interaction states, prototype animation, hosted images, and responsive behavior. This isn't a ranked list of what breaks most often — nobody publishes that data — it's the list of what's structurally likely to break, because each one depends on information a static HTML export has to interpret or guess at rather than read directly off the canvas. Figma's own native export panel only produces PNG, JPG, SVG and PDF (per Figma's export formats guide) — it does not export HTML at all, so "export to HTML" always means routing through Dev Mode, a third-party plugin, or Figma Sites, and each of those has its own gaps.

Why do links stop working after export?

Because a link in Figma is a prototype connection between frames, not an href, and export tools have to translate that connection into a real link — a step that can fail silently. This isn't hypothetical: on Figma's own forum, a user reported that links they'd added in Figma were simply gone after exporting HTML through the emailify plugin, a report two other users confirmed having the same issue with (Links not exporting properly, Figma Forum). Figma's own community-support reply there notes plugins are built by third parties, not Figma, so a broken link is a plugin bug to report to that plugin's author, not something Figma itself guarantees against. Treat it as something to click-test after every export, on every plugin.

Why do hover states and interactions disappear?

Because a hover-to-pressed switch in Figma is prototype behavior, not part of the static layout. Figma's own documentation on interactive components explains that hover/pressed switching is built from variants and a "Change to" prototype action (Create interactive components with variants, Figma Help Center) — that's metadata layered on top of the design, not a CSS :hover rule. A plain HTML export only has reliable access to what's true of a single static frame; whether it also captures your variant interactions depends entirely on the specific export tool. Check every interactive element after export rather than assuming it carried over.

Why did my prototype animations not carry over?

This depends heavily on which export path you used, and it's the one claim worth being precise about rather than general. If you exported through Dev Mode, hand-coded from the design, or used a code-export plugin, you got a static picture: none of those paths read your prototype's transitions (smart animate, easing, timed frame changes), because they're not designed to. If you used Figma Sites, this doesn't apply the same way — Figma Sites isn't a static export at all, and it ships its own interaction system that's more capable than a carried-over prototype: Reveal, Scroll transform, Cursor effects, Draggable, Lightbox, Marquee and Parallax, on top of the same change-to/back/scroll-to actions from Figma Design (Figma Sites collection: Add interactions to a website, Figma Help Center). What's true is that your Figma Design prototype's smart-animate transitions don't automatically become Figma Sites interactions — you rebuild the effect using Figma Sites' own Interaction panel, which is a different (and often more capable) tool, not a missing feature.

Why are my images broken in the exported file?

Because images you added in Figma are often referenced by an internal Figma URL rather than embedded as a portable file, and some export tools don't rewrite that reference into something that works outside Figma. A user on Figma's forum described exactly this: images hosted on Figma, exported to HTML with the Marka Email Generator plugin, showing up as broken-image icons with alt text instead of the actual picture (Marka Email Generator exported emails not functioning, Figma Forum). After exporting, open the HTML and confirm every image is either a bundled file or a working absolute URL, not a leftover Figma-internal reference.

Why does my layout look right on one screen size and wrong on every other?

Because a static HTML export captures the frame at the size you built it, and doesn't infer responsive behavior unless every element in that frame used auto layout with resizing rules (fill, hug, fixed) set deliberately. A frame built with fixed pixel positions exports as fixed pixel positions, full stop. This is a Figma-authoring issue more than an export-tool one — how auto layout behaves through the handoff is covered here if you want the deeper version.

What should I actually test after exporting?

Run this against the exported HTML itself, not against the Figma file, since the file can look perfect and the export can still fail on any of these:

• Every link navigates to the right place
• Hover and interactive states work, not just the resting state
• Animation either survived the export path you used, or you've deliberately rebuilt it (in code, or in Figma Sites' own Interaction panel)
• Every image loads — no broken image icons, no Figma-internal URLs left in the HTML
• Layout holds up at mobile width, not just the frame size you designed at

Which export method should I use in the first place?

That depends on whether you're maintaining the output afterward. The full comparison of export options — Dev Mode, hand-coding, code-export plugins, Figma Sites, and publishing the file directly covers what each one is actually for. Publishing the file directly, which is what Figment does, sidesteps most of the checklist above, since there's no static-export step generating a separate copy that can drift from the file — the live site reads the frame itself.

Sources

Fetched September 16, 2026.

• Export formats and settings for static designs, Figma Help Center — Figma's native export panel supports PNG, JPG, SVG and related formats; no HTML export.
• Figma Sites collection: Add interactions to a website, Figma Help Center — Figma Sites' native interaction types (Reveal, Scroll transform, Cursor effects, Draggable, Lightbox, Marquee, Parallax).
• Create interactive components with variants, Figma Help Center — hover/pressed switching is built on variants and prototype actions.
• Links not exporting properly, Figma Forum — dated user report of links dropped on HTML export via the emailify plugin.
• Marka Email Generator exported emails not functioning, Figma Forum — dated user report of Figma-hosted images breaking on HTML export.