Elementor – Page Builder for WordPress

The reason why I started working with WordPress back in ’07 (or was it ’08?) was because of its backend interface. When I build sites with WordPress, I can code up a theme and any associated plugins to match my client’s specs. Then when I’m finished developing, I can turn that site over to my client so she can edit it.

Of late, WYSIWYG page builders have come along with the promise of allowing non-coders to build page layouts via a drag-and-drop interface. Having worked with a handful of them, I’ve realized there’s no magic solution. If the client doesn’t have an eye for design, all a page builder helps him do is build a mess in an elegant fashion. However, in the right hands, page builders can be a great tool. At times, I even enjoy using them. Building visually helps me focus on aspects of a design that I might overlook when I’m coding it by hand.

Today I’ve come across Elementor, a page builder for WordPress. At first blush, several things stand out to me about this plugin:

It’s available for free on the WordPress plugin repo.

Along with being free, the plugin’s authors provide a great intro video. Watching it makes me think the people behind it have put a lot of thought and care into their product.

Over at the Elementor site, they’ve put together a nice set of docs. I especially appreciate their explanation of how to add a full-width page template to your theme. They explain their decision to avoid a standard javascript hack to force a theme full-width, and instead, they walk you through the more complicated, but better implemented step of adding a new page template to your child theme.

They say they’ve built the plugin to integrate with “any theme, any page, any design”. I hope to put that to the test today with an integration for one of my clients.