What is WordPress Page Builder?

A WordPress page builder is a simple drag and drop interface to help non-technical users create beautiful websites. The page builders help users creating pages by arranging the block of content using the drag and drop tool. These page builders also come with front-end editing to make users edit anything on a live website without switching back and forth between editors and preview pages.

It allows you to create a professional website easily without having any website designing and development knowledge. To get a professional website designed, a user is not required to touch a single line of code.

In a nutshell, if you want to build a website without hiring a professional, the page builders help you quickly do that. You work on arranging blocks and design a stellar website without putting a single line of code.

About Elementor Pro

Elementor Pro is a new WordPress plugin designed to help users produce stellar websites. The Pojo Themes team creates the page builder. This enables you to design a website, no matter what theme you are using. The group, other than this page builder, has also developed 12 WordPress plugins, including a free version of the page builder, Elementor.

Before the recent update, there was not possible to use this plugin to customize the header, footer, and other areas of the website.

But, after a recent update, the theme builder now comes equipped with the features that let the users customize header, footer, and other areas of the website.

Although the page builder is new in the highly populated page builder plugin world, still, it manages to take a number one slot in the highly popular page builder. Even today’s free version of the page builder also helps users to design a complete website without buying the premium subscription.

The free version of the plugin has been in the market since June 2016.

During that tenure, the team has plenty amount of time to test and perfect the basic functionality before coming up with the more commercial and pro version features.

Benefits of using Elementor Page Builder

Elementor lets you style, design, create and add layout to your WordPress website requiring knowing how to code. The Pro version of this page builder lets the users even to design a complete website from scratch. You can create an entirely new website without putting a single line of code. This is the top-rated, most followed, and features-rich plugin, leading the page builder world from the front.

One more thing, Elementor is a visual page builder that helps users drag and drop elements without any hiccup.

What’s that means let me explain it, let’s phrase this answer in two parts

1. Visual means you will be seeing exactly what your users would see. So, there would be no ambiguity how your page will look once publish on the website.

2. ‘Drag & drop’ means that it allows you various elements or blocks. You can re-design, design different things without putting down a single line of code. You can edit images, build forms, add images, create beautiful buttons, and style anything you wish, no code requires.

In a nutshell, the page builder lets you design the desired website. It makes you create every section of your WordPress website exactly what you want it to look like without learning to code or putting a line of code.

Elementor Interface:

I am going to start the review with the basic interface of this plugin. If you have been using this plugin before, you might go to the next section and skip this interface section.

When you open the plugin for the first time, you will something like this:

 1. This is called “content area” of the Elementor plugin. You will see the regular content of them installed outside this content area. And by using that area, you can create a desired layout.

2. This is an element widget area. These are building blocks that you can use anytime to design your page. You can choose any of the building blocks or elements and put forth anything you want.

3.This is a setting area of the page builder. This section helps you undo any change, preview the changes, and look at the page’s visuals at different devices. So, prior to publishing your page, you can preview your pages how it looks like at a device.

 Create a layout:

You can use the Page builder right away, the first thing you need to do is to create a basic structure of your website. Elementor Page Builder helps you designing and creating elements in the following ways.

   ◙ You can position different elements.

  ◙ And put the elements in a group.

The two structural elements offered by the page builders are following

   ◙ Section

   ◙ Columns

For example

   ◙ This is the section

   ◙ This is a column inside of that section

Add a new element to the section or column:

It is pretty easy to add a new section to a column or section. You do not require to go through a detailed process. Just pick any element from the elements menus and drag on the right side of the Windows. Here, you can either at that element to the section or column. So, be conscious where you need that element, as, for a novice, it becomes hard to differentiate between a section and a column.

While handling and heading a basic example, you can get a start by doing that, you got a bunch of other options as well and adding and designing buttons, etc.

Style the dropped elements:

Yes, after dropping the elements on the right side of the section, the next comes the styling of the elements. For example, you want a new heading in a section; you picked the heading element and dropped on the right side of the window. But, now you do not like the color of that heading, or size, and you want to change it to something you like.

Is Elementor easy to learn?

Yes, this page builder, when you put this page builder in comparison with others, it is pretty easy to learn. The page builder stood heads and shoulders above the rest when we compared its convenience of use with others. It is easy to learn and master. A user if spend some hours in learning, he/she would be able to create a basic WordPress website without any difficulty. And with spend of few days, you will master this plugin and would be able to create a fully functional professional business website.

Yes, the start is always difficult; there are always problems when you start learning new things.

If you have not used this plugin before and using it for the first time to create a professional-looking website, you can watch a tutorial on YouTube.

One more thing if you do not have time to learn the advanced features and functionalities of this page builder and kind of haste in building a website, it has templates that can help you do that.

This template also helps you in getting the idea of how advanced themes look. You can get inspiration and design your theme accordingly.

Elementor Pro Features:

Now that when you have consumed the basic interface of the page builder, let’s go one step ahead and dive deep into the specific features of the plugin. These features have helped the element to stand out in the crowd.

Template Library:

Elementor Pro lets you create a full-functional professional looking website from scratch without putting a single line of code. But, do not repeat every step again and again. You should use the advanced and premium features of the plugin and use its features rightly to design a standout website.

Elementor Template library is an advanced feature that consists of advanced pre-built templates. Users can explore the pre-built template, and choose as per their needs and requirements.

Here in this library, you can choose almost any kind of template. There are thousands of unique, and gorgeous looking template, what users can pick and get a stellar website without spending a single penny.

As the latest updates of the Elementor have seen a major reshift in the features, tools, and look of the page builder. Now, the library shows prebuilt templates in two parts.

Full page design:

Here you see full pages design and import any and re-change that as per your requirements.

Block design:

Here you see sections rather than full pages. Like, if you want to put a contact section, the blocks help you to add contact section to an already designed page.

And once you are complete with the design of that page or have a unique layout, you can save that as a template and reuse them as per your need..

Mobile responsive design control:

About 90-percent of today’s traffic comes from mobile phones. It is essential that your website should be optimized for mobile phones.

So, the Elementor Page Builder plugin comes with the features that let you behold the mobile version of your website.

Look before publishing your page, and see whether or not your site looks great.

All designs, layouts and template that you create using the Elementor are checked for mobile responsiveness automatically.

If you want to see the page or design how it looks in a different device, the plugin help you preview without forced to leave the interface.

Moreover, if you see that certain widgets or section does not look good, you can hide a specific section or widget in certain devices.

For instance, you have a huge image that looks good on a laptop or PC, but that image would not look good on a mobile phone. You may hide that image on a mobile device, and show something else by using the toggle button in the element section.

Design control:

As you are not using a custom code to design a website or layout, so sometimes you have to sacrifice the flexibility over where your position elements to get the simplicity and clean look.

But, it seems the Elementor designers already know the problem, and they have the solution for this. It gives you control to make sure you place every section, column, layout, and widgets exactly where you want it.

These are some prominent features to have complete control over your design, layout, and website.

    ◙ It allows you to manually set the padding and margins

    ◙ You adjust the column width by pulling the divider between columns

    ◙ You get the freedom of putting a widget vertically within a column

    ◙ Create a blank space between columns

Inline text editing:

Inline text editing is another magnificent feature this page builder has to offer. Rather than needing to use a pop-up, you edit the heading and text by just clicking on the page. Click on the page and editing anything you want without opening a new tab or leaving the interface.

Easy Undo and Redo:

When designing a website or layout, we always make mistakes. And sometimes, a sudden mistake can ruin your hours of struggle and hard work. Just one click can ruin your website’s complete design or layout. But, Elementor got the solution to this problem with undo and redo features. These features help you undo your mistakes in two different ways.

  ◙ Every single action you make can be reverted

  ◙ Every time you save your design, you will also get a completely new revision that you can revert if needed.

These actions are cleared the time you exit the interface. But saved revision is always accessible.

Clean coding with decorative page builder:

If you ever need to deactivate the Elementor page builder at one point in the future, rest assured it is not going to leave a mess of short codes and codes like WPBackery, Divi and other page builders. It leaves clean coding that you can use easily without any issue.

Yes, all the styling loses, and it becomes really hard to get the right use of that clean coding.

Elementor Pro lets you build a completely new theme:

Though the Elementor page builder is free to use and most of the basic to advanced functionality of this page builder comes without paying any cost. But, if you want to go advanced and create a theme from scratch, you will have to purchase a premium subscription of the page builder. The team sells an add-on called Elementor Pro that gives you lots of functionality. The cost of that add-on starts from $49, and here are some helpful features of the Pro version of the page builder.

Build an entire WordPress theme:

The review would be incomplete without covering the features of the Pro version of this page builder.

The free version of this page builder mostly limited to controlling your content; less theme designing was involved.

In the Elementor Pro, you see that users can build an entirely new theme with some drag and drop of the Elementor interface.

To build a completely new theme, you will have to select the part of your theme you want to build.

Now, you can see the same interface that you used in a free version to build the layout.

Lots of Widgets:

The pro version of the page builder adds new widgets. Lots of new widgets help you build your content to offer more flexibility. You get widgets for contact forms, login forms, countdown buttons, social share buttons, sidebars, and much more in the row. See the list of Elementor Pro widget.

Premium pre-built templates

Elementor Pro lets you unlock the blocks and pre-built templates from the library. These templates are useful and add convenience to your designing and building a WordPress website. At the time of writing this post, around 100 pre-built templates were in the library.

Global Widgets:

Global widgets help you reuse the same elements on multiple pages. Like, you have a section that needs to include the same section on every page. The global widgets help you do that without going through a detailed process. You can save that widget as a template and reuse that on multiple pages. And in case of updating all pages, you would not have to go through all the instances, just edit it once, and the page builder will update all the instances.

Should you buy a premium version of Elementor Page Builder?

If you need a basic WordPress website to represent your business or shop online, and you do not have a big budget, you have no need to buy the premium subscription of the page builder. Rather a free version would fit your needs, and you can edit even footers, headers, and other sections of the website using free-version.

But, if you want to create a highly functional professional website and need to develop a new WordPress theme, you must buy the Pro version of the page builder. It is a great option to go with if you have no technical experience in building a website. This lets you build a website from scratch, help in rolling hands on a design you want, and give extra controls and functionality.

Pricing and Support option:

It is a free plugin that you can download from the official plugin repository. The free version offers a decent number of features, widgets functionalities to build simple websites.

For professional, a premium version with additional templates, premium widgets, and features is available. The pricing plans are as followed.

Final thoughts:

No doubt, the Elementor page builder is one of the top leading page builders. The page builder has been installed around 2-million times, and numbers do not lie. So, if you do not hold technical expertise, and need to create a marvelous looking WordPress website to compete your competitors, get the right use of the page builder. Even the free version of the page builder will let you design a sober-looking website.

It is easy to teach a page builder that a novice can use to create a WordPress Website. It comes with arrays of useful features to ease down your development. You may have to face some issues in the starting, as initial learning curves are always difficult.

The team behind the creation of this page builder consists of highly professional developers. They continue to roll out major new improvements on a regular basis. So, it is ideal to buy the premium subscription if you are looking for developing a stylish website that fits your needs.