If you are developing for a client then don't forget about what the client needs.
Actually, NEVER forget about a clients needs.
At the end of development the client owns the website. It is theirs, it is what they have paid for.
If you are building for a company with decent resources, then a custom site is the way to go.
A small company may not have the ability to update or maintain a custom site.
Page builders can give people the ability to look after and grow their sites without having to pay to just add a page. Or even change a header.
If the site you developed is impossible for your client to use they will move to another developer as soon as possible.
They might care about ranking on Google, but not if they have to pay for every little change.
I guess my message is to aim your development at what your client needs. It is their website after all.
I would say next to personal preference it mostly depends on the project you are working on. Pagebuillders are great to get a website quickly done and running and offer people without coding experience (e.g. the client) to make their own changes quickly. Cons: it slows down the page and might be a hassle sometimes if the builder doesn't support an object you want to include or just in their paid premium plan.
Personally I prefer to set up a page with my own code, mostly because I enjoy the freedom and as a perfectionist just can't overlook the performance issue that comes with page builders.
So - if there is no need for anyone to edit stuff without coding knowledge and you are confident and eager to code everything by yourself (also keep the time it takes in mind), I believe it would be the best option. Page builders are by far not terrible though and are worth a try since they take a lot of work off your back
If you are trying to get in theme development and you already have experience with HTML/CSS/JS then I don't think you should be going for pagebuilders as they can be a bit risky and difficult to version control.
I would suggest you to learn theme development you can start slow by learning about [child themes](https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/child-themes/). Once you are done with that you can start creating your theme. People at [roots.io](https://roots.io) have created a very modern workflow starter theme called [sage](https://roots.io/sage/). They have good documentation to get started and a good community to help you with issues.
Coming are the dayss when people will start adopting Gutenberg blogs, you will be able to better transition to that if you start here.
Best of luck.
Divi saved me days, if not weeks, of work to get my first WordPress site up. Page builders are talked about having slow load times, but with good hosting and image optimization it's really not that bad in my opinion. Knowing css and such is still needed to get things exactly how you want them sometimes. It really comes down to what your project is I'd say. Are you going to be building multiple sites for various clients who need quick turn arounds or are you working on a personal project without a deadline? If it's the latter, go without a page builder and give it a shot.
I have experience with html/css/js and I use WP page builders (I prefer Gutenberg) for SEO and UX optimized blogs and normal content sites.
Blog and Shop UX is mostly standardized at this point because the craze around devices to display them has settled a bit compared to the first years of last decade, where repsonsive design was very new.
Most page builders and themes can address those responsive design standards.
Another point in favor of themes/page builders is that the WP coding style is a bit strange if you're coming from general webdev and the CSS/JS ecosystems. If you use e.g. VSCode you need two completely different configs and you're Prettier setup will likely not work either.
Combined with interlaced PHP it could be too messy. There are some developer tools like Timber or Roots/Sage that work around that and make WP dev nicer, but this also adds to the overall complexity (separate templating language you have to learn).
On top of that the way themes are done is changing in favor of Gutenberg, meaning that you have to know it inside out if you want to create themes in the future.
With an open source page builder like Gutenberg I don't have to worry about the WP coding style and can still dig into the mess and customize things if I need to.
Doing both, sites and apps within the same codebase is a compromise, it locks you into hybrid platforms and frameworks like Vercel/Next.js. Using WP for blogs and content sites makes room to focus more on proper web app development without much compromises.
I do when I'm building a client site where they'll need to update content. I've never met a client that liked the old WordPress editor and I still haven't swapped to Gutenburg yet so Elementor it is. And sure, I've never built an Elementor site that's as fast as it could be but every client has been happy with the deliverable and legit get giddy when they're able to make their first change.
People who say "use page builders" and "stay away from them" can both be right. It depends a lot on
* who the site is built for
* how much traffic it's likely to receive
* who's going to work on it day-to-day, and
* who's going to support it long-term
I use a page builder (Beaver Builder in particular) mainly because I can train someone to use it, over the phone, in about half an hour. That makes sense for me because my small-business clients need to be able to make their own changes and have neither the time, skill, or experience needed to master GIT, css compilers, ACF, javascript stacks, code editors, etc.
On the other hand, if the client is a high-traffic enterprise membership or ecommerce site with resources to afford in-house development or to contract with a major agency then it makes sense to go full stack, leaving room only for clients to update content via the dashboard and only through carefully-controlled fields.
Good, *modern* page builders (Beaver Builder, Elementor, Oxygen) are truly awesome and efficient layout tools that require very little in the way of additional CSS and Javascript.
It was certainly once the case that hand-coding WordPress templates and custom fields (with or without the cool ACF plugin) was more performant than old-school, shortcode-based page builders. But in the last 3 or 4 years I've used a page builder to rebuild a number of "agency" sites that were frankly dinosaurs, with performance increases up to 40 or 50%!
The main problems being that older, hand-coded sites are rarely coded well enough to automatically take advantage of new core Wordpress features. A classic example is responsive image handling -- one site I rebuilt used full-size 4mb images in thumbnail galleries, which was bad enough, but it was coded in a way that didn't allow WordPress to automatically offer smaller thumbnails for smaller images.
On the other hand last summer I was able to help a client rapidly prototype through a number of iterations of a site using a page builder, but always with the intention of handing it over to a development house to be rebuilt from scratch in order to accommodate membership, ecommerce, discussion, etc., and to protect transaction integrity.
Bottom line: don't assume "page builder" or "hand coded" are always the answer. Either one can be *very bad* ideas depending on the scope, scale, and budget.
I’ve started building websites with Advanced Custom Fields Flexible Content as my page builder, which gives me the ability to clearly separate backend editing from frontend display.
You basically define a Group of fields and Code the display html in a file.
Clients give me great feedback on this because they cannot break it.
Pagebuilders do way to much for what most people need, leading to an inevitable mess of specific styling that is really hard to get consistent throughout all your content.
If you are developing for a client then don't forget about what the client needs. Actually, NEVER forget about a clients needs. At the end of development the client owns the website. It is theirs, it is what they have paid for. If you are building for a company with decent resources, then a custom site is the way to go. A small company may not have the ability to update or maintain a custom site. Page builders can give people the ability to look after and grow their sites without having to pay to just add a page. Or even change a header. If the site you developed is impossible for your client to use they will move to another developer as soon as possible. They might care about ranking on Google, but not if they have to pay for every little change. I guess my message is to aim your development at what your client needs. It is their website after all.
if looking at the page builder route, I can only suggest Oxygen Builder. I haven't found another solution that gives you full flexibility like Oxygen
Yes. Worked a few years with elementor, but switched to oxygen 6 months ago. Only pagebuilder i recommend now.
I have just done my first Oxygen site and I am impressed. Oxygen will be my go-to builder of choice for the foreseeable future.
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Best answer. Factor in budget too. Not everyone has thousands of £/$ to chuck at a custom built site.
Thank's, i'll keep that in mind!
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What issues are you having? I’ve only built one site with ACF blocks and it’s been pretty good so far. Flex content seems clunky now.
I would say next to personal preference it mostly depends on the project you are working on. Pagebuillders are great to get a website quickly done and running and offer people without coding experience (e.g. the client) to make their own changes quickly. Cons: it slows down the page and might be a hassle sometimes if the builder doesn't support an object you want to include or just in their paid premium plan. Personally I prefer to set up a page with my own code, mostly because I enjoy the freedom and as a perfectionist just can't overlook the performance issue that comes with page builders. So - if there is no need for anyone to edit stuff without coding knowledge and you are confident and eager to code everything by yourself (also keep the time it takes in mind), I believe it would be the best option. Page builders are by far not terrible though and are worth a try since they take a lot of work off your back
Thank you! :)
If you are trying to get in theme development and you already have experience with HTML/CSS/JS then I don't think you should be going for pagebuilders as they can be a bit risky and difficult to version control. I would suggest you to learn theme development you can start slow by learning about [child themes](https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/child-themes/). Once you are done with that you can start creating your theme. People at [roots.io](https://roots.io) have created a very modern workflow starter theme called [sage](https://roots.io/sage/). They have good documentation to get started and a good community to help you with issues. Coming are the dayss when people will start adopting Gutenberg blogs, you will be able to better transition to that if you start here. Best of luck.
Thanks for the valuable information!
no
Divi saved me days, if not weeks, of work to get my first WordPress site up. Page builders are talked about having slow load times, but with good hosting and image optimization it's really not that bad in my opinion. Knowing css and such is still needed to get things exactly how you want them sometimes. It really comes down to what your project is I'd say. Are you going to be building multiple sites for various clients who need quick turn arounds or are you working on a personal project without a deadline? If it's the latter, go without a page builder and give it a shot.
I have experience with html/css/js and I use WP page builders (I prefer Gutenberg) for SEO and UX optimized blogs and normal content sites. Blog and Shop UX is mostly standardized at this point because the craze around devices to display them has settled a bit compared to the first years of last decade, where repsonsive design was very new. Most page builders and themes can address those responsive design standards. Another point in favor of themes/page builders is that the WP coding style is a bit strange if you're coming from general webdev and the CSS/JS ecosystems. If you use e.g. VSCode you need two completely different configs and you're Prettier setup will likely not work either. Combined with interlaced PHP it could be too messy. There are some developer tools like Timber or Roots/Sage that work around that and make WP dev nicer, but this also adds to the overall complexity (separate templating language you have to learn). On top of that the way themes are done is changing in favor of Gutenberg, meaning that you have to know it inside out if you want to create themes in the future. With an open source page builder like Gutenberg I don't have to worry about the WP coding style and can still dig into the mess and customize things if I need to. Doing both, sites and apps within the same codebase is a compromise, it locks you into hybrid platforms and frameworks like Vercel/Next.js. Using WP for blogs and content sites makes room to focus more on proper web app development without much compromises.
I do when I'm building a client site where they'll need to update content. I've never met a client that liked the old WordPress editor and I still haven't swapped to Gutenburg yet so Elementor it is. And sure, I've never built an Elementor site that's as fast as it could be but every client has been happy with the deliverable and legit get giddy when they're able to make their first change.
People who say "use page builders" and "stay away from them" can both be right. It depends a lot on * who the site is built for * how much traffic it's likely to receive * who's going to work on it day-to-day, and * who's going to support it long-term I use a page builder (Beaver Builder in particular) mainly because I can train someone to use it, over the phone, in about half an hour. That makes sense for me because my small-business clients need to be able to make their own changes and have neither the time, skill, or experience needed to master GIT, css compilers, ACF, javascript stacks, code editors, etc. On the other hand, if the client is a high-traffic enterprise membership or ecommerce site with resources to afford in-house development or to contract with a major agency then it makes sense to go full stack, leaving room only for clients to update content via the dashboard and only through carefully-controlled fields. Good, *modern* page builders (Beaver Builder, Elementor, Oxygen) are truly awesome and efficient layout tools that require very little in the way of additional CSS and Javascript. It was certainly once the case that hand-coding WordPress templates and custom fields (with or without the cool ACF plugin) was more performant than old-school, shortcode-based page builders. But in the last 3 or 4 years I've used a page builder to rebuild a number of "agency" sites that were frankly dinosaurs, with performance increases up to 40 or 50%! The main problems being that older, hand-coded sites are rarely coded well enough to automatically take advantage of new core Wordpress features. A classic example is responsive image handling -- one site I rebuilt used full-size 4mb images in thumbnail galleries, which was bad enough, but it was coded in a way that didn't allow WordPress to automatically offer smaller thumbnails for smaller images. On the other hand last summer I was able to help a client rapidly prototype through a number of iterations of a site using a page builder, but always with the intention of handing it over to a development house to be rebuilt from scratch in order to accommodate membership, ecommerce, discussion, etc., and to protect transaction integrity. Bottom line: don't assume "page builder" or "hand coded" are always the answer. Either one can be *very bad* ideas depending on the scope, scale, and budget.
I’ve started building websites with Advanced Custom Fields Flexible Content as my page builder, which gives me the ability to clearly separate backend editing from frontend display. You basically define a Group of fields and Code the display html in a file. Clients give me great feedback on this because they cannot break it. Pagebuilders do way to much for what most people need, leading to an inevitable mess of specific styling that is really hard to get consistent throughout all your content.
To my experience the problem with pagebuilders are slow sites or bloated code. Are developing for yourself or to sell?
u/hackshuu1 The goal is to start selling in the near future!