How to find the best WordPress website builders
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Updated July 16, 2024
Key takeaways:
- Introduction to WordPress website builders: Open-source, as they are free to use and can be adapted to one’s needs for free. WordPress website builders provide the tools for web designers to easily create websites without coding. Through drag-and-drop interfaces and customisable templates.
- Choosing the right builder: Consider your website’s purpose, target audience, and desired features like e-commerce capabilities, SEO tools, and mobile responsiveness.
- Reviewing builders: Evaluate both free and premium WordPress website builders, with popular options including Gutenberg, Elementor, Beaver Builder, Blocksy or MaxiBlocks, each offering distinct features and capabilities.
- Getting started: Begin by selecting a template, customising the design, adding content, and setting up necessary features, making sure to preview and test before publishing.
- Regular updates: Signals search engines that the website is active and worth crawling for SEO. Updates identify and fix broken pages and security issues, protecting the website from hackers and making the site safer for users.
- Continuous learning: Improve skills and keep the website up-to-date by engaging in continuous learning and exploration through online courses, tutorials, and community resources.
How do you select the best WordPress website builder?
Choose the best WordPress website builder by clarifying your site’s purpose and understanding your audience’s needs. Consider key features such as e-commerce support, SEO tools, and mobile responsiveness. Explore and compare top WordPress website builders like Gutenberg and Elementor, balancing between free and premium options. Prioritize ease of use, customization capabilities, and ongoing support. Success lies in selecting a builder that aligns with your specific goals and improved user engagement.
Table of contents
Introduction to WordPress website builders
Being free to download and use, with its source code being open-source, is one of the main reasons why WordPress is popular today in 2024. Anyone can modify or contribute to its development, resulting in a vast community of developers and users, which has driven the platform’s growth and innovation. WordPress serves as the foundation that developers use to create websites and themes, but for the ordinary person on the street, designing can be challenging. This is where new modern WordPress page builders come in 2024.
What are website builders for WordPress?
A website builder typically comes with a drag-and-drop interface. A pre-set set of elements like text, images, videos, and container grids allow you to build website pages without the need for coding. Let’s have a closer look at the important features that make website builders so incredibly useful to web designers.
Drag-and-drop: Website builders make creating and editing website content easy by enabling users to drag and drop various elements, such as text boxes, images, and videos, onto a blank canvas. This visual and intuitive approach means that web designers do not need coding knowledge, making
Reusable templates: The developers of website builders often provide a library of pre-designed templates that users can customise to quickly build a variety of pages, such as homepages, inner pages such as About, Team or Services, landing pages, and blog posts to mention just a few.
Advanced layout options: There are usually a wide range of layout options, including rows, columns, grids, and modules. This flexibility allows users to create simple to more advanced page structures that can be adapted to whatever the design requirements might be.
Customisation options: This includes such items as colour pickers, fonts, and spacing options and helps users to personalise the visual appearance of their websites. These tools make it easy for designers to match their website’s style to the brand identity and target audience.
Content creation features: Website builders often integrate content creation tools like image editing, video embedding, and form building. These features help developers to easily and quickly add multimedia content as well as interactive elements to websites making the visitor experience more interesting and informative.
E-commerce integration: Most website builders offer built-in or integration options for e-commerce platforms, such as WooCommerce.
SEO optimisation tools: Some WordPress website builders provide SEO optimisation tools to help web designers to improve their websites’ search engine rankings. These tools may include meta tag generators, page analysis reports, and canonical URL settings, enabling designers to optimise their content for better visibility in search results.
Accessibility features: Accessibility features are important and even required by law in some countries. It is useful if WordPress website builders have some accessibility features built in. These features may include alt text for images, keyboard navigation, and colour contrast adjustments, in this way promoting universal accessibility.
Compatibility with themes: WordPress website builders need to be compatible with a wide range of WordPress themes, providing web designers with a generous range of options when choosing the overall design of their websites. This compatibility makes it easy for designers to combine their preferred theme’s style with the builder’s functionality.
Regular updates and support: Web developers regularly release updates to address bugs, enhance features, and ensure compatibility with WordPress core updates. This commitment to ongoing improvement ensures that page builders remain valuable tools for website design and management.
How to select the best WordPress website builder?
It’s important to go back to basics. Choose the best WordPress website builder by identifying who the end user of the website will be, who the audience is and what the outcome should be. Identifying the product or service, working on a marketing plan and building a persona of the ideal website visitor would be a good idea.
Having identified the user who is being targeted the design and content creation of the website will be easier. The user’s persona will dictate how the website needs to function and what the content will be. In the case of an online store the persona will also influence how the shop needs to look and work. From this point onwards it will be relatively easy to decide on the best SEO tools for the site, what plugins are required and the mobile responsiveness needed.
Take note of the costs involved. Many WordPress website builders are offered by companies at a low or even free rate. Once the builder is being used many web designers realise quite quickly that the free version won’t do the job properly. In fact, often upgrading to the features necessary to build the site requires quite an investment. In addition designers will also find that the rate they are paying will only cover one website. Users will need to pay quite a bit more for using the website builder for WordPress to create more than one site.
It is therefore really important to put the cost of the tool as the number one item to check. Not doing this thoroughly right at the start can weigh heavily on the budget at a later stage. Checking for what the benefits are for the various free and premium options is therefore important. Check for hidden costs as these can add up quickly. It is also possible that one ends up getting stuck with a software provider because the cost of moving to another service is prohibitive.
Need to cancel the subscription? It could cost quite a bit and in some instances the website might need to remain with the license of the SaaS provider because the cost to move could require a full rebuild. It’s also important to check whether updates are still provided even if the subscription has had to be cancelled for whatever reason. These are some of the questions that need to be asked.
Prioritise ease of use, customisation capabilities, and ongoing support. Success lies in selecting a WordPress website builder that aligns with specific goals and improved user engagement.
Most importantly, time spent on thorough research will pay dividends. Using social media platforms for advice might not be the right option as everybody has different needs and skills levels. Get the right WordPress web builder for the kind of websites that the client base will ask for. The SaaS that will perform the best for the website requirements.
Understanding the purpose of the website
Before selecting a WordPress page builder, it’s important to identify the purpose of the website. Would a cooking blog be a good start rather than a sophisticated cooking website? This would be far more cost effective for a cook starting out with the first recipes and cooking videos on a website than building a large membership site for cooking fans to sign into.
When it comes to online stores extra caution needs to be taken. WooCommerce for instance is a free plugin that will provide some components necessary to run a store. But the free version is only the very basic setup. To get more features the costs can add up very quickly into the hundreds of Dollar/Euros per month. Sometimes it’s easier not to immediately create a fully sophisticated website but perhaps rather hive off some of the functions to a dedicated marketplace such as Etsy’s platform for homemade goods. A plain small website to support the shop on Etsy might be all that is necessary. An online store can always migrate to the own site when sales start to grow.
As can be seen the concept of a website is in fact a part of an entire business strategy. By drawing up a comprehensive business plan the requirements will become more obvious. Items to consider are not only the question of a store, but also marketing tools such as newsletters, video and/or podcasts to the customer base, perhaps offering courses as well as just information and the list goes on. All these requirements will influence the choice of website builder.
Know your target audience
When deciding on a WordPress website builder, be conscious of the wants and needs of the target audience. As already mentioned, building a persona of the ideal customer is a great way to start the planning process. Think about the ideal customer’s age, location, and tech-inclination levels.
For example, a website serving digital-savvy customers will require a different approach to one that might need to work with customers who were not born with a smartphone in their hand. It is of course not just age that determines how digitally ready a customer might be. And many older users are fully tech savvy. Nobody is going to doubt that Bill Gates at the age of 68 is going to be able to use any web tech confidently.
Also, consider how the users of the site are likely to access the web site. It is more than likely that the bulk of the traffic will come from mobile devices. This means making sure that the WordPress website builder tools accommodate different screen sizes.
For instance the MaxiBlocks website builder offers 6 breakpoints. A breakpoint in a responsive design is the “point” at which a website’s content and design will adapt in a certain way to provide the best possible user experience. In modern times a user might look at a website on a 4k TV screen or on a tablet, While on the move the smartphone will be used and in a coffee shop computer work is bound to be done on a laptop. And so it carries on. In each case the website needs to be able to respond automatically to the screensize of the gadget.
Nothing is more irritating than if a website cannot be viewed correctly. Every person who has been on the internet to search for a website to get information on products or services will have encountered a website if not actually many of them where the resizing of the page falls apart at a certain point. In fact it’s mostly the tablets and smartphones screen that show major problems.
For clients whose websites are not properly responsive the damage to their business can be heavy. Why take the chance. Rather make sure that the WordPress website builder will accommodate responsive views effectively. Not only that but Google’s search criteria mobile-first makes responsiveness of a website a major ranking factor. Why take a chance on having the website’s position in search jeopardised by not taking note of the responsive capabilities of the WordPress website builders that you are considering.
Understanding the key features of your website or blog requires
Once the business strategy has been laid out the real planning may begin. Remember a business strategy can be hand drawn on paper or if available on a white board. Once the product or service that will be offered has been identified and the persona of the ideal customer drawn up the marketing and promotions aspect of the business can be determined. This is where the development of a website will fit in.
A website for a business or for an individual project is a valuable tool. Whether the website is planned to promote a service or product, create publicity around a personal hustle, manage a podcast or blog that eventually might bring in revenue, the list goes on, this is the opportunity to set up a storefront on the internet that in real terms is truly cost effective.
Whereas an IRL store front would cost a fair amount of money in rent, insurance, upkeep, furniture and fittings, staff costs and more creating a website will cost a relatively low amount. Of course hosting will still be a monthly or annual overhead but in comparison to what an actual store would cost this is a negligible outlay.
Considering how important a website is it is always astonishing to see how little money the average client wants to spend on having it built by a professional web designer.
Here are some other features to keep in mind:
- Layout and design: First impressions count! Pick a WordPress website builder that assists in the creation of a website that is not only good-looking but also serves up all the functionality necessary. Work with colours, fonts, and layouts until it feels just right.
- Design must reflect the purpose: A business consulting service will require a different website to a site that sells homemade candles. In the same way a creative service such as a hairdresser will need a different approach to one that provides a nursery school to little people or a dog walking and grooming business. Each one needs to tell its story in a different way. The owner of a dog will have a different story in their mind to the mom or dad of a toddler who needs a place in a nursery school. Find the website builder that can accommodate the variety of purposes that modern businesses demand.
- E-commerce tools: Planning to sell goods? Make sure the builder can handle e-commerce. This means things like product pages, shopping carts, and safe payment options.
- Multimedia Support: A modern website often has multiple media components – this means photos, videos, and even audio. This requires a builder that makes adding and customizing these elements easy.
- SEO features: Search engine optimization is important to rank a website in search engines such as Google or Bing. Some WordPress website builders have SEO tools built-in, making it easier to tweak a site to rank higher in searches.
- Mobile responsiveness: People browse on their phones a lot, it means a site needs to look good on small screens too. Choose a builder that automatically adjusts the site for different devices.
- Speed and performance: Slow downloading websites are abandoned very quickly. Make sure the builder that is chosen is fast and smooth so that users will stay on the site as long as possible.
- Security: Keep the site and visitors safe. Check the website builder for WordPress that has been chosen has strong security measures and options for extra protection.
- Integration options: Web designers and developers will want to use a range of additional tools when building a website. These will include such items as plugins for marketing, analytics and SEO rankings. It will also often require contact or enquiry forms. For online stores ecommerce plugins and payment gateways are a must. Podcast and newsletter options are also often used. These all need to work well with the WordPress website builder. This can make building and managing a site much easier.
Support
Timely and knowledgeable Customer support is a must. Waiting to have a query answered is frustrating and can be damaging to the work. Web design is most often subject to tight deadlines and having to wait for many days to have a query attended to can be annoying to the developer involved and extra irritating to the client. It can damage a designer and client relationship and lead to bad reviews and loss of business.
As websites become more complex to build and need to deliver on a range of functions from providing information, delivering on sales pages, to order and purchase forms, SEO ranking and the handling of multiple media elements, solid and dependable support is becoming more and more important. With the intricate nature of websites the option to connect with an expert not only helps with moving a project forward but also provides the web developer with confidence that there is a back-up service available in times of need.
Here are some clues to watch out for when checking if the support a website builder service is providing is any good:
- Channels: Are there various channels that are offered to make communication easier? Just like everybody has different preferences when it comes to communication, companies can have a variety of channels to help customers with support queries. Live chat and phone calls are usually the fastest way to get help, while email and support tickets may take longer. Some WordPress website builders may offer premium support for an extra fee
- Response time: The customer support response time is important, as quick resolutions enable web designers to maintain their workflow and look after their own clients more efficiently
- Quality of support: The support team should be knowledgeable and helpful or at the least be prepared to find a solution
- Availability: When considering customer support, it’s crucial to verify their availability on the company’s website. Ensure that the support team’s working hours coincide with the web design studio’s needs. Some support team members are available to help all day and all night, in fact anytime they are needed. But other companies are only there at certain times, which might not fit into the time zone of the user. It all depends on how expensive the product is to buy. For more reasonably priced WordPress website builders it could mean less hours of immediate support.
Community
A user community can offer several benefits:
- Forums and discussion boards: Many companies with WordPress website builders have forums or discussion boards where users can ask questions and share experiences with other users. Odds are that other users would have encountered similar issues and are willing to offer solutions or workarounds more quickly than waiting for a support person to answer the queries.
- Tutorials and guides: Most WordPress website builders come with ‘how-to’ guides, YouTube vidoes, documentation and onboarding set ups. Some enthusiastic users may also create and share their own guides, tutorials and tips which have been acquired while using the builder. And some WordPress influencers will create lengthy videos teaching web designers who to use a website builder for WordPress in the hope that their large follower tribe might click on an affiliate link and in this way earn them a commission. There are many influencers who take on this type of promotional work and some of the videos are really excellent and worth watching.
- Feedback and reviews: User communities are a great place to find honest feedback and reviews about the page builder. It is important however, to be cautious about this kind of referral. Some users actually have limited knowledge of what else is available and base their advice on using just one or at the most two WordPress website builders that they have used.
- Ideas and inspiration: Looking at what others have created with the WordPress website builders can provide ideas and inspiration for a site. Some communities even have a showcase section where users can share their work.
Reviewing top WordPress website builders
Here are some website builders for WordPress that might be worth exploring. These are some of the most popular ones which doesn’t necessarily mean they will do the perfect job for a web designer. The above information and advice is still worth exploring. This overview will provide a brief look at each builder’s features and capabilities.
Overview of free WordPress website builders
Several free WordPress website builders offer great functionality and design options:
MaxiBlocks: MaxiBlocks is an easy to use and intuitive WordPress Gutenberg page builder that allows users to create custom layouts and designs with ease, using its extensive library of blocks and modules. With its flexible grid system and responsive design capabilities, MaxiBlocks enables users to build fast, SEO-friendly, and mobile-optimised websites that adapt to any device or screen size. Find this free plugin on wordpress.org.
What sets MaxiBlocks apart from all other WordPress website builders is its one of a kind huge library which consists of a good selection of free patterns, page templates and icons and a vast Pro library of 2000+ patterns, 200+ WordPress page templates and 14000+ icons and shapes which has a small fee attached to it.
Both the MaxiBlocks WordPress website builders plugin and the soon to be available on WordPress.org repo MaxiBlocks theme are free to use with no feature creep that costs money. There are also no limitations to the number of websites built with the MaxiBlocks tools. Sign up here to get news of the theme and to play with the Beta version.
WordPress Gutenberg: This is the built-in page builder introduced in WordPress 5.0. It uses a block-based system and is continually being improved. It’s simple, but might not offer as yet as many advanced design options as other WordPress website builders.
Elementor: This is a feature-rich and flexible page builder. The free version offers a lot of functionality, including basic widgets and templates. It’s a good choice for web developers wanting a balance between power and ease of use. It does require paying for the more sophisticated page builder and fees can increase rapidly the use of the page builder for more than one website. For many web designers this is a worthwhile investment.
Beaver Builder Lite: Known for its simplicity and functionality, Beaver Builder Lite offers a limited number of modules in the free version, but they are sufficient for basic page-building needs.
SiteOrigin: This is a grid-based page builder that’s compatible with any theme. It’s lightweight and offers a decent range of widgets in the free version. This might be a good choice if the user is looking for a lean, no-frills builder.
Overview of premium WordPress page builders
Premium WordPress website builders offer more advanced features and options:
- Elementor Pro: This version expands on the free version of Elementor with more advanced widgets, theme builder functionality, and premium landing page templates. It’s a good choice if more for advanced design capabilities are required. It can get expensive when the requirement is for many websites.
- Beaver Builder Premium: This offers more modules, beautiful pre-made layouts, and the ability to save designs as templates.
- Divi Builder: This is a comprehensive design framework, offering advanced design settings, a wide variety of modules, and the ability to customize every aspect of the design. Divi 5 is being worked on that addresses some of the issues that Divi has at the moment. This new version looks very promising and once available will definitely be worth exploring further.
- WPBakery Page Builder: This is a versatile tool that offers both front-end and back-end editing. It comes with a large library of elements and templates.
Free vs. premium WordPress page builders
MaxiBlocks which has a WordPress website builder that is and will remain totally free to use and WordPress Gutenberg which is a little basic at the moment but promises to be excellent in future make an amazing combination of free tools. What Gutenberg is lacking at the moment is in part covered by the MaxiBlocks free web page builder plugin. Gutenberg is core to WordPress and is immediately available whereas the Maxiblocks page builder plugin can be downloaded from the WordPress repo.
When to use a free WordPress page builder
Free WordPress page builders are an excellent choice for:
- Budget-conscious users: Starting a website with a limited budget can be stressful, a free page builder can help the web developer setup a professional site without a significant investment.
- Simple websites: Free WordPress website builders often include basic functionalities that are sufficient for creating simple websites, such as personal blogs, portfolios, or small business sites.
- Learning and experimentation: If using a new tool such as a page builder, starting with a free option allows the user to learn and experiment without financial commitment.
MaxiBlocks
MaxiBlocks sits in between. The free website builder works with WordPress Gutenberg and offers a sophisticated toolset to assist web designers and developers to build sophisticated websites. It is therefore a suitable website builder for both the budget conscious website creator as well as those needing more advanced features.
In addition, besides being a great tool to build beautiful websites, it also comes with a huge library, both a small selection of free elements and an extensive Pro library at a small fee. View the demo here.
When to invest in a premium WordPress page builder
Investing in a premium WordPress page builder might be worthwhile if the web designers:
- Need advanced features: Premium plans from page builders typically offer advanced features like more design options, e-commerce functionalities, premium templates, and more. If a website needs these features, upgrading might be necessary.
- Want more design flexibility: Premium page builders often provide more design flexibility, allowing designers to create unique and custom designs that stand out.
- Require better support: Premium users usually get priority support, which can be helpful if working on a critical project or if a new designer anticipates needing regular assistance.
- Are building a business website: If building a site for a business, investing in a premium builder like Wix can ensure that all the features and support needed to create a professional and functional website are available at the fingertip. Just remember that entrusting a website to Wix means that the website belongs to Wix.
Getting started with a chosen WordPress website builder
Once a WordPress website builders has been chosen it is time to begin building a first WordPress website. This means setting up the website, customizing the design, adding content, and incorporating any features such as an online store or contact form. Here are some tips to help new users out:
- Choose a template: Most WordPress website builders offer a range of templates. One of the largest libraries of website pre-made components such as page templates, patterns and block designs is available from MaxiBlocks. Check their demo page to have a look at the variety of professional designs on offer.
- Customize your design: Once a template has been chosen it can be customsed to suit the message of the website it is meant for. Customisation is easy in most WordPress website builders that is why WordPress is so popular with 43% of websites world wide using this content management system. Such famous websites as Taylor Swift or The White House are built on WordPress.
- Add your content: Next, add your content to the website.
- Set up features: If the website needs specific features, like an online store or a detailed contact form, set these up. Most WordPress website builders make it easy to add these features with widgets or plugins.
- Preview and test: Before publishing the website, make sure to preview and test it thoroughly. This should include checking the appearance and functionality on different devices and browsers, testing any interactive features, and proofreading all text for errors.
- Publish: Once you’re happy with your website, it’s time to publish it.
Tips when using the chosen website builder for WordPress
- Start with a plan: Before the start, sketch out a rough plan for the site. This will help guide the building process and ensure that no important element is forgotten.
- Don’t be afraid to experiment: The great thing about WordPress website builders is that many different things can be tried out to see whether they work technically and/or from a business focus. Web designers can try out different things and see what works. There is no harm done to experiment with different designs and features. Everything is easily replaced if the idea doesn’t work.
- Use high-quality images: Good visuals can make a big difference to a site’s appearance and professionalism. It is advisable to always use high-quality images.
- Keep SEO in mind: Remember to use thet builder’s SEO features to help the site get found in search engine results. This could include using keywords in the text, adding meta descriptions to pages, and using SEO-friendly URLs.
- Keep learning: Find resources online like tutorials, blogs, and forums to keep improving skills.
Where to find a range of page builder templates
MaxiBlocks
Most WordPress website builders come with some page templates. Most of them will have 100 or so to choose from. For a really extensive selection MaxiBlocks library is most definitely the largest on the market currently. With an extensive collection of over 2200+ block patterns, 200+ page templates and 14,000+ SVG icons, MaxiBlocks offers a vast array of design options to elevate any website. Whether looking for a sleek, modern feel or something more playful and dynamic, MaxiBlocks has the resources to bring the vision to life. Discover the endless possibilities and start crafting the first perfect website today by exploring MaxiBlocks.
View the 2000+ templates
Template Monster
Template Monster is a popular online marketplace that offers a wide range of professionally designed website templates and themes. Whether as a web developer, designer, or business owner looking to create a stunning site, Template Monster has a great collection and will most probably have something suitable. From responsive layouts to cutting-edge features, Template Monster provides high-quality templates that help save time and effort in building a visually appealing and functional website.
ThemeForest (Envato Market)
ThemeForest, part of the Envato Market, is one of the largest marketplaces for site themes and templates. With a diverse selection of themes for popular content management systems like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal, ThemeForest caters to different industries and niches. With a strong community of developers and regular updates, ThemeForest ensures that you have access to modern and reliable themes to create visually stunning and functional websites.
Creative Market
Creative Market is a vibrant online marketplace for creative professionals, offering a vast selection of design assets, including graphics, templates, fonts, and more. Whether looking for a stunning logo, a beautiful font, or eye-catching illustrations, Creative Market offers a diverse range of creative assets to elevate any design projects.
Creative Market
Codester
Codester is an online marketplace that specializes in digital assets for developers and web designers. With a focus on code quality and usability, Codester provides developers with reliable and efficient solutions for their web development projects. From ready-to-use site templates to custom scripts, Codester offers a range of options to streamline the development process and save time. With user reviews, ratings, and a supportive community, Codester ensures that developers can find and trust the resources they need.
Codester
99designs
99designs is a leading online marketplace that connects businesses with talented designers from around the world. Whether you need a new logo, website design, or packaging, 99designs offers a platform where you can launch a design contest and receive multiple design options from a community of skilled designers.
99designs
Continuous learning and exploration
In web design learning is never finished. Quick developing technology that drives the internet and with it web design and the tools that are constantly developed means that people working in this field have to keep on learning and exploring forever. Exploring will lead to new discoveries of amazing tools and new skills.
There are numerous resources available online to learn web design. Here are some popular options:
- Learn.WordPress: A free learning platform for WordPress users authored by the WordPress community . Courses are offered from total beginners to more advanced. This is a relatively new resource and courses are added regularly. It’s worth going back to it to see what’s new.
- Online courses: Find platforms like Udemy, Coursera, and LinkedIn Learning offer a wide range of web design courses taught by professionals. These courses provide structured learning with video lectures, assignments, and quizzes.
- Codecademy: Codecademy offers interactive coding lessons, including web design courses that cover HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- FreeCodeCamp: This is a nonprofit organization that offers a comprehensive curriculum for learning web development. The platform also provides coding challenges and projects for practical application.
- YouTube tutorials: YouTube hosts a vast collection of web design tutorials and channels dedicated to teaching web design. Some popular channels include Traversy Media, The Net Ninja, and DesignCourse.
- Online documentation and blogs: Official documentation, such as Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) for HTML and CSS, and W3Schools, provide comprehensive guides and reference materials for web design.
- Community college or university courses: If you prefer a more hands-on education setting, you can try joining a class that offers web design courses as part of their curriculum.
Final thoughts
Starting off as a web designer could be a daunting task for many folk. A business owner with a limited budget might consider building their own site. It has been advertised as being an easy thing to do. Which is not entirely true of course. As soon as there is technology involved it’s never quite that easy. People who have tried to layout, or in more traditional terms typeset, a magazine or brochure for instance using a page maker or word processing software have found out that creating a document for print is anything but easy.
Not only does one need the skills to use layout software such as Adobe InDesign but one also needs some knowledge of a graphic design package such as Adobe Illustrator or the free to use Canva. Then there are the photographs and of course Adobe Photoshop springs to mind. But there are also free versions available such as for instance Krita which is open source and free to use. And then there is the preparation of the document in readiness for print.
In the same way working in web design is as complex. In order for a website to actually work a certain amount of coding needs to be done. Most useful skills in this area are a knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. In addition, some ReactJS would be useful. However, to help non technically inclined people many tools have been developed that take away the need for knowing any coding languages.
Purists of course are dismayed at this. They feel that nothing can replace coding. But as much as there is a point to this argument, the creatives wanting to put together their first website might not want to spend months at school learning these languages either due to lack of self confidence or because they just don’t have the time available. For them the tools on offer will do the job.
In a nutshell what are these tools? WordPress is the most commonly used content management system. It developed from a blogging platform into a website platform on which any type and size of website can be built. To make this platform more user friendly and offer more features to web designers WordPress website builders have been developed. And thirdly themes have been added to this solution to extend the help even further. Themes are basically website skeletons into which design elements can be dropped making the website build even quicker and easier.
A fourth time saving device has started surfacing called starter sites. These are even more advanced in what they offer. One can pick a site for plumbers or any other trade and the starter site will have all of the pages already set up that a plumber might need. Just change text and images and the site is good to go. In the same way, starter sites for professional services such as accountants and lawyers are starting to appear.
Of course web designers will be limited by the actual structure of the starter site and might need to learn how to add more pages to enlarge on the original starter site. But there is bound to be some plugin developed that makes this easier. There are also new solutions for hosting of WordPress sites that make the entire process much easier than it used to be previously where a fair amount of technical know-how was required to be able to upload a website to a hosting provider.
Let’s not forget AI and the help the various tools are providing this far already in making content generation for instance so much quicker. MaxiBlocks is working on an AI tool that will make it easier to set up a website from scratch by selecting the optional page layouts and giving it the command to build the site. A Maxi text AI feature is almost ready where prompts are filled in and the text writer compiles copy that it then automatically inserts in the space provided on the site. As most web designers can confirm, waiting for clients to submit the copy for the website is where the blame for almost every website delay can be placed.
It is truly wonderful to see what the future holds for web design and web development which is surely going to end up being one profession.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) related to WordPress website builders:
What is a landing page, and how can a WordPress website builder help me create one?
A landing page is a web page specifically designed to capture visitors’ attention and convert them into leads or customers.
Does the pricing of WordPress website builders vary?
Yes, the pricing of WordPress site builders can vary. Some builders offer free versions with limited features, while others have premium versions with more advanced functionalities. The pricing structure may also include different plans based on the level of features and support you require.
What is a header in the context of a WordPress website?
The header is the top section of a web page that typically contains the website’s logo, navigation menu, and sometimes additional elements like a search bar or social media icons. WordPress website builders usually provide options to customize and design the header section according to your branding and design preferences.
How can I integrate a newsletter subscription form into my WordPress site?
WordPress site builders often have built-in integration options for popular newsletter services like Mailchimp or Constant Contact. You can use these integrations to easily add newsletter subscription forms to your site and grow your email subscriber list.
What is SeedProd, and how does it relate to WordPress website builders?
SeedProd is a popular landing page builder plugin for WordPress. It allows you to create professional and high-converting landing pages with ease. While it is a standalone plugin specialized for landing pages, you can integrate it with WordPress website builders to enhance your overall website-building experience.
What is a real-time editing feature in a WordPress website builder?
Real-time editing allows you to make changes to your website’s design and content while viewing the changes in real-time. This means you can see the immediate results of your modifications without the need to preview or save your changes separately.
How can a WordPress website builder help with e-commerce functionality?
WordPress website builders often offer features and integrations specifically designed for e-commerce, such as product showcases, shopping carts, secure payment gateways, and inventory management.
What are the advantages of using the premium version of a WordPress website builder?
The premium version of a WordPress website builder typically offers additional features, advanced design options, priority support, and sometimes exclusive templates or add-ons. Upgrading to the premium version allows you to unlock more powerful tools and customize your website further.
Can I add animation effects to my website using a WordPress website builder?
Yes, many WordPress website builders offer animation features that allow you to add dynamic and engaging effects to elements on your website. These can include entrance animations, transitions, scrolling effects, and more.
Can I create a carousel or slideshow using a WordPress website builder?
Yes, many WordPress website builders include carousel or slideshow elements that allow you to showcase multiple images or content items in a rotating manner. These elements often come with customization
Happy building!
WordPress itself
Official Website
wordpress.org – This is the official website for WordPress, where you can download the software, find documentation, and learn more about using it.
WordPress Codex
codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page – This is a comprehensive documentation resource for WordPress, covering everything from installation and configuration to specific functionality and troubleshooting.
WordPress Theme Directory
wordpress.org/themes – The official WordPress theme directory is a great place to find free and premium WordPress themes. You can browse themes by category, feature, and popularity.
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