It seems that Elementor is not only here to stay as the definitive free Page Builder for WordPress, but it is slowly becoming the best Page Builder for WordPress.
In this post, we are going to analyze its advantages and possibilities, especially based on the experience of using pages layout that I have had so far with it. By the way, click here if you want to go to the plugin page and learn more about Elementor.
Elementor Main Advantages
Easy to use, one of the things I liked the most about Elementor is its ease of use. With a simple mouse click we can add any element we need to our layout. From headings to Font Awesome icons, social icons, accordions, tabs, images, backgrounds, videos, google maps, spacers, any shortcode of any plugin you have in addition to inserting Widgets in your text, etc … the possibilities are endless.
Also, everything is customizable. You can put any typeface, text size, color, background, etc … although you already know that it should not be abused, because success is often in simplicity.
It is also worth mentioning the part about the columns. It is very easy to put the ones you want and the size you want. You don’t have to stick to Bootstrap 12 or 15 and you have the ability to assign any size to each column. 100% customizable.
“Live” preview
Another strong point of Elementor, is that what you edit can see how it looks in real time. Each change is made automatically and you can see it “live”. It is the best way to work, since you do not need to preview to see how your post or page looks, unlike other constructors like Visual Composer.
Elementor templates
Not only do you have free templates ready to use, but you can at any time save a section or an entire page that you have created to insert it in any other page. This way you can create, for example, sections with forms (works very well with Gravity Forms or Contact Form 7) and apply it to all pages.
Clean Code
When it comes to having a well-optimized web page, it is important that the code you generate is clean and the vast majority of the time you cannot control it due to the use of plugins. In this case, Elementor has a fairly clean and fast code that will not delay the loading of the page.
Mobile and Tablets
We continue with the strong points … Would you like to be able to change the behavior of your section for mobile phones or tablets? With Elementor you can do it. Activate or deactivate properties with a simple click in a very intuitive way.
Compatibilities
It is compatible with any template and plugin you use. We have tested it above all with Generate Press, a fantastic and highly optimized template that we will talk about next, which together with Elementor makes the perfect team to be able to do anything.
And is Elementor free?
That’s correct. It is also free and open source. However, there is a PRO version with more functionalities, some of them important such as sliders, customizable CSS styles, latest posts or better integration with WooCommerce that can be interesting for the development of your page.
Even so, the free version is enough to be able to do practically what you need and the plugin is updated every so often, improving it and adding new functionalities.
Drawbacks of Elementor.
Basically the main drawback is that some of the features of the PRO version may be important in our development. Especially the possibility to control more the styles and make them customizable in each section. Also the possibility of putting a Slide on the cover or the last post. For this, you can use other plugins that combined with Elementor make you have what you need.
For example, to show the last post on the home page we have resorted to a pretty good plugin called PE Recent Post, which allows you to put both in columns and rows (in a totally responsive way) the last thing you have written on the blog, both for categories as in general.
Conclusion
As you have seen in this post, we liked this plugin a lot and, in combination with Generate Press, we are starting to use it in many of our projects.
How is your experience with Elementor?
