Si hay un inconveniente en la popularidad generalizada de WordPress, es que a veces ha dado lugar a muchos sitios Web idénticos y con diseños simples.
Choosing a unique and flexible theme is a good start if you need to avoid creating a site that looks like everyone else's. Regardless, there is an additional tool you may need.
We are talking about 'page builder' plugins - solutions for your WordPress site that offer a high level of potential customization.
Los creadores de páginas le posibilitan crear contents por medio de un sistema intuitivo de arrastrar y soltar, por lo que tendrá un control casi total sobre el diseño y las funciones. Por suerte, hay muchas opciones para elegir.
Esta no es una comparación de los plugins del generador de páginas. En este post, hablaremos de por qué puede need a page building tool for your website.
Then we will explore the five criteria more important to consider al seleccionar un plugin. ¡Vamos a trabajar!
Why You May Need a WordPress Page Builder Plugin
WordPress has made a name for itself as a highly flexible and beginner platform. It's easy to learn, but offers endless customization possibilities.
Regardless, the core platform itself is pretty streamlined and doesn't contain a great feature set.
Instead, when it comes to building a unique and fully functional site, you have two basic options:
- Realice su propio desarrollo personalizado y cambios de diseño en el software.
- Customize your site using a selection of carefully selected themes and plugins.
Para la mayoría de los recién llegados sin experiencia en desarrollo, la primera opción está inicialmente fuera de su scope.
This means that it will depend on the theme and plugins you choose to shape the look and functionality of your site.
The right theme can go a long way to make your site stand out visually. However, there are limits to the options available in any particular option.
At the same time, you still run the risk of ending up with a site that looks a lot like all the others that were built using the same theme.
That's where page builders come into the picture. These popular plugins give you access to a drag-and-drop system for creating pages, posts, and other content.
This gives you a very high level of control over how your site is designed, how it looks, and what features it contains - without the need for development or design skills.
A menos que esté construyendo un sitio muy básico (como un Blog personal o un briefcase), cabe destacar considerar seriamente la posibilidad de elegir una herramienta de creación de páginas.
Esto es fundamentalmente relevante si su sitio estará conectado con su negocio, dado que será vital que refleje el estilo de su compañía y el público target.
It should be noted that WordPress developers recently added a page builder style feature to the core platform - the Block Editor (formerly known as Gutenberg).
This may be all you need if your requirements and ambitions are relatively simple.
Regardless, the Block Editor lacks many of the core features and options available in other popular solutions, so it's worth seeing what else is out there.
How to choose a Page Builder for WordPress (5 key criteria)
Los constructores de páginas han existido por un tiempo, de este modo usted tiene muchas opciones. Muchos usuarios de WordPress jurarán por su herramienta favorita, lo que puede hacer que la decisión be difícil.
At the same time, choosing a solution that satisfies you in the long run is vital.
Switching from one page builder to another can be tricky, as each has different characteristics. It can be difficult to make old and new content look similar, unless you reformat all existing content in the new page builder by hand.
With that in mind, we're going to help you make an informed decision, guiding you through the five most important criteria you'll want to consider.
By taking these key factors into account, you will be in a good position to choose the right tool for your site.
1. Number of items
We have previously mentioned that page builders work with a drag and drop system. In practice, this means starting with a blank page or template and filling in with pre-defined pieces of content from the page builder's library:
<>
These pieces have many names - such as `items ',` blocks', `widgets 'and` modules'.
Whatever the terminology, each one is designed to add a specific type of content to your page.
So if you need to include a paragraph of text, as an example, you can drag the 'text' element onto your page and start writing.
Other common items include:
- Images, videos and other media
- Titles and lists
- Tables
- Buttons
- Bars de progreso y contadores
- Maps
- Social media icons
However, most page builders offer much more than just a few items.
What's important is looking for one that provides a large library, and covers the basics when it comes to both standard features (text and images) and more complex functionality.
Some page builders even include larger pieces of pre-built content, which may have other names.
In Elementor, as an example, you can use 'blocks' to include entire page sections made up of multiple items.
This makes building your pages much faster, and they can still be customized to suit your needs.
2. Design options
Remember earlier when we mentioned that the new WordPress Block Editor has some limitations?
One of them is in its potential (or lack thereof) to create complex page layouts.
After all, it is not only the number of items that the page builder offers that is important, but at the same time the flexibility it provides when organizing those items on the page.
In the Block Editor, you are largely limited to placing items one above and one below the other:
There are a basic feature for building columns, but still under development. Luckily, most of the popular page builders on the market are more generous when it comes to designing content layouts.
The aforementioned Elementor enables you to organize your pages in multiple columns and rows by default:
Apart from that, they have recently introduced a never before seen feature in WordPress - Flexible Layout.
Puede leer más acerca de cómo han implementado la posición absoluta, la posición fija, los widgets lado a lado, la distribución de flexbox y mucho más en su puesto de anuncios.
Other options offer different flexibility. Both Visual Composer (read our full review here) and The Divi Builder enable complex layouts:
The interfaces for these types of page builders can be a bit more confusing at first, and it will take some getting used to.
Regardless, if you want complete freedom to create your pages to look exactly how you want that learning curve to be worth it.
3. Potential for customization
As we have seen so far, a quality page builder will offer a large library of simple and complex items, and will allow you to organize those items on the page as you wish.
Regardless, there is one more piece to this puzzle: customizing the items once they have been placed.
Almost any page builder (including the Block Editor) will offer unique settings for each type of element. Typically, you will access it through a menu that opens when you place, click, or mouse over an item:
The options available will depend on what the item does. As an example, a paragraph element could allow you to change the color and size of the text, alter the font family, and add a case of gout.
In addition to this, a button element can include options to change the size and shape of the button, and to add borders and animations.
In general, the more options offered, the better. This will allow you to create pages that look completely unique to your site.
At the same time, personalization should not stop within each element.
At the same time you should be able to modify your layouts, for example, by changing the width and height of each piece of content and adjusting the spaces between them:
While you can learn a lot about a page builder's library and layout options by reading its list of features and documentation, with this approach it's best to do a little hands-on experimentation.
Most page builders offer a free version, so try installing each plugin on a test site and play around with it to see if it has the flexibility you need.
4. Performance
It is a common misconception that simply installing too many plugins on your WordPress site will slow it down.
This is not necessarily true. Have many plugins can increase your chances of a slow site, but it's not the numbers that matter - it's the quality.
In other words, some plugins are 'heavier' than others. They contain more features and more code, and therefore put more pressure on your site's performance.
Esto es importante, debido a que las páginas lentas alejan a los visitantes, e incluso pueden dañar su Optimización para Search engines (SEO).
Unfortunately, page builder plugins tend to be on the heavy side. This is a natural consequence of how complex they are, and how much "stuff" they come with (pre-built items, demos, templates, etc.).
In this way, you want to make sure that your chosen page builder is not going to negatively affect the performance of your site in any significant way.
A good starting point is to check the comments for each page builder you are considering.
This will give you an idea if other users found your performance to be poor. At the same time you can find comprehensive comparisons on the performance impact of the most popular tools.
Lastly, you can even run your own tests. Just install a certain page builder on a test site, build a page with it, and test the speed of that page using a site like Pingdom Tools:
For best results, you'll need to do this on a copy of your live site (if you have one), and make sure all other plugins you use at the same time are installed.
5. Price
Last but not least, we come to the most practical consideration.
There's a good chance that price will play a role in your page builder's decision, so it's best to review your budget and balance it against your needs. before decide on a tool.
Most of the popular WordPress page builders work on a 'freemium' model. This means that there is a base version that you can use for free, with limited features. If you want to enter full functionality, you will have to pay for a premium license.
When considering the price of a page builder, you'll want to find answers to a few key questions:
- What are the differences between the free and premium versions? Will you have everything you need on the free tier, or do you likely need the full feature set?
- What is the cost of a premium license? At the same time, while most premium plugins require a one-time payment, this will only come with six months or a year of support and updates. Thus, will you have to take this cost into account annually to keep the plugin working?
- Along with the page builder itself, what kinds of 'extras' will you get? Many page builders come with additional features like themes or other plugins. Anyway, that's only a benefit if you see yourself using the extras in question.
Lo bueno de un modelo freemium es que siempre puedes probar la versión gratuita primero, para asegurarte de que te gusta la interfaz y las opciones de la herramienta.
We suggest that you experiment with a range of popular page builders, before settling on (and potentially paying for) your favorite.
Best Visual Constructors and Constructs in WordPress
Let's say your budget doesn't allow you to hire professional web developers. Do not despair! There is an effective solution!
Keep in mind that the WordPress platform allows you to create very attractive and fully functional sites without the need for coding knowledge.
First of all, you need to choose a good WordPress theme for your site.
Next, you have to set up a WordPress site. After that, you should customize your site for the needs of your business.
The reality is that customizing a WordPress theme can be a very challenging task.
WordPress plugins have been designed to make it easy for you to customize your WordPress theme for any of your needs.
You will be able to make changes to your WordPress site without the need for coding knowledge.
In this blog, you can find the most incredible WordPress plugins to create drag and drop pages.
Revisaremos cada uno de los plugins WP de Drag & drop page builder y describiremos sus características clave en detalle. Y decididamente, esto le ayudará a tomar una decisión inteligente!
Page Builder by SiteOrigin
Page Builder by SiteOrigin is the plugin that will impress you with its easy to use interface.
This way, it won't take you long to figure out how this WP plugin works. With this WordPress plugin, you will be able to create responsive content on your website quickly and easily.
You need to know that the plugin comes with all the standard widgets.
This means that you will be able to choose the required widget during the website creation process very quickly.
SiteOrigin Page Builder at the same time comes with a great feature like live editing.
This way, if you make any changes to your site, you can see them instantly.
Above all, the plugin has row styles and widgets that allow you to control the content of your WordPress site easily.
A pesar de todo, lo más importante es que Page Builder by SiteOrigin es un plugin gratuito de Drag & Drop Builder WordPress.
Elementor Page Builder
This WordPress plugin offers endless opportunities for those who want to create beautiful page layouts. You will definitely like the advanced capabilities of the plugin.
Elementor Page Builder comes with many great features, including an easy-to-use interface, as well as instant live editing and instant page loading.
The plugin at the same time comes with more than 100 predesigned templates and more than 300 blocks (such as call to action, services, testimonials and many others).
Among the other features of the plugin are: custom fonts, blog layout widget, image and video sliders, animated headlines, role manager, and many others.
Sandwich Page Builder
Page Builder Sandwich is another great free Drag & Drop WP plugin.
The plugin itself is very easy to use, so you can find out how it works quickly.
With Page Builder Sandwich, you will find it easy to add similar buttons as well as text boxes and images to your website. It's a great idea to use the plugin to create landing pages at the same time.
The plugin comes with the live editing feature. This means that you will have the opportunity to see the changes on a website in real time.
Page Builder Sandwich will allow you to change the colors and sizes of your page layout quickly and easily.
Among the main features of the plugin are: 10 templates, more than 1700 vector icons, more than 600 shortcuts, pixel perfect vector icons and others.
Aqua page builder
Aqua Page Builder is a plugin for WordPress that makes it possible to create pages by dragging and dropping.
The plugin is likely to impress you with its highly intuitive and easy-to-use interface.
It is quite easy to integrate the plugin with the WordPress admin interface.
With the plugin you can create as many reusable templates as you need. It will never be difficult for you to build pages with a plugin as wonderful as Aqua Page Builder.
MiniMax - Page Layout Builder
MiniMax es un plugin de WordPress que tiene todo lo necesario para crear hermosas páginas y bloques en un sitio web. Sólo le llevará unos minutos crear una página de destino con el plugin MiniMax.
At the same time, you can import your design to another site quickly.
Page Builder by WooRockets
This amazing WP plugin can be used both to build posts and pages.
If you take advantage of Page Builder by WooRockets, you will be able to create your own pages on a website.
The plugin at the same time comes with the drag and drop management function.
This feature enables you to develop a menu on a WordPress site quickly and easily.
With WooRockets Page Builder, it will be extremely easy for you to add a content list, a promotion box, a price table, a progress bar and other items to your page or post.
The plugin at the same time has a lot of room for customization.
You can customize images, text and colors with Page Builder by WooRockets.
Among other features of the plugin are: live preview and focus filter.
"Should I use a WordPress Page Builder plugin?" - Discussing the Pros and Cons
WordPress has risen to success and fame on an easy-to-use and beginner-friendly platform (among other things). Regardless, to truly customize your site, you often still need coding skills or professional help.
This fact has paved the way for page builder plugins, which have made it easy to make radical changes to the site from the back end.
When you discuss the pros and cons of the WordPress page builder, this is usually the strongest argument for using them, but there are more reasons to do so. Regardless, page builders at the same time have disadvantages and do not make sense in all scenarios.
If you're Username de WordPress y te preguntas «¿debería usar un creador de páginas? A continuación, hablaremos sobre qué son los plugins de WordPress, qué candidatos existen y los beneficios e inconvenientes de usarlos.
Hopefully, in the end, you will have a clear idea of whether or not they are a good fit for you.
WordPress Page Builder Plugins - An Introduction
2Z9KmGe
Before we go into the pros and cons of using these types of plugins, let's first make sure you have a clear understanding of what they are.
The problem with WordPress customization
Como se mencionó en la introducción, WordPress es muy fácil de usar, incluso para principiantes y persons sin conocimientos técnicos. La user interface es intuitiva y le posibilita realizar la mayoría de las tareas con sólo unos pocos clics.
This has been fundamentally true since the introduction of the Customizer, which provides a central place to make changes to the site.
Regardless, if we are completely honest, there are some areas that remain out of reach for everyday users. This includes creating new page layouts using templates, adding widget areas, implementing new navigation menus, and similar tasks.
Finalmente, para tomar verdaderamente el control de su sitio y su diseño, es probable que necesite ser un desarrollador, contratar a uno, o invertir el tiempo para aprender al menos HTML básico, CSS, o incluso PHP and JavaScript.
Without that, many times you are limited to the functionality and design your theme has incorporated. This can be a frustrating situation, especially for novice users.
Access Page Builders
WordPress page builder plugins solve this problem. They offer users the ability to do the above work and more from within the WordPress service module - completely without the need for coding.
En su lugar, proporcionan una interfaz gráfica de usuario para alcanzar lo mismo por medio de arrastrar y soltar y hacer clic con el ratón.
As a result, you no longer need to know code to tailor your theme to suit your needs.
Instead, you can realize your vision in the same way that you control the rest of your site. This can significantly expand the possibilities for everyday users while reducing the time and effort required by professionals to build a site.
Los plugins de generador de páginas al mismo tiempo posibilitan que WordPress compita directamente con los creadores de sitios web como Wix y Squarespace.
Their appeal is that they make it easy for non-developers to create websites. With page builders, you can have your own convenience but still own your site and its content (which is often not the case with website builders).
This is potentially a game changer and another step towards democratizing web publishing.
Many options are already available
For now, there are a ton of high-quality page builder plugins that users can choose from, including:
- Elementor
- Beaver builder
- Divi
- WPBakery Page Builder
- Themify Constructor
- Page Builder by SiteOrigin
- Thrive Architect
- Sandwich Page Builder
They all have different approaches to creating pages and many times great communities behind them. Some of them have grown into successful companies (such as billionaires).
So should everyone use a page builder plugin? That is what we will talk about now.
WordPress Page Builder Plugins - Advantages and Disadvantages
So back to the question 'should I be using a WordPress page builder? We are going to discuss, starting with the fundamentals to do it.
Pro #1: Power to the People
We've already mentioned this as the main reason people use page builder plugins in the first place.
It is because it gives you the ability to create and customize designs that would otherwise be out of your reach or for which you would regularly have to pay others.
Puede crear páginas de destino, añadir headers, ajustar diseños, incluir widgets casi en cualquier lugar y mucho más sin tener que escribir una línea de código.
This way, you no longer have to compromise your vision and limit yourself to what the topic has to offer. Just add items of your choice to your designs and customize their appearance and behavior on the page.
At the same time, many page builder plugins at the same time offer front-end editing or an identical so that you can see how your work will look in the context of your site.
This can save a lot of time (to research or contact a developer), money (to pay for help), and frustration (where is all my time and money?).
At the same time it enables creatives who regularly only provide the design of a website, implement it and thus offer more services to their clients.
At the same time, many page builder plugins offer ready-to-use templates as starting points. That way, you don't even have to start from scratch.
Pro #2: Like this. A lots of. Characteristics.
With a page builder plugin, you don't just get the ability to create a WordPress site without the need for coding.
Most of the time they come with a wide range of features for which you regularly need to install various plugins to get them on your site.
This includes everything from image carousels and testimonials to social share buttons and price charts.
As a result, page builders can save space in the plugin section and, if you go the premium route, money. Instead of paying for several specialized plugins, you just shell out for one and get the functionality anyway.
At the same time, with updates, you can expect new and better features over time. As a result, you get additional functionality without having to research, test, and learn a new, dedicated program.
At the same time, you can use it within a familiar interface.
With #1: Changing systems can be difficult
While the above sounds perfect, not everything is great about page builder plugins. Sometimes the biggest problem with them appears once you decide to stop using them.
Depending on the solution you have chosen, when you shut down the plugin, you might be left with the broken page layout and a mess of code on your site.
Especially those who use shortcuts to create the layout leave a lot to be desired after deactivation. Shortcodes are plugin specific, therefore they will stop working once you disable them and just appear on the page as text.
It can be very annoying to see your entire site layout collapse once you stop using your page builder or want to switch to another solution. In that case, you have to create it all over again and at the same time clean up your entire site.
If you are so dependent on a piece of software, is that really a good thing?
This problem is fundamentally prevalent with the older generation of page builders. Newer posts many times try to leave your site as is, even when you stop using them.
For that reason, before you commit to a solution, find out what happens when you decide to quit smoking. It's a long-term investment, so make sure it's the right one.
With #2: Potential performance issues
Page Builder plugins offer many features to attract the largest number of people. Despite everything, this often comes at a price. All that extra code can do a number on your site in terms of performance.
As an example, to achieve their design, many page builders create a large amount of nested, non-semantic HTML code. It's natural that pages built this way aren't going to be as thin and optimized as something created by an experienced front-end designer for an exact purpose.
As a result, it takes time and processing power to load and run, which at the same time can affect SEO (to see page builders from an SEO perspective, read this post).
At the same time, since you have so many options to choose from in terms of items on the page, you are more likely to use them. So using a page builder plugin can really do a number on your site's speed and different builders have different effects on this.
#3 Scam: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
Speaking of which, one of the main advantages of WordPress plugins is that they allow everyone to make radical changes to their websites. Regardless, just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
One of the most frustrating things for site developers and implementers is many times when customers take matters into their own hands. They install plugins, make design changes, and more, often with disastrous results.
If you can do this with a standard WordPress setup, imagine what's possible with a page builder plugin.
Pocas personas son expertas en Web design. De este modo, incluso si utilizan el poder dado por los creadores de páginas al máximo de sus capacidades, los resultados muchas veces simplemente no serán suficientes o satisfactorios. Finalmente, a veces es mejor dejar estas cosas en manos de expertos.
Final Thoughts: Advantages and Disadvantages of WordPress Page Builder
Page builders can be a great thing for everyday users and professionals alike. They make it easy to implement complex designs without the need for code.
This is great, since while WordPress is very easy to use, true customization requires at least the basic development tools.
Like everything else, using a page builder plugin on your website has its advantages and disadvantages. On the professional side is the ability to create designs via drag and drop and a wide range of features.
On the downside, page builders can be difficult to navigate, have potential performance issues, and carry a higher risk of crashing your site.
In the end, they can be a great tool for different scenarios. If you educate yourself and plan your site in advance, the page builders may be totally sufficient to implement your plans without having to hire a developer. This is fundamentally true for simpler, mostly static sites.
If you are not overly literate on how to create an entire site, they are still good at making quick changes without professional help.
Alternatively, at the very least, it may make sense to hire someone for the design part and then if you're handy with a page builder plugin, build it yourself.
Regardless, apart from this, if you have absolutely no idea what you are doing, the page builder plugins potentially allow you to get it wrong on a larger scale.
Web professionals exist for a reason. If that sounds like you, maybe it is better to give your site in the hands of one of them.
What are your main advantages and disadvantages of using WordPress plugins? Anything to add to the above? Please let us know in the comment section below!
