Among website platforms, WordPress is probably the most famous. When talking about Content management systems alone, WordPress owns 60.8% of the market share. That is how ubiquitous and gigantic WordPress is.
Even 14.7% of the world’s top websites are powered by it. Time Magazine, Sony Music, The Harvard Gazette and even Microsoft News itself only function due to WordPress. WordPress is a must-have for the internet.
Now WordPress is just a very simple site builder, it takes a lot of work to create a website in the levels of the bigger ones like Microsoft news and Time Magazine. It would be difficult to create a website as functional and elegant without the necessary know-how.
Enter Plug-ins. WordPress plugins are pieces of software that you “plug into” your WordPress site. These pieces of software will then add new functionality or enhance functionality on your WordPress site. Through plugins, you can make your website into anything you can imagine.
Plugins are the heartbeat of WordPress. They are essential to maintain and enhance its function. WordPress plugins are so embedded in the WordPress environment, that there are over 55,000 plugins listed on the WordPress Plugin Directory.
Some are free and some are paid. Some plug-ins are simple to use while others require some time to get used to. One notable plug in is the page builder plug in called Elementor.
Pink1472’s Youtube channel is reviewed in video format for those who like a visual experience. To get a comprehensive overview of Elementor, you may still want to check out our article below.
Elementor: A Quick Overview What Is The Best Free Theme To Use Elementor?
Elementor, a drag-and drop page builder plugin for WordPress, is the first. As the name suggests, page builders help users build their websites from the ground up.
That said, Elementor is nothing new. It has been available in the WordPress Plugin Library since it was released in mid-2016. It has quickly become one of the most popular, visual page builders in WordPress. It has not slowed down since then.
Elementor continues to evolve and grow at an incredible pace, keeping up the latest technologies.
Since it is a drag-and-drop builder. Elementor is easy to use, even for people just starting to build websites. Most of the process will involve dragging and dropping website elements on your workspace.
Drag and drop builders work on the principle that “what you see, is what you get”. That means whatever you see while editing or building your website. This makes it easy to imagine how your website would look as you are building it.
Furthermore, Elementor allows you to do a lot of things. It gives you the ability to create posts and pages that are unique and more eye-oppoing than the standard post or page templates from a regular WordPress theme.
Elementor will take you to a different interface when you create your page. This is where you get to work on your posts and pages. You don’t need to use the standard editor WordPress offers.
This interface also does not require you to have any HTML, CSS, PHP, or any coding skills. As stated above, everything is drag and drop and done through a handy user-facing interface.
Elementor is a flexible plugin. It can be used with whatever current WordPress theme you are using. You can make and generate any content layout or page layout you can imagine with it.
Elementor even works on all kinds of WordPress themes. So there is no need to worry if your theme will be bugging out since it is not compatible with Elementor.
The Features of Elementor
Elementor looks like it’s a drag-and-drop page builder for WordPress Users.
We wouldn’t discuss Elementor, however, if that is all Elementor can do.
Aside from being one of the most used and well reviewed page builder plugin in WordPress, Elementor also has the following features:
Content Elements Galore
Admit it, the name Elementor is pretty strange for something that is a web page builder. It is not page building. Instead, it creates images of a monster that uses the elements to defeat the heroes.
Elementor is not named after any mythical creature or scary monster. It is named after the building blocks users use to build out the page. These blocks are called elements and form the web site.
These are the items that users “drag-and drop” to create eye-popping designs. These are the Elementor names.
Responsive Design
First came the smart phones. Then came internet of things. Now, almost everything can be used to browse the internet. The most popular way to browse the internet is still via a personal computer or laptop, rather than using smartphones and tablets.
Now, if you are an owner of a webpage who wants the “hits” you should have no cock to pick on that cockfight. You would want both to visit your website. You want your website to look great on any device.
Elementor makes it possible to achieve this. Your website will look great on any device, thanks to its responsive design.
And if you are not satisfied with the default look, there are multiple options provided to allow you to customize and control how it works and looks.
Templates
Elementor is a drag-and-drop builder that makes it easy to create a WordPress page. It will also be no surprise to find people who have no idea where to begin when building a webpage.
These poor souls can be helped by templates. Templates can help avoid the blank page syndrome that most beginners suffer from. Elementor offers hundreds of professionally designed templates.
These templates are a great place to start when you’re creating a new website. These templates can also be used to inspire you in creating your own unique websites.
Style options
Elementor offers style as well as templates. With Elementor, you can get a lot of detailed style options that allow for pixel-perfect design. You don’t need to know any coding or custom CSS.
Convenience
With its multiple tools, Elementor makes it a lot easier to build your web pages. You can access right-click support to get assistance with just a mouse click. There is also a quick find tool to aid you in finding what you need to build your website with the Theme Builder.
The Pro version (paid version) even allows users to design entire WordPress themes.
Dynamic Content
Dynamic content is defined as any digital or online content that changes and updates based on data, user behavior and preferences.
Elementor lets you add dynamic content to your pages using custom fields or plugins such as ACF, Pods, and Toolset. You can keep your pages up-to-date with any changes that you wish to reflect.
Popup Builder
Another feature available only to Pro users of Elementor is the popup builder. Popups are small web pages that can be used into whatever you like. More often than not, they are used for lead conversion.
Elementor’s Popup Builder allows you to design your popup using the same tools given for your webpage builder. This includes the same visual, drag and drop interface as well as the what you see is what you get interface.
With Elementor’s popup builder, you are sure to create popups that are as visually impressive as your page.
WooCommerce Builder
WooCommerce is an open-source ecommerce plugin for WordPress. WooCommerce’s target is usually small to large online merchants. Its main draw is for its simplicity to integrate on your website and its customizability.
Elementor allows you to set up an eCommerce store with the WooCommerce plugin. You can create your WooCommerce shop through Elementor using Lementors. You can even include products and integrate it in your design.
The Users for Elementor
Elementor can be used by almost anyone. From digital marketers to students. Anybody who plans to create a WordPress website can use the various styles and functions available in Elementor to spice up their pages.
Casual User
Elementor is a great tool for casual users who want to inject some personality and pizazz into their blogs or websites. Elementor is the ideal tool to do this job.
Using the visual interface, it would be very easy for casual users to create groundbreaking or eye-opening designs even without using technical knowledge like coding, custom CSS or whatever programming language available.
For casual users, even the free version is already good to go.
Digital Marketer
Elementor is also great for digital marketers and teams because it allows for lots of marketing opportunities.
It can be used as a drag-and-drop page builder to create sales pages or landing pages if you know how to do that. To really increase your sales, you could combine the plugin with Landing Page friendly plugins.
If you want to get serious, you can avail of the Elementor Pro features that allow you to create lead forms. These forms are not far from those plugins that focus more on lead conversion or landing pages.
You can even connect these lead forms to popular email marketing services. Zapier is one of the most popular integration and automation tools on the internet.
The Popup builder was mentioned earlier. This popup builder allows you to create opt-in, popups. You can place these pop ups anywhere on your site and target them to specific things.
Even the WooCommerce Builder can be used to sell products and services and design your sales pages.
Site Builders
For people whose work involves building websites for clients, there is no better choice than Elementor.
Elementor has plenty of features to make website building an easier and more streamlined process. Drag and drop allows builders to quickly create a website. This feature can be combined with the website preview to almost instantly see the results.
You can even choose themes to simplify the process of building websites. These themes can also be used to inspire the next website they create. They can use the aesthetics, functionality, form, or any combination of the above to build the perfect website.
Elementor users can even use the plugin in conjunction with flexible themes to build 100% custom client sites without even touching code.
However, Elementor allows you to still code.
Elementor: The Case
We know about Elementor’s features, and we also know who can benefit from the plugin. But we need to understand why Elementor is so important.
Elementor is a page builder that creates websites.
Making websites is not an easy task. Sure, you might know the basics. You might even know which elements to include to make a very functional website.
However, it is still a fact that websites should be unique in order to carve out their own space in the internet. This might sound like an easy task, but there are a lot of factors to consider when maintaining a website.
Website navigation and aesthetics are important, as well as security. To keep visitors and users satisfied with the website’s performance, each of these should be in top condition.
Doing so will take a lot of work. Now, put yourself in the shoes of a freelancer or a website designer and you will have these problems multiplied tenfold.
You will need to generate and create new ideas for each client you have or every website you build.
These people will find plugins and page builders apps a blessing. There are many features that make website building easier and more intuitive. Work will take less time to consume.
From the multiple features such as dynamic content, version features, and drag and drop builders, Website designers will have to spend less time fine tuning websites depending on their client’s preferences.
It is possible to start from scratch. Thanks to the multiple professional grade templates available for use.
And that is the main crux of website and webpage builders. They allow the users to have an easier and more accessible time in carving their space in the Internet. What Is The Best Free Theme To Use Elementor?
The Examination of Elementor
The Interface
Of course, using the Elementor plugin requires installation and activation before using it. This can be done through the WordPress Repository.
With that done, you can choose to customize Elementor’s settings or immediately begin creating and designing a website.
For people who are just starting out, the default starting settings should not be changed. We can now go to the pages and edit any that we want.
Click on the “Edit with Elementor” button in the upper right corner of the page to begin editing
The dashboard will now have the following parts:
- The Main Canvas where most of the action will take place. This is where you will edit and redesign most of your websites look
- The Elementor widgets area where most of the “apps” and functions for your website can be dragged from before putting it in the main working area of our website
- Elementor Settings
- Open Elementor Widgets
- Global Settings
- Revision History
- Switch View. where you can switch between views on how your website will look like on different gadgets (desktop, tablet, or mobile)
- Preview Changes
- Publish
From this interface, you can choose what to do with your website. You can either start from scratch. Edit an existing webpage. To get started, you can use a template. What Is The Best Free Theme To Use Elementor?
Elementor Structure Hierarchy
Before you can truly begin creating websites in Elementor, you need to understand how it works. In this case, you need to get a grip of how the website elements in Elementor work as well as how they work with each other.
Sure, Elementor might offer a drag and drop builder, which at first glance can make it a chaotic and free builder. However, there is actually a structure to this “madness”. This structure is essential for effective website building, and not just copying a template.
Each page created with Elementor has sections and columns
Sections are essentially rows. Each section is the basis of the page. You can change the size and background of a section. Sections hold widgets and columns. They basically hold all the elements together.
The sections are divided by columns. Just like the sections, you can control and customize each column individually. Each column can be home to multiple widgets or content. As such, you can make each column on a section different from each other.
These are the smallest elements of a website. These are the main elements of your website’s toppers. Your website’s function will be determined by the widgets, while its personality will be determined by the content. These widgets can be customized and styled.
Pre-made Templates
Although they aren’t necessary for creating web pages, you can still make them from scratch. However, pre-made templates are always a blessing. Not only do they make your work easier and faster, they are also a source of lots and lots of inspiration.
Elementor provides you with professionally designed pre-made templates you can use for your page. Each template can be used as-is or modified to fit your needs.
So how many templates do Elementor provide its users? Elementor offers 150 templates to free users. If that is not enough, Pro users are given three hundred and more templates to play around with.
There are also the Elementor Kits. These are “design kits” that consist of a collection of templates. These templates are mostly uniform or share the same design feel. These templates are great for creating websites with a single design theme.
Elementor’s template collection contains both pre-made templates as well as Elementor kit kits. This library contains most common templates for various purposes. You might think of a website page and find the information you are looking for. What Is The Best Free Theme To Use Elementor?
There are pages for contact pages, about pages, landing pages, and niches. restaurants, hotels, resorts etc.) portfolios, and even teampages as well as many more.
The library gives and receives. You can export web pages that you are happy with to a template so you can reuse them whenever you want.
This allows you to easily choose a design for a page that shares design elements or functions with your other pages. These designs can be shared to the wider community online.
Elementor allows you to design a page from scratch
Elementor allows you to build and design your web page either from scratch, with a pre-existing template. Although it’s easier to use a template to create one, it is worth learning how to make one yourself.
We can see the effectiveness of the Elementor plugin’s functions by looking at it.
To start:
- Click “Edit with Elementor” to open a blank page
- You will see a “+” button. To add a new section, click on the button.
- A page will appear with a variety of sections. Choose the one that best suits your needs. Preferably the one with enough columns for your needs.
- Now that you have your sections, you can start picking your widgets in the Elementor drag and drop them to your columns where you want to place them.
- When you are satisfied with where you placed your elements, you can customize them in the Content, Style, and Advanced Sections. It is a good idea to experiment with the different options until you find the style that suits you best. What Is The Best Free Theme To Use Elementor?
Editing a Pre-Existing Page in Elementor to Suit your Design
Now that we’ve learned how to design web pages from scratch with Elementor, it is time to look at the process of editing rather than building one from a pre-existing page. Pre-existing pages can come from a variety of sources.
These templates can be taken from your saved pages. Some can come front he dozens of templates available from Elementor’s library. Or they can be other templates that you have imported into Elementor.
No matter the source, one thing is true: Editing a webpage from a pre-built page is a lot easier than building one from scratch.
Let’s move on.
- It is easy to add a new widget. Simply drag the widget that you wish to use from your Elementor Panel to the place you want it to be on the page.
- You can also arrange widgets in the visual preview by dragging them and dropping them to the new place.
- It is easy to edit text in content boxes. Simply click on the box to open it and then enter the text you desire on the visual preview.
- Remember, you can always add new sections and columns. This is particularly useful if you need to create new layouts of your widgets.
- You can customize your widgets the same way you edit text, by clicking on them. It will open the appropriate widget setting in the sidebar. This is divided into three tabs: Content, Style, and Advanced. Play with these settings until you find something you fancy. What Is The Best Free Theme To Use Elementor?
The Price of Elementor
It seems unbelievable that elementor is a free plugin when you consider all of the features it offers. You heard it correctly. Elementor is completely free
You might have noticed that the Pro version is mentioned. It is true that there is a Pro version. To enjoy most of Elementor’s features and benefits, however, you don’t need to be a pro.
You can get Elementor’s main plugin via the official WordPress repository. It is entirely free and no hidden costs or signups and registrations are needed. You will also need this main plugin if you want to go Pro.
The Pro edition. There are currently four plans. Each of these plans adds more benefits and features. Depending on which plan you choose, they will provide a different number of Pro Website Activation.
The plan are as follows:
Essential Plan | Expert Plan | Studio Plan | Agency Plan |
$49 per Year | $199 per Year | $299 per Year (1st year only)
$499 |
$999 per Year |
1 Pro Website Activation
More than 100+ basic and pro widgets
300+ Basic and Pro Templates
60+ Pro Website Kits
Theme Builder
WooCommerce Store Builder
Landing Page Builder
Premium Support |
25 Pro-Website Activations
100+ Basic and Pro Widgets
More than 300+ Pro and Basic Templates
60+ Pro Website Kits
Theme Builder
WooCommerce Store Builder
Landing Page Builder
Premium Support
Elementor Expert Profile |
100 Pro Website Activations
100+ Basic and Pro Widgets
More than 300+ Pro and Basic Templates
60+ Pro Website Kits
Theme Builder
WooCommerce Store Builder
Landing Page Builder
VIP Support
Elementor Expert Profile |
1000 Pro Website Activations
100+ Basic and Pro Widgets
More than 300+ Pro and Basic Templates
60+ Pro Website Kits
Theme Builder
WooCommerce Store Builder
Landing Page Builder
VIP Support
Elementor Expert Profile |
The Case for Going Pro
When it comes to Elementor Pro, there is much debate. Many people struggle to pay for a service that offers 90% of the benefits it could offer for free. To be honest, this actually boils down to what Elementor Pro offers.
Aside from the ones listed above, Elementor Pro has its other benefits. This include: What Is The Best Free Theme To Use Elementor?
- 50+ Additional content elements or modules
- 300+ additional page templates
- A theme builder (which allows you to change headers and footers for your current theme)
- WooCommerce Builder (which allows you to rebuild your WooCommerce Product Pages
- Popup builder (which allows you to build popups and integrate them with either an on opt-in form or some offers or discounts)
- Visual form builder that can be integrated with many popular marketing tools
- Global widgets that can be used through the website (even not on the same page)
- Add custom CSS to any Elementor Blocks for further customization
- Deploying Elementor elements in sidebars and widgets
If you think these additional features are enough, or if you need some of these features for your webpage, you should definitely go for Elementor’s Pro Version. What Is The Best Free Theme To Use Elementor?
Elementor: The Pros and Con of Elementor
Pros
- The core product for Elementor is entirely free. Elementor is free to use, unlike many plugins.
- There are plenty of features to use for creating your webpage. They are even very easy to use.
- It allows users to build custom web pages and page layouts with eye-popping design that may not be accessible in your basic theme or on WordPress’ basic builder.
- Drag and drop builders eliminate the need to have HTML, CSS, orPHP skills. Elementor is your friend!
- The “What you see, is what you get” approach makes it simple to build your website. This approach can help you save time.
- Elementor pages are all responsive. They even allow you to view how they would look on mobile, desktop, or tablet as you are building your website.
- The plugin provides detailed settings for all alignments, margins, and padding values. You can literally fine tune all details of your page.
Cons
- Sometimes, the custom styling to links does not always go as intended.
- There are times where you can get stuck with Elementor’s default typography and color settings.
- It is difficult to fix misaligned elements, especially talking about their margin values. This is because most blocks, columns, and content elements have their own margin settings.
- Some people have observed that Elementor can sometimes slow down the overall speed of your website. What Is The Best Free Theme To Use Elementor?
The Verdict on Elementor
In conclusion, Elementor is a splendid page builder. It has all the features you want and need for a basic page builder and more. It caters to both beginners and veteran page builder alike. You get all its features at a low price.
So if you are looking for a drag and drop page builder plugin for WordPress, you will never go wrong with Elementor.
I would even go far as to say that the developers of Elementor have struck themselves gold and never really let go since then. It is incredible that Elementors are still one of the top choices today, given their age.
Elementor Frequently Asked Questions
Is Elementor compatible with WordPress themes?
Elementor Works with all themes as long as they follow the coding standards of WordPress set by its Codex.
Can Elementor be used with other WordPress plugins?
Elementor can be used with nearly all WordPress plugins.
You might have an incompatibility problem. Elementor can help you to find and fix it.
What is Elementor Pro?
Elementor Pro, the advanced version of Elementor, is available.
Unlike regular Elementor, it is not free. It adds many features and completes the tools web designers need to create a professional website. What Is The Best Free Theme To Use Elementor?
Why is there a discount for the Studio subscription of Elementor Pro?
Elementor wants to provide a studio plan at a lower price.
At 40% discount, this is a fantastic deal. This discount is only valid for one year. During renewal, Studio plan users will be required to pay the full price.
How do I pay for Elementor Pro?
Elementor Pro can be paid for using Stripe, PayPal or any other credit card.
Is there a Demo Version for Elementor Pro? What Is The Best Free Theme To Use Elementor?
There is no Demo version for Elementor Pro.
However, they do offer a refund policy that lets you cancel the pro plan as well as get a refund within the first 30 days. If you are interested in the Pro version of Elementor Pro, you can pay for it and then use it for one month to decide if it is worth keeping.