Pagebuilder Plugins: You’ve Come a Long Way Baby!

If you’ve scoffed at using a page builder plugin in the past, it may be time to reconsider. Over the last year or two, we’ve seen the emergence of some players that prove drag-and-drop page builders *can* be well coded and fast. See some of the pros and cons of creating layouts using a page builder plugin, and learn how these plugins can be a real boon for small teams or solo web designers.

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1. Page Builder Plugins: You've Come a Long Way Baby! WORDCAMP US 2016 #WCUS @mmizejewski
2. What is a page builder?
3. A visual way to build custom layouts using drag-and-drop elements and styles settings
6. Page builder plugins not themes
7. the_content()
8. BIG Improvements
9. Pros and Cons
11. performance suffers restrictive lock-in: shortcodes Bad Reputation?
12. What is a shortcode? A WordPress-specific code that lets you do nifty things with very little effort. Shortcodes can embed files or create objects that would normally require lots of complicated, ugly code in just one line. Shortcode = shortcut.
15. I don't give a damn about my reputation
16. fast and well-coded much better UI no reliance on shortcodes Improvements
18. Elementor Beaver Builder Divi Builder 3 of the Best
19. Who is it for?
20. Best is always subjective
21. Consider project requirements team skills more control = more complexity
23. Katharine Team and Skills Team of two, mostly focused on content and marketing. Neither has much of an eye for design Goals and Requirements • Build and maintain a site for her small business • Happy using premade templates and elements • OK with updating each item individually if a style changes
24. Clayton Team and Skills Small team heavy on messaging and design skills, but no one that can delve into WordPress code to create custom templates and functions Goals and Requirements • Build and maintain a site for a medium-sized non-profit agency • Lay out content in a more visual way • Wants option to add classes and edit CSS
25. Abby Team and Skills Solo web designer who has to wear many hats Goals and Requirements • Customize while reusing patterns and elements for efficiency • Control over CSS when needed • Add code snippets for functions and conditionals • Keep clients from breaking things
26. Three to Watch
27. Elementor page builder plugin
36. Elementor user interface newest of the bunch mobile editing
37. Beaver Builder page builder plugin
45. Beaver Builder global element templates no nested columns
46. The Divi Builder page builder plugin
56. The Divi Builder role editor backend editor shortcodes
57. So which one? overlap, but differences subjective what are your needs?
58. Page builder plugins are not used in a vacuum
59. Possible recipes of theme + page builder + other plugins
60. Katharine Team and Skills Team of two, mostly focused on content and marketing. Neither has much of an eye for design Goals and Requirements • Build and maintain a site for her small business • Happy using premade templates and elements • OK with updating each item individually if a style changes
61. Woocommerce plugin + Elementor + twentysixteen theme Possible recipe
62. Clayton Team and Skills Small team heavy on messaging and design skills, but no one that can delve into WordPress code to create custom templates and functions Goals and Requirements • Build and maintain a site for a medium-sized non-profit agency • Lay out content in a more visual way • Wants option to add classes and edit CSS
63. Beaver Builder + GeneratePress theme Possible recipe
64. Abby Team and Skills Solo web designer who has to wear many hats Goals and Requirements • Customize while reusing patterns and elements for efficiency • Control over CSS when needed • Add code snippets for functions and conditionals • Keep clients from breaking things
65. Genesis Extender plugin + Divi Builder + Genesis framework and theme Possible recipe
67. Page Builder features are a moving target
68. the latest… Elementor Pro release Beaver Builder UI update in the works Divi plan to switch to frontend editing
70. THANKS FOR LISTENING Michele Mizejewski @mmizejewski
71. Links and Image Credits • Elementor page builder plugin • Beaver Builder page builder plugin • Divi Builder page builder plugin • Stormtrooper Photo by JD Hancock • Nope Octopus • Page builder performance tests • WordPress.com on shortcodes • The Problem with Shortcodes • Developer perspective and the power 
 of feedback • Genesis Framework • GeneratePress Theme • Genesis Extender plugin