Why I develop custom WordPress themes vs using a Typical page builder

With WordPress being my go to CMS platform for web development. I’ve gotten to know a number of different ways you can build a website within it. One way is to use a page builder like Elementor or Site Origins. The only thing about that is. You’re design will probably become shit in short order once things begin to be updated. This is because your typically page builder gives anyone carte blanche to input and edit pretty much what ever they want and because of this. I prefer to develop my own custom WordPress themes, when possible.

Most Designs don’t fit easily into a WordPress page builder

The biggest reason I custom develop my own themes comes down the design that I have to develop into a working site. Yeah I could create “templated” widgets/content/etc. in page builders to reuse throughout pages so you don’t have to recreate things every time, but in my experience. If you have to update one thing globally. It’s rather hard to do so when you have multiple instances of content using the same design.

Advanced Custom Fields and Gutenberg Blocks

When it comes to building out custom themes. There are two things I use on every theme. Advanced Custom Fields and custom WordPress Gutenberg Blocks. Advanced Custom Themes allows me to add in any kind of content field I would need into a custom gutenberg block. I also use some default gutenberg blocks like “heading”, “paragraph” and “columns” because hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Giving CLients Some Guardrails

When it comes to page builders. They often give you enough options. It’s kinda like trying to take a drink from a fully open fire hose and in the end you’re not quite sure what to use. So developing things in the way I do. It gives my clients a little bit of guard rails when it comes to inputting and editing content. Sure, it can take a little more time to build a site in the end, but the end result I think is better as it will better keep the integrity of the original design.

In Conclusion

You’re not wrong if you use page builders to build out your WordPress site. Every developer has their own way of doing things and most anything can be done several different ways with yielding the exact same effect. Creating custom WordPress themes vs using a page builder simply boils down to my opinion of how to do things.