I have worked on a quite a few WordPress projects lately that use Elementor, which is a website builder with a drag-and-drop interface and some other user-friendly bits. In the past, I have typically avoided these kinds of tools for WordPress, because they caused more problems than they solved, but recently, my mind has been changed.

A few months ago, I helped start a new business, Middle Chamber Media, which focuses on building websites for Masonic lodges. My business partner brought me on because of my experience as a web developer with experience with WordPress. I have built a ton of custom themes in the past, frequently using either a child theme approach or starting from a bare-bones theme and building from scratch. This has worked quite well, and though it can produce a robust and speedy website, it can result in maintenance challenges in the long-run.

However, with Middle Chamber Media, we were suddenly faced with the process of managing and deploying a large number of WordPress sites, and there are just a couple of us working on it. Currently, our process involves my partner doing most of the theme development and website setup, and then I go in and fine-tune the website for responsiveness (i.e. for phones and tablets). This process has been working pretty well for us.

More Elementor Experience

Earlier this year, I also helped another client with an Elementor-based WordPress website. This client wanted some SEO help, but wanted to continue managing the website on their own. Since the client is not a WordPress expert, Elementor presented an easy user interface for theme edits. We worked together, using Elementor to clean things up for SEO purposes. And it worked!

This processes have led me to a surprising conclusion: Elementor is great for certain things! It has been a very big time saver and an enabler of collaboration across different WordPress skill levels. I had to adjust to the new workflow and learn the Elementor editor and paradigm, but it has been worth it. It is such a huge leap forward compared to previous drag-and-drop theme builders for WordPress. They all used to really suck!