When it comes to creating a good-looking page or website on WordPress, you need to make sure you have everything you need to accomplish it. The platform’s page builder is available 24/7, but you won’t be able to edit the site as often as you would like due to its size and location.
Thankfully, third-party web design plugins are there to address those woes you may often experience with WordPress’s own, and one of the most notable is Elementor. Elementor aims to aid you in creating websites in a uniquely easy way – and when we say it’s a breeze to work with, we do mean it. No coding required!
Are you a believer that Elementor is the right page builder? Are you still undecided? To answer your curiosities, we’re deeply diving into everything it offers.
For those of you who prefer a more visual experience, here is a video review from the YouTube channel Pinky1472. You can still read our article to get an overview of Elementor.
Elementor in a Nutshell: What Is It About? Why Can’T I Edit Categories With Elementor
Elementor is a website builder plugin designed for WordPress. It is best known for its intuitive and visual drag-and-drop editor. This allows you to create a variety of design assets and blocks, and then see how your page looks to visitors in real time.
Elementor’s interface is similar to popular website builders such as Squarespace or Wix. You can either choose a pre-made template or build a custom-made WordPress website. One good thing about this one-of-a-kind platform is that all the tools you need to build a website are within your reach – all without the added hassles of coding that may get in the way of enjoying it.
What Does It Have to Offer?
Living up to the reputation of being a very excellent WordPress plugin, Elementor provides a sleek and neat interface that lets you seamlessly go through everything it can offer.
- Elementor offers a wider range of attractive and dynamic themes than the standard, plain themes that are often included with WordPress’ in-house themes.
- You get a separate and highly interactive work interface to edit your posts and pages. WordPress’s similar editor is lightweight and easy to use.
- You can keep your current theme, even if it’s from WordPress – Elementor can deal with all WordPress themes as long as they’re compatible with version 5.0 of the platform or higher. You can use the plugin to refine your dull-looking theme into a more eye-catching one.
- The front-end handles all editing of your pages and websites. This means you’ll be able to see your work immediately as your visitors or customers see it. This outstanding feature gives you a better understanding of which design element keeps them returning for more or otherwise.
Elementor, as a whole, makes it easy for anyone to use when it comes to creating an impressive page. Its interface is designed to be so streamlined and filled to the brim with essential tools that even those who may need more expansive knowledge in web design can navigate through it with no problems. This has made the website builder an excellent choice for those with limited resources or who work in a small team.
Many similar web designer plugins may offer working individuals a pleasing drag-and-drop experience and a handful of useful tools. Still, not all of them can live up to Elementor’s standard. With that being said, Elementor has gained a positive reputation among many WordPress users – more than three million of them have had the plugin installed on their accounts.
What is it that makes this web design platform unique? What else does it have that others usually don’t? We’ll find out soon as we take a more in-depth look at what Elementor has in store for us, starting with its illustrious list of features.
Meet Elementor’s Features
Fully-packed Template Library
If you’re completely new to web design or you have basic knowledge of it but don’t have enough time to commit to it, Elementor has got your back with its library of over 150 template options to choose from. They make site-building easy as they turn your ideas into products that will grab attention.
The platform’s templates are classified into two categories:
- Pages – full-length templates that only require you to do low-effort customization
- Blocks are templates that can be used to create pages for specific and individual parts. Examples of blocks include portfolios, pricing tables, FAQs, portfolios, and more.
If you wish to expand beyond Elementor’s in-house template selection, you may find them from tons of third-party sources all over the internet and import them onto the platform under the My Templates tab.
Huge Selection of Widgets
Elementor has a lot more than just a wide range of templates. The plugin is also rich in widget choices. Widgets can be smaller and more contained elements, which house a variety of content.
There are 60+ widgets that you can use to get a lot of information about how your website should look and the flexibility you have in doing so. These include text-related elements like headings, inner sections, media files such as images and videos, buttons and icons, as well as website sidebars. Map widgets powered by Google Maps, testimonials, star ratings, and gallery widgets are also part of what Elementor has in store.
You can add as many pages as you like to your site. To expand your selection, you can also import templates from third-party sources.
Convenient Drag-and-drop Editing
Elementor’s user interface is the most notable feature. Elementor’s drag-and-drop functionality allows users to create and edit pages as easily as possible. Simply drag whatever widget you like best from the left sidebar, and drop it into your workspace. Similarly, you may tweak some adjustments between the page’s elements by dragging it to a different location.
Apart from that, Elementor offers right-click support to assist users without having to go over the sidebar for slight edits all the time – something a couple of WordPress web design plugins aren’t equipped with.
Included is a Navigation view section that gives you a comprehensive list of content arranged accordingly to Elementor’s page structure – we’ll discuss that later on in full detail.
The editing interface also includes a Finder tool that will help you navigate quickly between pages and content elements.
Fine-tuned Control over Your Elements
For a basic WordPress page-building plugin, Elementor is surely stuffed with many design options that anyone can enjoy hassle-free. It knows that the finest of details matter when it comes to creating an eye-catching website, so it allows you the liberty to edit and fix every single design element in whatever you’re building.
You can make necessary changes to your site’s content blocks and widgets, images, text, and text. You can also change the font, sizing, and color of your text content and headings.
Those are some of the basic editing tools you can explore in Elementor. You can also make specific adjustments to the plugin’s content elements. Widget positioning within columns, setting exact margins and padding in numbers, animation effects, and custom CSS settings are part of the plugin’s line of next-level customization options.
Optional Features for Your Mobile-Friendly Page
All of Elementor’s templates are mobile-friendly by default, but you may be wondering if you could make some changes to match how you want it to look. The platform allows you to customize your website to look better on tablets and smartphones, just like everything else.
You can click on the Switch view icon in the sidebar to be presented with three viewing options: one for your desktop, tablet and one for your mobile phone. If you want to omit a widget or limit whatever you want your clients/customers to see, you may choose any of the three and edit right away.
An opportunity to look back at the changes you’ve made
Sometimes, a few ‘undos’ actions are not enough to correct a major design error. Similar situations could have occurred if you tried to edit on any other design platform.
Elementor’s Revision History tool is a great help in this situation. With it, you can revert to any of the previous versions of the page you’re editing without sacrificing the rest of your design elements.
Pricing
The Elementor plugin is offered completely for free, letting you take full advantage of all its core web design features and elements needed to create a good-looking site or page. Elementor Pro has many more upgrades and additions than the previous version. You might be interested in one.
Elementor Pro will allow you to explore a wider range of themes, templates and design blocks, as well as custom CSS and advanced programming capabilities. You can also create forms and pop-ups in the platform’s editing interface, integrate with WooCommerce, and use the theme builder.
Elementor Pro has four main subscription plans, each designed for various individuals and/or groups. The plan also offers a website builder and hosting plans for advanced site management. All tiers are paid annually and share the same premium features; the only two factors that set each other apart are the number of website activations and customer support response time.
Elementor Pro Plans
- Essential Plan – $49/year. 1 Pro Website Activation. 24/7 Customer Support
- Expert Plan – $199/year, 25 pro website activations, 24/7 customer support
- Studio Plan – $299 in the first year, then $499/year after; 100 pro website activations, VIP customer support in under 30 minutes
- Agency Plan – $999/year. 1000 Pro Website Activations. VIP Customer Support in Less Than 30 Minutes.
The Elementor Cloud Website Builder + Hosting plan is $99 annually. It gives you the same features you can expect from any Elementor Pro plan but includes stunning hosting and CMS capabilities. It offers a wide range of templates and design assets. Your website is protected by Google Cloud Platform integration, SSL and robust website management.
Elementor Free vs. Elementor Pro
Now comes the complicated part: Is the free WordPress plugin version still suitable for your needs, or do you think the Pro version has such a big advantage that it makes you want to try it instead?
If you want to build a website or landing page without thinking of adding anything else to further attract your clients, you may choose to stand by the free plugin variant. Elementor Free is already feature-rich in retrospect – its series of core tools are as dynamic as other web design platforms where their premium plans bring the same level of delivery. It is so dynamic that business teams can use the free version. Why Can’T I Edit Categories With Elementor
Elementor Free allows you to:
- Create optimized mobile-friendly versions of your site and page
- Go through your website’s version history
- Make use of fully customizable themes as well as built-in pre-made templates
- You can add or modify website blocks as you wish.
Elementor Pro might be the right choice if you need to license multiple websites. One of its advantage that sits above the free version is that there is a lot of value added to it. What we mean by it is you have more options to explore and more features to give you the extra edge. These include:
- A growing list of more than 300 themes and over 100+ premium block templates.
- Global widgets allow you to use the same widget on multiple pages and not have to modify it individually.
- If you are looking for more ways to draw potential customers, there is a front-end form creator and a pop up editor.
- Integrations with WooCommerce are available, with templates blocks and widgets to help you create an online storefront.
- The ability to create your personalized theme from scratch through its Theme Builder feature. Why Can’T I Edit Categories With Elementor
Elementor Pro should not be considered the only way to grow the WordPress plugin if you don’t want to license multiple websites. As previously mentioned, Elementor Free is already sustainable enough for most users – there are plenty of flexible themes and templates out there that can be integrated with Elementor, a notable example of which is Astra.
Elementor: How does it work?
To get the Elementor plugin to start, the first thing you will need to do is install and activate it in WordPress. Once you’ve installed it, there’s a settings panel that you can visit if you wish – you may opt to modify whatever you want to see while you do the editing. You can also go to WordPress’s pages section.
From there, you will notice the Edit with Elementor button placed conveniently along the bar above the canvas. You will be immediately redirected to the builder interface as you click the button. The image below perfectly illustrates what it looks like. Why Can’T I Edit Categories With Elementor
Based on the picture, here are a couple of things that you should expect as you explore the interface:
- The workroom or canvas. It takes up the largest part of the screen.
- The widgets area. Situated on the left side next to the canvas, it contains lots of content and design elements that are ready to use.
- Settings. Symbolized by three small horizontal lines, it is where you get to access a wide range of colors, fonts, and other design assets.
- The Open Elementor widgets button. It is essentially a menu button that allows you to return the widgets list. Nine little squares are used to represent this.
- The Global Settings button. It is represented by the cogwheel icon and takes you to the more advanced settings.
- The Revision History button. It is displayed as a clock icon and allows you to view the history of pages or websites in your past versions.
- Switch to another view This small monitor icon lets you convert the desktop version of your page into tablet-friendly and mobile-friendly iterations. You may use this to edit what you want your customers to see through their phones.
- Preview your changes. Click the small eye icon to see all the changes to your page.
- The Publish/Update button. Once this shaped button goes green, that’s when you’re ready to publish. It’s gray if your page is being updated. This time, unlike green, you cannot click it. Why Can’T I Edit Categories With Elementor
Structure Hierarchy
Before you can begin building, it is important to understand the structure hierarchy Elementor uses. If you’re especially new to website design, this similar framework has been abided by many experienced creators and other basic web design platforms.
In Elementor, your primary goal is to create a page. A page is where it usually contains a series of sections and the columns that come after that.
On the one hand, a section is a row that you can customize with plenty of design elements, such as background, colors, sizing, and more.
The columns, on the other, go inside a certain section. These are the places where widgets and content elements are located. Each can be styled and sized individually.
This is Elementor’s hierarchy structure.
Page > Section > Column > Widget/Content element
Designing a Page
Now that we know how the skeletal outline works, let’s go ahead and create a page. On WordPress’s page design interface, click the Edit with Elementor button. You’ll soon notice a plus (+) button highlighted in red violet – click on that to add a new section. Why Can’T I Edit Categories With Elementor
The next thing you must do is select the structure of your section. You can choose to have one column or several columns depending on the type of content that you want. You can then populate the columns with content elements. Drag any widget from the interface’s widget section and drop it onto those columns, whether it is a heading or an images. These widgets can be rearranged and rearranged within the page.
Once you’re happy with the structural placement, now is the time to retune the finer details to make the page look more presentable. You can explore three main editing tabs: Style, Content, and Advanced.
Designing a pre-existing or pre-made themed page is much easier than doing so from scratch. You would usually only need to make minor adjustments between sections, columns, and widgets, unless you are adding a new design element. Elementor’s drag and drop functions make it much easier to refine some changes than coding.
The disadvantages: What else is missing?
We don’t mean to mislead you, Elementor is certain to be one of the best WordPress web design tools. However, nothing in this world is always perfect. While there are many things that we love about it, there are a few that some of you may find inconvenient:
- Sometimes the editing interface can be a little slow. It’s speedy, swift, and ultimately convenient, but it does so well, too fast to the point where it freezes altogether. With that in mind, you might need to refresh and reopen it to get it back on track.
- Although most of Elementor’s features can be used for free, some may find them to be essential, but they are only available in Elementor Pro. This may prove frustrating for some. For instance, you can’t set site-wide styles in the free version, as you’re essentially stuck to a few pages simultaneously. Why Can’T I Edit Categories With Elementor
- You may find that some editing adjustments don’t work as you expect. On the one hand, if you add custom styling to certain links, you may end up with the default typography and font color. You may also have trouble finding the margin value if the alignment of your design elements is not correct.
Who should use elementor?
Elementor is filled to the brim with expert-level core features and tools included in the free version, plus more useful upgrades in any of the Elementor Pro plans. Furthermore, most users will likely find it easier to grasp than other WordPress web design plugins.
With that being said, it’s no wonder why many individuals like Elementor as a whole – it’s both a popular DIY solution for folks who may not have on-hand expertise with web design and a quick, feature-rich platform for a wide range of businesses.
We do have a few users in mind who will find Elementor more suitable. These are:
- Casual internet users. Elementor offers many customizable benefits that are especially useful for bloggers and website owners.
- Digital marketing professionals. Elementor features can be used for design purposes, but they are also marketing-ready. This includes seamless integrations with thousands of platforms via Zapier and pop-up and online commerce widgets.
- Site builders. Elementor is an excellent stepping stone for those who are interested in creating websites for clients. Why Can’T I Edit Categories With Elementor
Alternatives to Elementor
Just because Elementor has advantages that may far exceed other contemporary web design plugins doesn’t mean you should consider it as the only choice worth considering.
Many WordPress web design plugins offer similar functionality to Elementor. Some may only offer a few. WordPress’s web design features are not for everyone. We all know this. That’s why plugins were created.
There are currently two other top WordPress web builders plugins that are comparable to Elementor in terms if features: Divi builder By Elegant Themes and Beaver Builder. Divi is able to edit your website directly from the front-end interface, just like your clients. Although it has a similar look, there is no free option. On the other hand, Beaver Builder may not be as flashy as the other two plugins, but it still manages to pack as many essential design tools as possible into one platform. These are already enough to create an attractive website.
Other noteworthy web design plugin alternatives to Elementor include SeedProd and the SiteOrigin Page Builder.
Final Verdict: Is Elementor Worth Trying?
Answering the question is yes. Elementor is a premium drag-and-drop page building tool for WordPress. It’s packed with top-quality design tools and features. Most of these core features are offered free. Why Can’T I Edit Categories With Elementor
It’s easy to see why so many people continue to use this plugin to build websites and pages. Elementor is different than other web design plugins in that it allows anyone to create whatever they want with no restrictions. Elementor isn’t like other web design plugins that require you to upgrade to a higher plan, or to purchase a paid license. This ensures there is enough space for everyone.
Here’s some advice before we let you explore Elementor for yourself: if your job involves running multiple websites and creating them for clients, we recommend you try Elementor Pro. The free plugin for WordPress will still work fine.
FAQ Why Can’T I Edit Categories With Elementor
Can I upload or export my templates to Elementor?
Yes, you can import your templates to Elementor. You can create a new template using the Theme Builder. Additionally, you can import your personal themes to the website builder via the Templates tab.
In a similar function, you can export your templates to be used on other WordPress sites – a handy function if you work for multiple clients as a website-building professional.
What pages can I make with Elementor?
With Elementor, you can create homepages, landing pages, landing pages, about pages, or any mixed-interest pages under the sun.
Elementor Pro subscribers can create websites, and even online shops.
Does Elementor slow down my website?
Elementor will not slow down your website so that it takes as little time as possible to load. A website built with this plugin might take two seconds longer than one built from WordPress’s built in website builder. Both are still faster than the Beaver Builder version.
The reason why WordPress websites that are made using plugins take longer may derive from multiple factors: poor hosting, large media files, slow themes, and too many plugins at work.