This document evaluates and compares several free and premium drag-and-drop WordPress page builder plugins, summarizing the key features and conclusions about each. The free plugins discussed are MiniMax Page Layout Builder, iFeature, and PageLines Lite, while the premium plugins covered are iThemes Builder, SiteOrigin Page Builder, and Themify Builder. For each, the document examines interface features, available layouts and modules, customization options, and overall ease of use.

1. August 18, 2013

2. EastBayWP.com

3. Our Meetup.com Page
http://www.meetup.com/Eastbay-WordPress-Meetup/

4. Ongoing Sponsor: Page.ly
http://page.ly/

5. Drag & Drop
WordPress Themes
Sallie Goetsch

6. FREE OPTIONS

7. MiniMax Page Layout Builder
http://wordpress.org/plugins/page-layout-builder/

8. Page Layout Builder Settings

9. MiniMax Layout Tab: Columns

10. MiniMax Add Modules

11. MiniMax Page with Modules

12. MiniMax Page: Front End

13. MiniMax Layout Builder:
Conclusion
• Reasonably intuitive
• Limited selection of modules in free
version
• Some conflicts with normal WordPress
functions, e.g. media library
• Could still be useful, but I wasn’t that
impressed.

14. iFeature (CyberChimps)

15. iFeature Options

16. iFeature Header Layout

17. iFeature Blog Layout

18. iFeature +Portfolio -Slider

19. iFeature: Conclusion
• Partly drag-and-drop
• Easy to use
• Can create a home page without posts
• Minimal control over styling
• Limited layout options
• Suitable for beginners

20. PageLines Lite

21. PageLines Site Options

22. PageLines Layout Editor

23. PageLines Layout Editor 2

24. PageLines Drag and Drop

25. Applying a PageLines Template

26. PageLines: Conclusion
• Fairly flexible even in free version
• Not immediately intuitive—lots of
different settings pages
• Combination of drag-and-drop and
other selectors
• Modify templates on a per-page basis
• Can be used by beginners, but there’s a
learning curve

27. Snapshot (SiteOrigin)

28. SiteOrigin Page Builder

29. SiteOrigin Page Builder Settings

30. Site Origin Widgets

31. SiteOrigin Home Page Builder

32. PageBuilder Tab

33. SiteOrigin: Conclusion
• Widget-based
• More click-and-add than drag-and-drop
• Allows page-based and post-based
layouts
• Assumes you already have site content
(post categories, etc.)
• Designed to work within the styling of
the SiteOrigin themes

34. PREMIUM OPTIONS

35. iThemes Builder

36. Builder Layouts and Views

37. Add New Builder Layout

38. New Layout Applied
Error message due to
lack of posts to feature

39. Custom Builder Layout Metabox
Select a Builder Layout
instead of a page
template when creating a
new page.

40. Builder Style Manager

41. iThemes Builder: Conclusion
• Not really drag-and-drop
• Very well-documented
• Page-by-page layout options
• Modules for restaurants, churches,
events, audio
• Style manager plugin
• Many child themes available

42. Themify Builder

43. Themify Default Layouts

44. Themify Page Builder Settings

45. Themify Custom Panel:
Page Options

46. Themify Custom Panel: Post Query

47. Themify Custom Panel: Builder

48. Themify Page with Modules

49. Themify Front-end Editing

50. Themify Builder: Conclusion
• Good number of modules
• Fairly intuitive to use
• Front-end editing is cool
• Themes are resource-intensive
• Can add custom CSS classes for custom
styling
• Test it with free “Basic” theme