Rick Radko's presentation on WordPress page builders emphasizes their ease of use for complex layouts through drag-and-drop interfaces, highlighting popular builders like Beaver Builder and Divi. He discusses features such as responsive design, custom CSS, and the ability to create templates while also addressing challenges, including layout limitations and performance issues. Radko provides resources for further exploration of page builders and lists several he has experience with.

1. r3df.com
lumostech.training
Rick Radko
“WordPress page builders:
A quick intro”
WordCamp Ottawa
June 18th, 2016

2. © 2016 Rick Radko, r3df.com
I'm
Rick Radko – R-Cubed Design Forge: r3df.com
 Website and app developer/designer, & trainer.
 Custom web sites since 1996.
 WordPress sites since 2008.
 WordPress enthusiast:
 Co-organizer of:
 WordCamp Ottawa: 2013, 2014, 2016
 The Ottawa WordPress Group.
 Plugins: profiles.wordpress.org/r3df/#content-plugins
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3. © 2016 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Why page builders?
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Build complex layouts - with easy to use drag & drop UI's

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Backend page builders - Divi Builder
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The resulting page - (Twenty Sixteen Theme)
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Builder overdose!
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WR & SiteOrigin page builders
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More backend
page builders…

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Loosing track in the backend
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Pages with more content get
harder to manage.
Which sponsor
image is which?

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Frontend page builders - Beaver Builder
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Beaver Builder - photo settings popup
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Beaver Builder - drag and drop to add another photo
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Easy to use module settings editors
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Some of many possible modules…
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 Text editor, HTML, photo or
image, video and sidebar.
 Callouts, icons, call to action,
pricing tables, maps.
 Accordions, tabs.
 Countdown & bar timers,
circle & number counters.
 Sliders, galleries.
 Contact forms, testimonials.
 Social icons.
 Posts & posts sliders.

14. © 2016 Rick Radko, r3df.com
More features
 Parallax effects.
 Background video.
 Javascript and/or CSS animations.
 Full-width, column-based layouts.
 Mobile-friendly, responsive layouts.
 Use WordPress Widgets and shortcodes.
 Works with Pages, Posts, and Custom Post Types.
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Layout templates
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Select a template, and start
editing and re-arranging as you
need.
“Instant” landing, & home pages.

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Custom CSS & javascript
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Add custom css and
javascript: per page, or
even per object.
Add CSS id and class tags.

17. © 2016 Rick Radko, r3df.com
Site building features
Page builders may let you save:
 Layouts
 Layout fragments
 Templates
 Global templates
to use on other
pages, or even other
sites, using the
export and import
functions.
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Custom modules
If you find the packaged modules are not quite right:
 Override the existing modules.
 Add custom modules.
 Add 3rd party plugins with modules.
 Just starting to appear.
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Themes
Some page builders come with themes that are designed to
integrate with the builder plugin.
 Beaver Builder
 Divi
Others have associated
themes.
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Beaver Builder

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Issues:
3rd party themes:
 Content area is not full width in many themes.
 Can't make full width layouts.
 Genesis Dam Buster plugin fixes it for Genesis.
 CSS and javascript conflicts.
Page builders work on content.
 No layouts for theme header/footer.
 3rd party plugins starting to appear with solutions.
Many page builders do not create layouts for archive pages (blog).
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Issues:
Some builders have limited layout options.
 1, 2, 3, or 4 columns in common size ratios.
 Advanced designers may struggle with layout restrictions.
Can be "heavy" - slow to work with.
 May be slower to work with than programming.
 Don’t use on every page.
Integration with 3rd party themes.
Lock-in is possible with page builders.
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The site with builders turned off
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Does not work!
Still provides a
reasonable page!

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Find Page Builders
Articles listing page builders (with brief descriptions)
 solostream.com/7-proven-page-builder-wordpress-plugins/
 colorlib.com/wp/page-builder-wordpress-plugins/
 codeinwp.com/blog/best-drag-and-drop-theme-builders/
 themexpert.com/blog/drag-and-drop-page-builder-for-wordpress
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A few page builders I have tried…
Representational (Backend)
 Divi ($) (Theme) (Elegant themes)
 Page Builder by SiteOrigin
 Page Builder by WooRockets
Wysiwyg (Frontend)
 Beaver Builder - WordPress Page Builder (Freemium) (Theme)
 Page Builder : Live Composer ($ Add-ons) (Theme)
 Forge - Front-End Page Builder (Freemium) (Theme)
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Contact
Rick Radko
 email: wpinfo@r3df.com
 twitter: @r3designforge
Websites:
 r3df.com
 lumostech.training
Slides at:
 slideshare.net/r3df
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