Page builders for WordPress have been all the rage for years. These are visual editors designed to facilitate site layout.
Elementor, Divi, WPBakery: Web agencies, webmasters, everyone's using their builder. WordPress revolution, or monumental mistake, what does the "WordPress expert" have to say?
The promise of WordPress builders
Builders are popular because they promise to create rich, complex pages without touching a single line of code, thanks to visual editors. And they generally deliver on this promise.
But then, Jamy, what evidence is there to question the wisdom of using builders in this perfect world of ours?
WordPress "Builders" imprison you
Builders are generally available on an annual subscription basis. Having paid for your builder, you have no intention of backing out and will do everything in your power to make it work.
But one day, fate will strike: you'll have a really blocking problem with your builder and you'll want to go back to native (without a builder). Or choose another builder.
And then the drama begins.
No standards, no interoperability between different builders. And above all, no display if the plugin is deactivated.
Without its builder, your site is out of order and you'll have to completely rebuild it.
So, have you really saved time and money by using a builder to shape your site?
Builders go against the WordPress grain
Builders modify the native operation of the WordPress CMS.
How builders work
A builder will generate hundreds of tags which must be interpreted and dynamically converted into HTML code (the final display language sent to visitors) by the server before being sent to the visitor.
Some builders will also generate scripts (js) and style sheets (css) on the fly, depending on the page.
Native WordPress operation
Previously, to change the look and feel of WordPress from a given theme, you either had to have chosen a highly customizable theme, or get your hands into the site's code. In both cases, page content remained native, so a change of theme didn't break the whole site.
From now on, WordPress pushes Gutenbergits block system. It allows you to edit all the content of your site natively, without any modification to WordPress: pages, articles, but also the global display thanks to "full site editing". Like a builder in fact...? Yes, except that the code generated is HTML and therefore has no cost in terms of performance or loading time.
The impact on performance... And ecology.
Extreme slowness
In my experience as a web-hosting outsourcer, I've been approached by numerous WordPress customers complaining about the slowness of their sites. The servers weren't saturated, but their sites had one thing in common: they used WordPress builders.
During tests with/without builder, I observed a slowdown of between 10 and 40 with their builder activated. In other words, a site that takes 0.3s to load natively takes more than 3s, or even more than 10s in the most extreme cases.
But the slowdown also affects visitors. The many heavy scripts (js) and style sheets (css) generated by builders take time to download, and then have to be interpreted. In the process, they take even longer.
Time is energy
Load times are calculation resources and therefore energy consumed by the server and your access device (smartphone, PC). The more CPUs are occupied, the more energy is wasted.
While the situation is improving with builders' optimization patches, or caching plugins (which avoid certain server consumption), performance is still generally not up to scratch compared to a native site.
Impact on site success
As we all know, visitor retention on a site depends on its speed. And there's good reason to believe that search engines favor the best-optimized sites.
Undeniable ecological impact
WordPress powers over 43% websites worldwide. Many of these sites include builders, generating an overconsumption of server resources on the order of x10 (or even x40). Builders therefore have a considerable carbon footprint that it would be interesting to measure objectively. I wouldn't be surprised if this increased Internet energy consumption by 10% or more.
Reliability and safety
A large proportion of the failures observed on sites during updates are due to the builder. You'd better have a good backup. All this is additional maintenance, lost for the webmaster and/or the customer.
What's more, as builders are popular, security flaws are regularly discovered. So if you update, you risk breaking the site, and if you don't update, you risk a hack. What's your choice?
Builders galore
Some people have a systematic builder reflex. Even on an extremely simple site. But is it really necessary?
In many cases, using a builder is like killing a fly with a flamethrower.
The #1 rule of optimization: use only what you need. A little minimalism never hurt anyone.
Do we need to think for 2,000 years to shift an image by one or two pixels? It only pleases web designers. Users and site owners couldn't care less.
In the real world, it's not the content that counts for a site's success.
What you need is a site that's easy to maintain, reliable, secure and quick for visitors to view, and above all, that contains the useful information your visitors are looking for, for good SEO (on Google and other search engines), and with the lowest possible carbon footprint.
Alternatives
Many native themes, often free of charge, are capable of offering a clear and pleasant visual experience, and already allow an excellent level of customization.
What's more, with Gutenberg, WordPress now offers the "Full Site Editing"With compatible themes, you can arrange each part of the site as you wish.
In the near future, this should mark the beginning of the end for builders.
Personally, I've always refused to go against WordPress' native way of working, and I adopted Gutenberg as soon as it was released, despite the bugs and limitations.
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