WordPress drag and drop page builders: blessing in disguise or disaster waiting to happen?

Even for those with little to no programming knowledge, page builders make creating a website an easy task. These page builders are easy-to-use tools that offer dozens of templates and features which can be used to create a website that fits your taste. Plus, they can reduce the cost and time of creating and managing a website.

However, people are still hiring web designers—and with good reason. Although you can create a website with a page builder, it doesn’t mean it will be as good as one designed by a professional. So, which is better for you: page builder or a professional designer? There’s more to consider than you might think!

WordPress drag and drop builders are easy to use

Page builders have many pre-coded elements which you can use to create your website. With all of the required elements already coded, you don’t need to personally write a single line of code for your website. You only need to know what you need on your website; then, simply drag the corresponding elements to where you want them.

However, the real value of page builders isn’t in enabling you to build your own website; they are most useful if you intend to make regular changes to your website. If you don’t know how to code, you will need to call a web designer for any changes you wish to make. Needless to say, this can be tedious and will become very expensive. With a page builder, you can avoid this and simply make any changes yourself.

This ability to easily change your website is also very handy if you are not certain what you want on your website.  If you are using a page builder, you can experiment with different layouts and features until you reach what you really want. So, even if you intend to hire a designer, it’s a good idea to use a page builder first, to get a feel for your website design, before you pay a professional to do it for you.

But there are limited options

With ease of use comes certain limitations. Although there are thousands of layouts, templates, and features you can use, there are also thousands of people using them. While the number of combinations of elements is enormous, they are still limited, and someone else may use the same combination of elements that you used. This means that websites that look similar to yours may appear; this is one of the biggest drawbacks of page builders for those who are looking for unique website designs.

Pre-coded elements bring another limitation to page builders. As mentioned, their elements and features are shared across their many users, and there isn’t much sense for the developers of these page builders to create features that will only be used only by a handful of clients. So, if you need a specialized website with complex features, it is unlikely a page builder will help you achieve your goal.

Drag and drop helps minimize mistakes

Whatever your profession is, you will make mistakes—no matter how experienced you are. This means that even the best web designer will occasionally make a mistake. These can be huge mistakes, which will immediately be noticed, but these aren’t really the most dangerous. The biggest issues are those small mistakes which you won’t notice right away.

Your website is the main source of information for your clients; as such, you should keep it secure and functioning. One of the hardest things to safeguard against are your own mistakes. Even a small mistake will seem unprofessional, and bigger mistakes could drive them away to your competition. No matter how big or small, you can’t afford errors on your website if you are taking your business seriously.

As we mentioned earlier, page builder elements are pre-coded. That means the code works and has already been tested. If you use a page builder to create your website, you will eliminate the chances of a mistaken line of code which could drive your clients away.

Dependency on page builders can become a problem

As usual, there is a price to pay for the good stuff. The same is true for page builders—but we’re not talking about money here. Once you create a website with a page builder, the website will become dependent on it. So, when you remove the plugin from your website, it will automatically make unintended changes.

Additionally, some page builders will render your website completely non-functional when you deactivate them. With others, only a few elements will stop working. With top-notch page builders it will seem as though everything is working, but they will still leave behind lots of shortcodes, which slow your website and make it harder to redesign.

You still need to take care with page builders even if you are not personally using them. If you intend to buy a website, you should check if it is using a page builder. If it is, think before you buy. Even if the original owner of the website was completely satisfied with the page builder, it may be lacking features you require. Also, it will be much harder to redesign such a website, as opposed to a clean website with no shortcodes.

Final thoughts

WordPress drag and drop page builders are a double-edged sword. They are very useful for people without programming knowledge, and they make website management really simple. With the various options that page builders offer, they should fulfill your expectations for a simple website. If you are a beginner looking for an affordable website with simple features, a page builder is a good choice for you.

On the other hand, when it comes to customization, no page builder is a match for a professional web designer. If you can afford to budget more for your website and you require something more complex or unique, we recommend that you hire a web designer.

Sources:

https://codeable.io/wordpress-page-builders/

https://www.shoutmeloud.com/website-builder-advantages.html

https://www.websolutionsmn.com/blog/advantages-of-using-a-website-builder-tool/

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