drag-and-drop wordpress themes, featuring themify builder
DESCRIPTION
My August presentation on Drag-and-Drop WordPress themes, revised and expanded for the Wine Country WordPress meetup, with a focus on the Themify Builder and its front-end editing capabilitiesTRANSCRIPT
Drag & Drop WordPress Themes
Sallie Goetsch
September 7, 2013
FREE OPTIONS
MiniMax Page Layout Builder
http://wordpress.org/plugins/page-layout-builder/
Page Layout Builder Settings
MiniMax Layout Tab: Columns
MiniMax Add Modules
MiniMax Page with Modules
MiniMax Page: Front End
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.
iFeature (CyberChimps)
iFeature Options
iFeature Header Layout
iFeature Blog Layout
iFeature +Portfolio -Slider
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
PageLines Lite
PageLines Site Options
PageLines Layout Editor
PageLines Layout Editor 2
PageLines Drag and Drop
Applying a PageLines Template
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
Snapshot (SiteOrigin)
SiteOrigin Page Builder
SiteOrigin Page Builder Settings
Site Origin Widgets
SiteOrigin Home Page Builder
PageBuilder Tab
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
PREMIUM OPTIONS
iThemes Builder
Builder Layouts and Views
Add New Builder Layout
New Layout Applied
Error message due to lack of posts to feature
Custom Builder Layout Metabox
Select a Builder Layout instead of a page template when creating a new page.
Builder Style Manager
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
Themify Builder
Themify Themes
Themify Default Layouts
Themify Page Builder Settings
Themify Styling
Themify Skins
Themify Widgets
Themify Custom Panel: Page Options
Themify Custom Panel: Post Query
Themify Custom Panel: Builder
Themify Page Modules
Themify Module Options
Themify: Slider, Highlights, Box
Themify: Portfolio, Posts
Themify Footer
Note to self: make 1-level menu for footer
Themify Front-end Editing
Drag to move
Drag to adjust width
Click to collapse
Hover to edit
Themify Post Meta
Themify Options
Themify Builder: Conclusion
• Good number of modules
• Most modules are custom post types
• Fairly intuitive to use
• Front-end editing is cool
• Themes are resource-intensive
• Can add custom CSS classes
• Builder info stored in _postmeta and _options tables