Optimizing WordPress more important than worry about Gutenberg vs. Elementor

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If you want a fast website, focus on optimizing WordPress before you worry about Gutenberg vs. Elementor.

I did some research just now to find out if using Elementor has some downsides to using Gutenberg or other webpage builders. There is some work you have to do in WP Rocket which the link above talks about, or I could help you with. There are also webpages that talk about optimizing this, but things change and some of the settings in those guides are not the fastest.

It turns out that Elementor/Gutenberg has some pros/cons and there is not a one size fit that you should just automatically choose. I like that Elementor makes things easy for non-computer experts and that it gives them the choice to better understand how websites work. Even though it costs $50 it is worth it. I have used their video player plugin which is beautiful and I play my personal collection of music from it. To me that has already paid for itself.

I tried Gutenberg but I found it terrible. Not just me but if you look at the WordPress reviews it is almost universally hated. You can find articles on the web on why you want to try it or should be using it, and it may make sense for you. No tool is perfect for everyone. However, even though I work in IT I found the interface confusing, and I didn’t like that it wasn’t what you see is what you get. I wasted time using it, and so I just got a plugin that disables Gutenberg. I find the older editor to work very well for my use.

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Elementor is only used for site design but not for my daily posts. Daily posts are simple and I don’t need that to write. In the past, I once converted all of my posts to Gutenberg but then reverted them back when the formatting and other problems happened. For me, Gutenberg has been the single worse thing that WordPress has done. This year their market share decreased and I think that Gutenberg is part of that. New users don’t understand the interface and it should not have been made default.

I don’t think WordPress will die. It has 40% of the market. However, if it does, then I will go to the next thing and move on. I like that WordPress has been a friend that I have been able to share my thoughts and feeling in the world. It is a tool and if a better tool comes along then I will switch. I don’t like systems like LinkedIn/Facebook that try to put walls around content that people create. I like the open design of the internet and resist proprietary solutions.

Gutenberg doesn’t have the features of Elementor and the support. I had a friend who recently had a problem with her site and Elementor correctly diagnosed the complex problem and provides troubleshooting that resolved the issue. That is great service. If you are a small company and not a computer genius, you need someone who can help you.

No, I am not getting paid by Elementor to write this. I am just a happy customer who started using it because a friend suggested it. I knew about webpage designers but never tried them out because I thought it would be too complicated. It was simple and I liked the drag-and-drop nature. I like visual interfaces and I thought it was neat. It was one of the things that appealed to me about WordPress. WordPress was visual and although overwhelming at first, I really got to appreciate its functionality over time.

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It is remarkable. I am paying GreenGeeks $120 a year for their cheapest plan, about $60 a year for the WP Rocket plugin and I am getting my website to load in less than a second. If I can make $.50 a day, I can pay for my website’s hard costs. That is about one person clicking on an ad. Now of course I need more than that to survive, but being able to express yourself so cheaply is remarkable. We can change the world, we just need something useful to say.

Update: You can have a website, Elementor, and theme for $9.99. Amazing!