The biggest problem with Elementor, Divi and Avada - and how to avoid WordPress content lock-in!

This video explains the number one problem with Elementor, Divi, and Avada.

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Timeline
0:00 - Intro
0:30 - What is WordPress content lock-in
1:30 - Testing the Divi Theme
2:15 - Testing Elementor
2:50 - Testing Avada, Avada Builder and Avada Core
3:50 - Testing Stackable Blocks
5:00 - How to avoid content lock-in

[xyzcreativeworks]

Jaime, you just saved me so much time. Now when a client asks me "why not Divi/Avada/Elementor", I won't need to belabour my points. I will just point them to this video.

[MikeMateraDotCom]

Well-presented! For smaller sites, using a page builder is fine, because you can just import the current site to a staging server, then copy and paste individual page content from the front-end (browser view) of the current site into each corresponding page of the site you're migrating to - pasting over the shortcoded content as you go. No matter what theme you use, a change in theme means that you'll likely have reformatting to do, even if you're just going from one block-supporting theme to another.

Meanwhile, I agree about not using a page builder or proprietary block plugin for posts. In any case, small, brochure-style sites with Gutenberg-formatted blog posts wouldn't be difficult to migrate, even with page builders. But a video like yours makes it clear how important it is to plan ahead when considering page builders or premium blocks, especially if the project will include e-commerce or learning-management functions.

[jamiewp]

Hi Everyone - it seems that youtube is still deleting some comments randomly - i'm really sorry about this, I have no control over what they delete. Lots of other channels are reporting the same thing. Sorry if this happens to your comment - it's not me 🙏

[martinkaspar]

many many thanks for all your videos - they are so great and highly wellcome.

i am a big fan of all your clips that cover the new features of Version 5.9 including:

- Full site editing
- Query loop
- Gutenberg and Block Themes
and all the additonal design tools. Your films rock - keep up your outstanding work ;)

[wendybreaksout]

Thank you for these videos. I am so glad that you are highlighting this problem. Another page builder to avoid is WP Bakery (formerly Visual Composer). Like Divi, it emits shortcode pollution.

[christopherwells]

Funny how this video has just been released and it is exactly what I am seeing, I am moving to client from Divi to Elementor and noticed this whole lot of rubbish (as you say, short codes) on the site. Thankfully I am using a staging site to switch between the two.

[CheckTesting]

Jamie 😃 Just brilliant 👍🏾 All the very best to you and the family for the coming new year 🙏🏾

[RichardWadeUK]

Excellent insight Jamie... I need to rebuild my sites to get away from content lock-in

[richmaniow]

The core issue to me is that wordpress is not really a website creation program but more a content editor of website themes and each themes set's the parameters of what can be edited effectively making each theme into a different program. It's a bit like creating a 3d model in AutoCAD and then importing the model into Blender and finding half the vertices are missing..

[innly]

It would be interesting to compare page load speed tests for each of the page builders. When we replace sites that were built using these tools we always see huge improvements in this area.

[MarioGZito]

Interesting your video. It's truely complicated having different block plugins in a same website. Theoricaly having only core blocks is completely safe

[rale]

I have, for some reason, convinced myself, Mr. "Pootle" sir, that you are an expat and probably living in Spain

[JonathanFrost]

Great advice, really in tune with my gut feelings

[brunovincent]

Yes indeed, I have so many sites locked into very elaborate custom content types with Elementor, Elementor Anywhere, ACF etc...big sites, the mess is so huge I don't even have time to clean up and rebuild my own sites ...;( I'm going all out Guttenberg GeneratePress or Kadence now, , no turning back.

[gaiustacitus]

So many WordPress developers claim you can edit your content either in their commercial theme of choice or directly in WordPress. A Divi shop recently made this pitch to me. I don't know if these claims are made out of ignorance or a willful intent to fraudulently convince the customer of an ability that does not exist to avoid lock-in to the theme they primarily use.

Considering that I've developed WordPress sites using multiple commercial themes, I've been aware of the lock-in problem for many years. It's even possible when an automatic update fails to properly upgrade the theme to suffer lock-in to an older version of the theme. I've had this happen, and the only solution was to rebuild the website from scratch.

[jackiemasek]

Great insights but… IT IS GORGEOUS THERE!

[cittoworld]

What about the oxygen builder? How would that look. Im curious

[JohnCoonrodthp]

Thanks Jamie. Just went through converting a friend's Elementor site to Gutenberg. It's now twice as fast, but I found for several things I could not figure out how to handle it without a third party block. Gallery seems incapable of keeping an odd number of images the same size! There seems to be nothing like tabs, accordians, counters or sliders - especially not post sliders. What am I missing? I could do things with custom HTML I guess.

[stuartmorley]

Another great video. Your videos are concise and to the point. I guess many people use additional blocks (as has been recommended by many) because some of the standard ones lack simple controls.

[badcatdesign]

Would also be interesting to see what happens with Export / Import with these plugins too.. would that strip the shortcodes and leave the content in better shape? Also maybe do a review of Nelio's Unlocker which promises to convert pages to Blocks.