Elementor↗︎ is a versatile and user-friendly page builder plugin for WordPress. As a page builder, it allows users to create and design web pages visually using a drag-and-drop editor, rather than needing to code everything from scratch. With its simple interface and wealth of customisation options, Elementor has become a favourite tool among web designers, developers, and WordPress enthusiasts.
Key Features
1. Drag-and-Drop Editor
Elementor’s drag-and-drop editor is its flagship feature, enabling users to seamlessly construct web pages by dragging and dropping elements onto a canvas. This intuitive interface eliminates the need for complex HTML or CSS coding.
2. Template Library
Elementor provides an extensive library of pre-designed templates for various website sections, such as headers, footers and content blocks. Users can select these templates and customise them to match their branding and style.
3. Responsive Design
Websites created with Elementor are inherently responsive, ensuring a fluid viewing experience across various devices, including desktops, tablets and mobile phones.
4. Theme Builder
Elementor offers a Theme Builder feature that gives users the ability to create custom headers, footers and single post templates. This grants greater control over the design and layout of a WordPress website.
5. WooCommerce Integration
For eCommerce websites, Elementor seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce, enabling users to design and customise product pages and online shops to their preferences.
6. Pop-up Builder
The Pop-up Builder feature allows users to create eye-catching pop-up windows for various purposes, such as email sign-ups, special offers or announcements.
7. Advanced Styling Options
Elementor provides an array of styling options, including typography, colour settings and animations, giving users the ability to fine-tune the appearance of their websites.
8. Extensive Widgets
Elementor offers a wide range of widgets, including text editors, image galleries, contact forms, sliders and more. These widgets can be easily added and customised to enhance website functionality.
History
Elementor was founded by Yoni Luksenberg↗︎ and Ariel Klikstein↗︎ in 2016 and rapidly gained popularity within the WordPress community. Its commitment to empowering users with a powerful yet user-friendly page-building experience has led to its widespread adoption.
Usage
Elementor is suitable for:
- Bloggers looking to create visually engaging content.
- Small business owners seeking to establish an online presence.
- Web designers and developers aiming to streamline their workflow.
- E-commerce entrepreneurs wanting to design custom product pages.
- Charities and non-profits wishing to tell their story and fundraise online.
- Schools, universities and other educational institutions create sites to engage students.
- Anyone who wants to build a WordPress website without coding expertise.
Community and Support
Elementor has an active and vibrant user community. Users can find helpful resources, tutorials and support through Elementor’s website, official documentation and community forums. Additionally, there is a Pro version of Elementor that offers even more features and premium support. Useful links include:
Elementor Technologies
Elementor uses various web technologies to deliver its powerful website design and page-building capabilities within WordPress.
Back-End Technologies
- WordPress – Elementor is a WordPress plugin, tightly integrated with the WordPress content management system. It relies on WordPress’s core features and architecture.
- PHP – Server-side PHP scripts generate dynamic content and power core functions like templates and settings pages in Elementor.
- REST API – The WordPress REST API enables Elementor to communicate with the database and retrieve content or settings into the editor.
Front-End Technologies
- JavaScript – JavaScript handles all front-end interactions and powers Elementor’s drag and drop editor, live previews and dynamic effects.
- CSS – CSS controls the styling and layouts of elements in the editor and on published pages, ensuring responsive designs.
- HTML – Elementor outputs clean, valid HTML code to display the content and structures created in the editor.
- AJAX – AJAX facilitates asynchronous content loading and updates without full page refreshes, improving UX.
- SVG – Elementor supports SVG vector images for high-quality, responsive graphics in designs.
- Responsive Design – Adhering to responsive principles means Elementor sites adapt seamlessly across device sizes.
Elementor also incorporates React↗︎ and other libraries to enhance specific features. And the platform provides APIs and hooks enabling developers to build custom integrations.
Elementor System Requirements
For a seamless and productive experience with Elementor, it’s essential to meet the necessary system requirements. Here, we outline the prerequisites you need to ensure that Elementor performs optimally on your WordPress website.
WordPress 6.3 or Greater
To leverage all the innovative features that Elementor has to offer, ensure that your WordPress installation is running version 6.3 or newer.
PHP 7.4 or Greater
Important: If your website operates on an older PHP version, you may encounter compatibility issues. It is strongly recommended to get in touch with your hosting provider to upgrade PHP to the latest version.
While Elementor may function with PHP 7.0+, please be aware that these older PHP versions have reached their official End Of Life, which could potentially expose your site to security vulnerabilities and unexpected behaviour.
MySQL 5.6 or Greater
Your server should be equipped with MySQL version 5.6 or higher, or MariaDB version 10.0 or later.
WP Memory Limit
- Elementor and Elementor Pro: A minimum WP Memory limit of 256 MB is necessary.
- Recommended: For optimal performance, the recommended WP Memory limit is 512 MB.
- Best Performance: To unlock Elementor’s full potential, allocate 768 MB of WP Memory.
Note: These memory requirements are specific to Elementor. If your website uses additional plugins, each with its own minimum memory requirements (e.g., WooCommerce), you might need to increase your memory limit to 512 MB to prevent loading issues. For more information, refer to the “Elementor Widget Panel Not Loading↗︎” documentation.
Browser Compatibility
Elementor is compatible with most modern browsers. Older browsers may not fully support all of Elementor’s features. Elementor does not support any versions of Internet Explorer.
To enhance security, Elementor requires browsers to support a minimum TLS version 1.2 to access Elementor hosted websites. Older browsers may encounter difficulties accessing these sites. If this poses an issue, please contact support for TLS settings adjustments. Elementor Cloud websites with custom domain names remain unaffected by this change.
Device Compatibility
Presently, Elementor’s editing capabilities are exclusively available on desktop computers. Editing on mobile phones and tablets is not supported at this time.
Server-Specific Requirements
If your website is hosted by WP Engine, consider adding SSL to your site to prevent saving issues.
For SiteGround or GoDaddy users, ensure that your server’s SubstituteMaxLineLength is configured appropriately.
X-Frame Options
To prevent editing issues, your server’s X-Frame options should be set to “same origin.” We recommend reaching out to your hosting provider to configure this setting.
CSP: frame-ancestors
For a smooth Elementor Editor preview, make sure your Content-Security-Policy (CSP) is set to “frame-ancestors ‘self’.” Contact your host to make this adjustment as needed.
PHP Z-Lib Extension
For an optimised experience, it’s preferable to have the PHP Zlib extension enabled on your server. Request your hosting provider to enable this extension if it’s not already activated.