Divi – Our review of this WordPress site builder

Divi is Elegant Themes’ flagship theme and it is also one of the most popular WordPress themes today. As it is a versatile theme, it was created to suit any type of website you want to create with WordPress. Over the years, Divi has been regularly updated and improved. The theme now includes a powerful drag-and-drop page builder, hundreds of templates and countless customization options and settings as well as some other useful features. Its price is also very competitive. But is it the right theme and builder for your WordPress site? That’s the question we will help you answer in this article. We will also give our opinion about Divi at the end of this presentation.

 

About the Divi theme and builder

As mentioned earlier, Divi was produced by the team at Elegant Themes. It is clearly their flagship product. Divi was first launched in 2013 and has been constantly updated, refined and improved to remain a competitive option in the multipurpose WordPress theme category. There is also a Divi plugin, officially called Divi Builder, also available from the Elegant Themes team. This plugin allows you to add the Divi theme’s page builder to any WordPress website, regardless of the theme you use. It’s worth mentioning that both the Divi theme and the Divi plugin – not to mention some other useful products – are provided as a package, so you don’t have to choose between one or the other. Instead, for a relatively low price (more on that later), you get access to all Elegant Themes products for use on an unlimited number of websites.

 

Divi Overview

This article explores the main features of this theme in enough detail to help you decide if it is right for you. Here are some of them:

• Large library of high-quality templates: Divi comes with hundreds of editable templates for all types of websites.
• Powerful content editor: The Divi Builder tool is one of the most feature-rich drag and drop content editors on WordPress.
• Content optimization tool for A/B testing: Divi Leads feature allows you to optimize your content for the highest possible conversion rates by running A/B tests.
• Comes with add-on themes and plugins: all Divi purchases come with the Extra theme plus some useful WordPress plugins.

As you can see, if you choose Divi, you’ll have access to a huge selection of pre-made templates, a powerful visual content editor, and other useful features to help you make sure your content not only looks great but helps achieve your business goals. Let’s explore these features now to show you exactly what you get if you buy Divi.

 

How to install Divi?

First of all, don’t worry, it’s all very simple! Since Divi is a premium theme (we’ll look at pricing later in this article), you can’t find it via the default WordPress.org theme directory. Instead, you need to go to Elegants Themes and download your own ZIP file containing the theme. Once you have the ZIP file, it installs like any other theme – via the panel located in Appearance → Themes → Add New → Download Theme.

When you are done installing and the theme is active, you can go to the main theme settings. Divi has its own tab on the left side of your dashboard (pictured above). There you can change SEO settings, navigation, layouts etc. to best customize the customer experience.

 

Divi’s best features

This is a feature-rich WordPress theme, so to keep things as concise as possible, here’s a detailed overview of Divi’s most important features.

High quality templates

Divi’s two main strengths are undoubtedly its template library and the page builder tool. If you want to create a custom WordPress website design, from scratch, then the Divi Builder tool will interest you the most. If you want help creating your new website, then you’ll be happy to know that Divi probably offers the largest selection of high-quality templates of any WordPress theme available today. These templates cover a wide range: from business websites to yoga studios to ecommerce sites. There really is a set of templates for almost every type of business, so whatever website you want to create, you need to take the time to explore everything.

Divi comes with layout packs that have been designed for a specific type of website. These packages typically include homepage templates, about pages, contact pages and landing pages, allowing you to quickly start your new website with all the content you could possibly need. With Divi, you’re free to choose any template you want to use on your website from any of the available layout packages. The layouts are also editable, making them ideal for use as a starting point for your own custom designs. Alternatively, you can use them as is and simply edit the text and images as needed via the content editor.

Drag and drop content editor (Divi Builder)

When it comes to making changes to templates or creating new designs from scratch, that work takes place in Divi Builder. This tool has been updated several times over time and is now one of the most powerful and impressive page builders available for WordPress. Some of the key features of Divi Builder include:

• WYSIWYG visual editor to create custom page designs.
• Ability to create custom templates.
• A useful selection of content modules.
• Ability to create reusable sections for use throughout your site
• Wireframe mode to provide a clear overview of the page structure.
• History panel to undo and redo actions.
• Ability to preview content on smartphones, tablets and desktops.
• and much more …

The Divi Builder uses rows and columns to help you create your layouts. You can then insert a wide range of useful modules into your layouts, including call-to-action buttons, sliders and video players, to name a few. All of these modules can be customized to ensure that they are compatible with your website design and look right for your project.

Custom and reusable content

Anything you create in Divi Builder can be saved for use throughout your site via the “global modules” feature. When creating reusable sections, you can control how they are updated, including creating dynamic assets that allow you to update all parts of the site with a single click.

Portability

Divi is also very focused on portability, making it easy to transfer your layouts and other assets between WordPress sites. If you plan to create multiple websites with Divi, it has some great time-saving features that can make your workflow more efficient.

Ease of Use

All these powerful new features come at a price. The relatively steep learning curve of the new user interface could be this one. While it’s not poorly implemented in any way, the user experience of Divi Builder is very different from what you’ll get, by default, with WordPress. For this reason, you will need to learn a new way of working if you want to get the most out of the page builder. Given the number of new features at your fingertips, this was to be expected. However, it’s worth mentioning, as you may not be able to do everything you want in Divi Builder without spending some time getting familiar with the interface.

Full creative control

Every aspect of your content can be customized through the Divi Builder interface, giving you complete control over your page design. However, after a recent update, the newly added theme builder tool also gives you full control over other parts of your website.

 

Divi Theme Builder Overview, our review

Most WordPress themes that include theme builders give you the ability to create custom post and page designs. However, they don’t often allow you to customize other parts of your site, such as the header or footer. In the past, this has been true for Divi, but thanks to a recent update, you’re no longer limited to just content areas. You can now customize all aspects of your WordPress website via the Theme Builder feature.

Create Custom Headers and Footers

The theme builder is a really awesome feature of Divi. Not only does it allow you to design unique headers and footers for your website, but you can also create custom templates for your blog posts, portfolio items, ecommerce products, 404 error pages and more.

Create templates for your blog and archives

The page on your website that displays your latest blog posts can also be customized with Divi Theme Builder. In addition to creating a custom layout, you can choose the content of each blog post to display, such as title, front page image, author, date, etc. You can also create multiple templates to display your blog posts, and then control when one or the other is used. With the template settings, you can define exactly when each of your designs is used. For example, you can create a template that is only used for blog posts in a certain category or a layout that is only used for specific pages.

 

Divi’s Lead Optimization Tool

To ensure that your custom designs are not only beautiful but optimized to help you achieve your business goals, Divi comes with an A/B testing tool. While this feature is rare among WordPress themes, it is very useful and surprisingly easy to use.

If you want to know which version of your page gets the best response from your audience, it only takes a few clicks to set up split testing with Divi Leads. The functionality is built into Divi Builder. All you have to do is choose the page element you want to test – for example, a button – and then enable Divi Leads for that element. You can then create the second version of that element. The A/B testing tool will show one version to a portion of your audience and the other version to another segment of your visitors.

Each A/B testing experiment has an objective, such as clicking on a link or visiting a specific page. Once the test starts collecting data, you’ll know which version of the element in question has the highest conversion rate. With Divi Leads, you are not limited to simply comparing two versions of a page element. It allows you to test multiple variations to optimize your content. You can also run multiple A/B tests at the same time, allowing you to optimize your entire website for the highest possible conversion rates. While you can add this type of functionality to your WordPress site via a dedicated service, it’s rare to see it built into a theme as it is here. If your website was built with a particular goal in mind, whether it’s email opt-ins, product sales, contact form submissions or even just more page views, the Divi Leads feature is an invaluable, highly effective and easy-to-use tool.

 

Support and documentation

In the past, customer support was one of the areas where Elegant Themes was criticized. Support was provided via private discussion forums where customers could post questions and expect a response from the support team. Customers sometimes reported that response times were not very fast and issues were not always resolved. Now, Elegant Themes no longer provides support via forums but via a messenger service.

Messenger support channel

Customers logged into the Elegant Themes website can open a support ticket via messenger and wait for a response. This makes support more convenient, as there is no need to check the forum to see if someone has responded. In addition, response times are relatively fast and the information is very useful.

Detailed documentation

A strong point of Elegant Themes, and Divi in particular, is the online documentation available on their website. Every feature and aspect of Divi is clearly explained via the documentation, while the Elegant Themes blog is full of tips and advice on how to use their products.

Forums and Meetups

Although support from the Elegant Themes team is now provided via the messaging system, discussion forums are still online, offering users a place to share ideas and communicate with each other. There are also many active Facebook groups dedicated to Elegant Themes, and Divi in particular, where users can share tips and best practices to learn from each other and get the most out of these products. If you’d like to get even more involved in the Divi community, there are also in-person meetup groups that take place regularly around the world.

 

Divi Pricing

Divi is an affordable WordPress theme, especially if you consider all the extra products you have access to. So, how much does Divi really cost? There are two options for purchasing Divi. The first gives you lifetime access to all Elegant Themes products, including future releases, support, and updates, while the other covers you for one year:

• Yearly access => $89
• Lifetime access => $249

While you could purchase the yearly version and continue to use Divi and other products after the year is up, you would be exposing yourself to potential security issues that may arise, but would then be fixed in future updates. In addition, you would also miss out on new features and improvements to Divi, which happens regularly. So, if you expect to use Divi for more than 3 years, it makes financial sense to invest in the $249 lifetime access up front. If that seems like a big financial outlay for a product you haven’t used yet, there’s a 30-day money back guarantee that allows you to try Divi and other Elegant Themes products risk-free.

 

Conclusion: strengths / weaknesses, our opinion on Divi

Divi is a powerful theme that can be used to create any type of website with WordPress. If you are looking for a theme with a set of ready-made templates, chances are you will find what you need in the Divi library. Also, if you want to create a custom WordPress website from scratch, Divi and its page builder have all the features you’ll need to make that possible – all without having to touch the code. As mentioned earlier, while Divi is relatively easy to use, you’ll need to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the builder’s user interface if you really want to get the most out of this theme. However, if you’re in a hurry to get your new site online, the pre-made templates all look great and can be deployed very quickly. Finally, here’s our review of Divi through various

Strengths:

• True multipurpose theme suitable for all projects
• High quality and editable templates
• Powerful page creation tool
• Lots of useful documentation
• Regularly updated and improved
• Improved support system

Weaknesses:

• Takes time to fully master the page builder
• This great creative freedom has the potential to be overwhelming

 

Try it and make your own opinion

 

Alternatives : Thrive, Elementor