Hello, I’m a 17 year old who want’s to start a web design company. I’m currently working on a free website to build a portfolio before I go into business.
However, I’ve realised I don’t really know much about making my website editable for the client except for using the block-editor, but when I use the block-editor I can’t make the site look as professional.
I’ve designed my whole site nearly in static html and like how it looks, is there any other way I can make it editable than redoing it in the block editor?
One of the main points of WordPress is that it creates sites that are maintainable by someone with no knowledge of HTML and CSS, so I’m not sure what you have done that it’s not editable.
I’d think you’re looking for a better so-called page builder. Elementor is much better and the most used at the moment. The standard block editor in WordPress nowadays, Gutenberg, is a page builder as well, but a minimal one. It was created only recently and it will take a number of years before it offers the features that Elementor does.
With Elementor, the client can edit their website as well. Although working with Elementor requires substantially more study and practice hours than with the standard block editor.
You cannot install Elementor in the way that you install most free plugins, because you first have to pay for it: https://elementor.com/pricing-plugin/. Instructions will be given after payment.
Do you think something like this would be suitable enough for clients just to make irregular updates? I’m scared of giving clients access to block-builder as if I’m using these sites on my portfolio and they get carried away, it could reflect badly on me.
Something like that? Yes. That’s very easy. Working with the design features that Elementor offers is much more difficult. But that’s a structural problem with WordPress: use Gutenberg and you get boring sites, use Elementor and there’s a fair chance the client won’t keep the design as beautiful as you made it.
For your portfolio, you could make sites in a folder on your own website, and when a site is finished copy it to the client’s site. But I realize that that still has cons.
Thank you very much for your input, it’s really appreciated.
Do you think the majority of clients (I’m targeting local small businesses) would be happy with this method for editing their site?
Sorry for all the questions, obviously I want to be sure before starting out.
I was thinking I could pitch both the custom field and the block builder method to the client, highlighting that with custom fields it would be very easy to edit their site, and look more professional but the layout would be fixed. This could also be where I can offer maintenance services at an hourly rate for changing the layout.
Whereas with block builder, it may look less professional, but is a better option if they want to add to the layout there selves.
This will be the last question I promise!
Thanks again
Well, let me tell you that I don’t work with WordPress. I’m a classic code writer, have created a text-only update module, and offer an economical maintenance program if clients want to have more than just text updated.
That has its downside, too: I loose clients who want a WordPress site, for whatever reason. But I don’t mind that, I already have plenty of work.
There a lots and lots of CMS options out there, so don’t just rush into WordPress before considering other options. There’s rarely if ever a reason to give clients access to layout code, though. Most CMSs can be set up so that clients have a nice, easy interface that presents them with editable page regions. I would recommend you look at all of the CMS options available before jumping into WordPress. In my experience, it’s a horrible mess compared with some of the other options out there — options that are specifically for websites, as opposed to WP, which was originally designed for blogging sites.
