The theme is one of the required components of WordPress. This is what makes every WordPress based website unique in terms of appearance. A WordPress theme controls the appearance and display of a WordPress website through templates (PHP files) and style sheets (CSS files).

Discover: How to install Elementor on WordPress

In other words, you need to be proficient in both PHP and CSS to be able to create a WordPress theme. Today, most modern WordPress themes also use JavaScript. Which now allows you to create your own WordPress theme without coding, but using a WordPress theme builder.

What is a theme builder?

That's what we'll cover in this article.

Theme builder or Theme builder is a feature of a page builder plugin. This feature is usually available on the pro version of a page builder. Some examples of page builder plugins that come with theme builder functionality are Elementor et Two.

Read How to import or export models in Elementor

A Theme Builder allows you to create custom templates to override the default templates for your WordPress theme. No coding skills required as all page builder plugins come with a visual editor where everything is done by drag and drop. You just need a little design sense.

It would be even better if you had a background in design.

Understanding the parts of a WordPress theme

Before you start using a WordPress theme builder to create your own WordPress theme, it is crucial to understand the parts of a WordPress theme. In general, these are the parts of a WordPress theme:

  • Header
  • Footer
  • Layout of a single publication
  • Single layout
  • Archive page
  • Search results page
  • Page 404

If you are using WooCommerce, you also have a single product page, a product category page, and a product archive page. The appearance of all these parts is defined using templates and stylesheets on the theme you use.

A Theme Builder allows you to create custom templates to override the default templates for your WordPress theme.

How a page builder works

You just read it. A Theme Builder allows you to create custom templates to override your theme's default templates. You can create the custom template visually using the editor of the page builder you are using.

Discover also: Elementor Pro: 10 Awesome Features to Unlock - Part I

One of the benefits of using a theme builder is that you can assign a certain custom template to certain pages or posts on your WordPress website through the display condition feature. For example, you can create a unique post template custom and assign it to posts under a certain category so that the template is only applied to posts in the category to which you assigned the custom template.

This is great because you can create different templates for different types of posts.

The ability to set display conditions also allows you to have multiple header / footer templates on one website which is great as it gives you the flexibility to run different campaigns on different pages. using different header / footer.

Read also: Elementor Pro: 10 Awesome Features To Unlock - Part II

Fun fact. All parts of this website (header, footer, single post layout, 404 page, search results page, etc.) were also created using a builder. theme (Elementor).

To give you a more obvious illustration, let's take a look at the following image.

The image above is the default header for a WordPress theme called Agency More. With a WordPress theme builder, you can override the above default header by creating a custom header template. Here is an example :

The image above is an example of a custom header template created with Elementor. In addition to the custom design, you can also apply more compelling header behavior such as sticky effect, masking while scrolling, etc.

Page builder plugins with theme builder functionality

We mentioned that theme builder is a feature of a page builder plugin. However, not all page builder plugins come with theme builder functionality. Here is 2 WordPress plugins de page builder which come with a theme builder feature:

1. Elementor

Elementor is the leading benchmark for WordPress theme builder. It is by far the most popular page builder plugin on WordPress with over 5 million active users according to WordPress.org statistics. Elementor is released as a freemium plugin, but you need to use the pro version to be able to use its theme builder feature.

Theme Builder

Elementor's Theme Builder feature allows you to create custom templates for the following theme parts:

If you are using WooCommerce, Elementor also allows you to create a unique personalized product page and other pages on WooCommerce.

2. Divi Builder

Divi Builder is a premium page builder plugin developed by Elegant Themes. There is no option to use it for free. Elegant Themes itself is the developer of two popular premium WordPress themes: Divi and Extra. Despite this, Divi Builder can be installed on any WordPress theme, without being limited to the Divi theme and the Extra theme.

Theme Builder

If you prefer to use Divi Builder over the Divi theme or the Extra theme, you do not need to install the Divi Builder plugin because it is available as an integral part of these themes. Divi Builder also comes with a theme builder feature that allows you to create custom templates for the following theme parts:

  • Header
  • Footer
  • Single post template
  • Single page template
  • Archive page (categories and tags)
  • Author Page
  • Page 404
  • Search results page

Ultimately

You should be proficient in PHP, CSS, JavaScript, and HTML to create a WordPress theme. Again, that was an old story. The page builder era will allow you to create a website Fully customized WordPress, no matter what theme you use.

Some page builder plugins - including Elementor and Divi Builder - come with a theme builder that lets you create custom templates to override the default templates for your active theme.

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Conclusion

Here ! That's it for this article which explains everything you need to know about theme builders. If you have any concerns on how to get there flet us know in the Comments.

However, you can also consult our resources, if you need more elements to carry out your projects of creation of Internet sites, by consulting our guide on the WordPress blog creation or the one on Divi: the best WordPress theme of all time.

But meanwhile, share this article on your different social networks.

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