Pro by Themeco is not the first WordPress website builder I have used. And yet it convinces me more in some areas than other page builders for WordPress have done. Here is my overview of the advantages and disadvantages.

Pro is a website builder for WordPress that makes it very easy to put together websites. The advantage of such website or page builders - You don't need any programming skills to customize your posts and pages. Pro has not yet reached the popularity of the classic WordPress page builders such as Elementor or Divi, but from my point of view it is still worth a look. Let's take a closer look at the reasons why:

• What is Pro, how does it work and what are the disadvantages?
• Advantages of Pro for use as a website page builder
• Difference between Pro and X
• Modern Sliders - Premium Course and Expansion Pack

What is Pro for WordPress and how does it work?

In combination with the ready-made templates and the Design Cloud, Pro is easy to use for beginners because the user interface is very intuitive to operate. The professional appearance makes it a pleasure to work with, I use it for many WordPress projects.

Because with a website builder, the focus is quickly shifted on creativity, rather than on the purely technical level. You no longer have to worry about technical aspects.

The only limitation is your own experience. That's one advantage of the core framework of Website Builder. You're not limited to a certain style or type of functionality. I can build anything I want with them.

In Pro, the code is so well written, from my point of view, that client projects for which I have created websites rank at the top of Google and Bing for many long and exact keywords after a short time and rank for their topic. See the tutorial on keyword analysis here at wp unboxed.

Pro can become very complex depending on the project

Pro may not be suitable for every website, every project and every customer. Especially when the projects become more complex - and more background knowledge of WordPress, HTML and CSS is needed - it could get tricky. 

The code and functions are very well documented, and there are enough Themeco support members in the forum to give a good answer within a day or two. The search function in the forum is also sufficient, should you need a solution earlier.

The license fee of $79 per website (single use license) or $399 (unlimited use license) for an unlimited number of websites is no bargain, and probably not suitable for every budget, but for me personally it was still worth it.

Advantages of Pro as a website page builder

I love having a real-time preview of the site I create or update with Pro's WYSIWIG editor Cornerstone. Unlike other WordPress templates where you have to edit the content blindly, Cornerstone consists of only two parts - Workspace and Preview Area.

Working with these two areas feels similarly fluent like Photoshop:

• Individual customizations are easily possible, from editing the code for each individual site or even each individual element 

• Unique Style I can create 90 percent of my clients' websites with Pro, and they all look unique. No two websites are the same
  
• Easy Plug & Play You can start editing immediately, as it is easy enough even for beginners to edit the text or image content. Individual elements can be moved by drag & drop
  
• Fast & Furious Without any performance plugin, I have a GTMetrix score of more than 85 percent. Other themes I have tried, on the other hand, have a score of around 60 percent
  
• Design Cloud: With access to individual design elements, entire pre-built sections or pages that can be easily modified, Pro can be used by anyone regardless of web design experience
  
• Support In my experience, the customer support is competent and fast. In the forum, the team usually responds within a day
  
• The documentation on the functions is very helpful - I always have a look there first before I ask a question in the forum. Because I get my answers there immediately
• Free extensions. Pro contains a range of useful tools and plug-ins in an extension library for free use

Difference between Pro and X

The Pro and X products both offer practical functions for creating modern websites. Here are the common features of the two versions:

• Stacks - You can choose between four different design stacks. Integrity, Renew, Icon and Ethos. Good as a starting point and for beginners, as each design has its own unique styling
• theme Options - This global control panel allows you to customize the appearance of your website. Here you can find options such as typography, colors, layouts and make changes to the blog and portfolio
• Portfolios - Create several different portfolio pages to give your creativity free rein. Whether for art or photography, you'll find the right layout for your project
• Cornerstone - The simple drag and drop feature gives you control over the design, pages and posts. Simply drag the desired elements into the page preview and edit the content directly in the live preview. After saving, the content is immediately online
• Color, Font & Templates - Here you can create and save page-wide typography presets and color palettes. The big advantage is that you can use the content templates such as design or settings as templates elsewhere or simply export them to use them on another website
• Global Blocks - For me, personally, one of the best features that saves a lot of time. With global blocks, you can create specific content blocks that are repeated throughout the website but managed in one place. When you make changes, they are applied to all instances

Now about the differences. If you need to get things done quickly, the Design Cloud is a design library with many professionally designed assets created by the Themeco team. The library is constantly being expanded. X users have access to site, content and preset templates, Pro users to site, header, content, footer and preset templates.

The main difference is Cornerstone and the new grid editor. Cornerstone includes its own header, page, footer, layout builder and grid editor. Pro users have access to everything and Cornerstone is natively integrated into the theme. X users, however, need to install Cornerstone as a separate plugin and manage it (it is included with the purchase of X).

Pro's grid editor allows you to create highly customized and complex layouts based on the CSS grid specification. It is displayed as a grid in the element library. Themeco's Grid series guides you on YouTube through everything you can do with this innovative tool.

Who is Pro suitable for?

Both beginners and experienced users can use Pro, we all have to start somewhere. But it is especially helpful for professionals, or those who want maximum control over all options. You can create as many custom headers and footers and layouts as you like to assign to different parts of your website - ideal for creating landing pages, unique designs and engaging (sales) funnels. 

For example, if you want to override the template for a single blog post in X, you need to use a child-theme, be familiar with the WordPress template system and equally familiar with editing PHP files for this to work. In Pro, you can design these templates natively with the Elements collection and assign them all within one tool. This can be used for blog archives, blog pages, taxonomy archives, shop pages, product pages and more.

With the amount of control Pro offers, you have the freedom to create anything you can imagine. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination and experience. Just like with X, you can import premium assets from the Design Cloud and add your own custom code via live editors if you wish.

Who is X suitable for?

If you are a designer, content creator, or developer and prefer to have more stylized choices (stacks) built in, then X gives you a good starting point to create a website quickly. X includes pre-built headers and footers from which you can choose. It also features a diverse selection of design assets that you can import from the Design Cloud with one click.

Detractors would claim that X is a bit outdated and less modern. And that it would be better to start with Pro. However, this depends on your requirements and level of skill. Regardless of whether you start from scratch or are an advanced user, you can create good-looking websites with minimal effort.

Modern Sliders Expansion Pack

Create sliders directly in Cornerstone with elements you already know and love? No more need for third-party plugins that bloat your code and make your site slow? The advantage of this slider, in my view, is that other WordPress website builders don't really offer a good solution here. Either the options are so limited as to be unattractive. Or the plugins are so bloated that you need to study them intensely to use them.

My conclusion on the Pro WordPress Website Builder

You want to create a real-time representation of websites in the browser, in the style of WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get")? Pro is based on an app-like design and development environment, with WordPress as the basis. From the header to the footer and everything in between, I enjoy creating websites again.

The best thing for me is that you don't need any other annoying plugins or additional addons. Pro has been the biggest time saver for our design studio so far. I'm excited to see how it develops in the future. Have you already tried the WordPress Website Builder? I'm happy to read your opinion in the comments.