To introduce myself, I have plenty of experience building WordPress sites from scratch starting with a bare bones theme. I’m more than comfortable building-out relatively complex themes using PHP, HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and for the most part I rely on as few plugins as possible, usually just Custom Post Type UI and Advanced Custom Fields.
I’m currently beginning a project designed by a firm that I’ve never worked-with before and the layouts are really giving me problems. The headers from page to page have different layouts, background colors and optional images. The content within the pages sometimes alternate background colors and content widths. And some of the layouts would be tricky for non-technical content managers to reliably create.
To be honest, it’s a situation where I might actually think a Page Builder plugin would be useful, but I’ve only ever used them on sites that were using them that I had to maintain. While some haven’t seemed that bad, I’m still hesitant to use one to essentially build-out pages from header to pre-footer. Not sure I have the time to put into utilizing them correctly (e.g. figuring-out how to create reusable blocks within the builder).
Options I can think of…
**Gutenberg Custom Blocks**
I could use ACF to build-out custom blocks for Gutenberg. I would have to take into consideration the different layouts and options for each. It would be somewhat restrictive and would require extensive use of WYSIWYG fields.
**Use the ACF Layout Repeater**
This would essentially replace the Gutenberg block editor with an ACF repeater. The requirements from me would essentially be the same as I’d have to build-out all the different layouts. Don’t think I’m really leaning in this direction because the admin interface wouldn’t be very friendly.
**Gutenberg-Only with Adherence to Structure**
What I mean here is that content development would rely on the use of things like the Group block where the background color would be set and custom classes would probably have to be added as well. I might still have to add a custom Gutenberg block or two, but most of the site would be built via the core Gutenberg block editor. The main problem I have is the client would really have to be taught how to build this way and it gives them a lot of freedom to screw it up. Also, it makes duplicating similar pages (e.g. a Service page or a Blog page) more difficult.
Anyone have any thoughts? Is there an option I’m not thinking of?
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