As a SEO freelancer with long track, I’m learning WP and try to get what simple constructor makes a fast responsive themes? Sorry, question is not about Astra, Elementor, Divi, etc., but about simplicity.
This is a very loaded question. You are not going to get “simple” with “fast and responsive”. If you want to build something quickly and minimal effort, Elementor. But make sure you understand the basics of properly sized images and not overusing JS scripty effects. If you want soemthing that will be fast and fairly easy to build, use Astra theme and Spectra pro blocks, but you still need to understand properly sizing images (dont try to shove a 2000 x 2000px image in a space that only needs 400 x 400px. And optimize them prior to upload).
Gutenberg is fast. But its DOM output isn‘t as clean as you might expect, it’s actually quite cluttered. If you‘re looking for quality DOM and code, I‘d recommend Bricks. r/bricksbuilderio But then again, speed is all about image optimisation and proper caching.
It’s been called block editor for a while now. And yes, block editor all the way.
You’ll need something like GenerateBlocks as well. Otherwise you’ll be missing out on some much needed functionality.
Otherwise, Block Editor + GenerateBlocks is pretty much all you need design wise for most use cases out there.
One dirty secret about authoring tools is that choice of authoring tools isn’t as important as expertise using the tools. Amateurs make allllll the mistakes. And page builders are easier for amateurs to use. Experts not so much.
Another dirty secret is that most comparisons between builders are made without caching. That means none of Elementor’s big stack of small JavaScript and CSS files is delayed or deferred, and same for big Gutenberg block libraries are deferred either.
But *with* good WP-level caching and a CDN the differences are much reduced. And with *experienced, competent* authoring the differences also shrink.
There will always be absolute differences in performance. But at some point the differences start to be outweighed by other considerations like cost, content, and ease/expense of updating.
Gutenberg.
This is a very loaded question. You are not going to get “simple” with “fast and responsive”. If you want to build something quickly and minimal effort, Elementor. But make sure you understand the basics of properly sized images and not overusing JS scripty effects. If you want soemthing that will be fast and fairly easy to build, use Astra theme and Spectra pro blocks, but you still need to understand properly sizing images (dont try to shove a 2000 x 2000px image in a space that only needs 400 x 400px. And optimize them prior to upload).
Gutenberg is fast. But its DOM output isn‘t as clean as you might expect, it’s actually quite cluttered. If you‘re looking for quality DOM and code, I‘d recommend Bricks. r/bricksbuilderio But then again, speed is all about image optimisation and proper caching.
It’s been called block editor for a while now. And yes, block editor all the way.
You’ll need something like GenerateBlocks as well. Otherwise you’ll be missing out on some much needed functionality.
Otherwise, Block Editor + GenerateBlocks is pretty much all you need design wise for most use cases out there.
One dirty secret about authoring tools is that choice of authoring tools isn’t as important as expertise using the tools. Amateurs make allllll the mistakes. And page builders are easier for amateurs to use. Experts not so much.
Another dirty secret is that most comparisons between builders are made without caching. That means none of Elementor’s big stack of small JavaScript and CSS files is delayed or deferred, and same for big Gutenberg block libraries are deferred either.
But *with* good WP-level caching and a CDN the differences are much reduced. And with *experienced, competent* authoring the differences also shrink.
There will always be absolute differences in performance. But at some point the differences start to be outweighed by other considerations like cost, content, and ease/expense of updating.