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So I am a freelancer graphic designer (top 10 on fiverr). for the past months i’ve been playing around with elementor and i would say i’ve gotten quite good at it and also optimizing it and branding websites around it. i want to make my own web design agency. i don’t know a lot of code, only html. when I need css I use AI to help me. If my clients are happy with elementor what is stopping me? I can even use envator themes to fasten my workflow. I am asking because I want to be prepared as well as possible
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You are.
Note: Web Designer and Web Developer are two different things. Granted it’s gotten a bit muddy these days and you certainly can be both.
However don’t be that person who offers services as a developer without getting some adequate knowledge about the platform/stack you use. Or else you make your life difficult and screw up your clients.
Plenty of resources to learn Worpdress, CSS and basic PHP and anyone can. See ‘Resources to learn WordPress’ section in the [pinned post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/comments/1cqlvod/start_here_essential_resources_faqs/).
If you’re designing sites with Figma, YOU’RE ALREADY A WEB DESIGNER. Web Designer != Web Developer
Go for it! Trial by fire! Just use devs on fivr to troubleshoot in a pinch or sub out features and get cost estimates from if there are features that need custom coding. But yeah, you can do a lot these days without coding thanks to paid themes and plugins. Good luck!
AI will help with all manner of code and tweaks… however… by way of informing not discouraging…
I’ve been a dev for 20+ years. To sell and maintain sites I make use of PHP, HTML, CSS, JS, local development, wordpress, bootstrap, hosting, cpanel, phpmyadmin, understanding caching… all manner of plugin and builder knowledge… and more. I’d never use Elementor, but I know it’s every beginners tool of choice. The trouble is if you don’t know anything beyond Elementor, you’re going to face huge problems as soon as anyone asks you for anything just a little custom.
There are a lot of people making sites who barely know what they’re doing – as evidenced by the fact that the same stupid questions are asked here every day – even though the answer is one google search away. But while AI will help you code, it will soon also take your job – by building sites with just a few text prompts. Then the only place left will be for people who can do more than just make a pretty page.
I focus on small biz sites, but even so I find I have to have custom post-types, custom fields, my own set of functions to remove WP bloat – there’s always some code… because the alternative is a plugin for every little thing and it soon turns into soup.
Not knowing anything beyond Elementor is like driving a car without any understanding of the mechanics, even knowing how to change the oil, or water, or plugs etc… It’s fine if you can afford to pay a mechanic for every little thing. But as a dev, you ARE the mechanic…
There’s nothing to stop you from offering websites… but I’d strongly advise you up your skills as soon as possible or you’ll get your first ‘broken down car’ and burn all your hours trying to fix it while making no money… Plus with AI eating your market you won’t find much work, and even less repeat work, unless you can offer more than the basics.
I think you are already a designer, also you are giving service to fiverr. I think you should read a beginners guide to become a web developer.