WordPress® Themes For Law Firms: The Problem with Theme Builders

WordPress is the most widely used content management system (CMS) used on the web, with approximately 43% of all websites utilizing it. This is due to the fact that WordPress is an incredibly flexible CMS that offers a wide variety of features that can be customized to suit various different needs. These features include the ability to install your choice of custom code, themes, and plugins that can make your site as unique and tailored to your needs as possible. 

Background on WordPress^®

WordPress^® is the most widely used content management system (CMS) on the web, with approximately 43% of all websites utilizing it. This is due to the fact that WordPress^® is an incredibly flexible CMS that offers a wide variety of features that can be customized to suit various different needs. These features include the ability to install your choice of custom code, themes, and plugins that can make your site as unique and tailored to your needs as possible. 

One of the many ways to build a WordPress^® site is through the use of theme builders. Some popular theme builders are Divi, Elementor, and Beaver. If you are going to go the theme builder route, you should try out each and seriously consider the disadvantages of using a theme builder. Let’s go over the positives of using a Theme Builder and then get down to the negatives. 

Theme Builder Positives

Theme builders are plugins and themes that allow you to construct a site theme using the tools and UI of the plugin rather than custom code. Theme builders can be easier way for a law firm unfamiliar with web development to create their site. You can simply get a web host, install WordPress^®, and purchase a theme.  Once installed, you can drag and drop your way to a website. So the time saving is one positive, and not needing a background in web development is another. 

Issues With Theme Builders

While theme builders provide an easy to use solution to make a website without web development experience, there are a variety of issues that can arise when using a theme builder to create your site. These issues can include: site crashes on updates, constraints on the design, poor speed and SEO performance, license fees, support, and an overall generic design. We will discuss each of these below. 

#1: Prone to Crashing with Plugin, Theme, or Builder Updates

The most noticeable issue is that theme builders are very prone to crashing when anything on your site is updated. This can include plugin updates, theme updates, and even the builder update itself. If there are multiple plugins that add on to or build on functionality of the theme builder, updating the addons and subcomponents can cause unexpected critical errors on the site if not done in the proper order or if an unforeseen plugin conflict arises. 

A similar issue can occur if you are using a custom theme while using the builder plugin as changes from the update may conflict with your site’s theme code. Updating the theme builder’s plugin itself is usually safe, though some theme builders such as WPBakery can cause issues when updated.

#2: Constrained to What the Plugin/Theme Allows You to Do

Another issue that comes with using theme builders is that your site is constrained to the capabilities of the plugin. A majority of theme builders do not work well with custom code added to the theme and some outright will not allow you to add your own custom functionality. In addition, while some theme builders provide places to write your own custom css code, they are often unclear as to where you should place the custom css for it to be actually applied without being overwritten by the theme builder’s css rules. Furthermore, more intricate or interesting functionality is typically locked behind a paywall of more expensive variants of the plugin. For example, a large portion of Divi’s modules are not available to the cheaper versions of the plugin.

#3: Poor Speed Performance and SEO

Theme builders tend to perform poorly when compared to custom coded sites. Theme builders often have a large amount of code and scripts that load even if not used on the site. In addition to this, theme builders tend to rely heavily on javascript which is very resource intensive, further increasing load times and requiring more resources from their hosting server. 

Due to this, load times tend to be much higher than a custom coded page. As a result of the pages loading less optimally and having more bloat, theme builder sites perform worse in terms of SEO and don’t rank as well on google. Some theme builders also don’t allow you to directly control specific SEO elements such as title tags and meta descriptions, limiting the improvements you can make to your site’s SEO.

#4: Paid Licenses

Another issue with theme builders is the simple fact that they require a paid license. A majority of theme builders require an annual or monthly fee to maintain the use of the plugin on your site. This places your site’s performance and security behind a paywall as not paying for the license removes the ability to update the plugin on your site. This can lead to your site being exposed to security vulnerabilities found in outdated versions of the plugin and generally performing worse than it could if the plugin was up to date.

#5: Theme Will Eventually Not Be Supported & Possibly Become Insecure

Finally, there will come a time where the theme builder used on your site will become unsupported. When that occurs, the plugin will no longer be updated and any issues discovered in the future will not officially be addressed, leaving you to either patch the issues yourself or create a new website. This could mean security issues in the future. 

#6: Generic Website

Additionally, relying heavily on themes and plugins can sometimes result in a site that looks generic or lacks the unique functionality that a more custom-built site could offer.  A theme can be reused by hundreds of law firm, some could even be used by your competitors!

Recap

Due to all of these reasons, it’s often better to run a custom coded site rather than rely on a page builder solution. With the variety of issues relying on a page builder plugin can bring, the consistency and stability of a well built custom coded site is well worth the time and effort it takes to make one.