I chose the Divi Theme by Elegant Themes as my primary WordPress theme about three years ago. Most WordPress users know there’s more than enough themes available. But many themes are designed specifically for e-Commerce or portfolios or membership sites, etc. The Divi Theme is one of the few themes that I’ve found that has the power and the performance built-in to handle all the “types” of websites on the web. Here are some of the reasons why I chose to use Divi over the rest.
Don’t Use CodeCanyon for WordPress Themes
CodeCanyon has become a very popular resource for finding themes and plugins for WordPress. I avoid using CodeCanyon because the support is very short lived, lasting only 6 months. I would rather support a premium plugin with a yearly support package or a forever package for the designers / agencies reading this.
Don’t Use A Custom WordPress Theme
I went through a phase about ten years ago with creating custom themes. It’s really nice for those developers who want to maintain that control factor over the website. However, for the owner, it usually becomes more of a hassle than its worth.
My issue with custom themes all boils down to support. PHP continues to get updated. In fact, PHP jumped from 5.6.40 to version 7 and continues to advance with security settings. And unless the developer can guarantee support for the custom theme, it’s just not worth it.
The Reasons I Chose Divi For My Sites
The Divi Theme Is Regularly Updated
The Divi Theme has been around for some time now with the initial launch back in 2013. I like to choose a product that can stand the test of time. There’s been so many themes that have come and gone so I like that Divi has been around.
As a Divi user, I’ve seen first hand the many, many updates over the years. The Divi team does an excellent job keeping their theme updated and current with the times. For example, last year when Google announced Web Core Vitals as an integral part of SEO, the Divi theme was quickly updated to perform based on these performance standards.
On a side note, I love that the Divi theme has an option to “Enable Auto Updates.”
The Divi Theme Is Easy For Clients To Use
I love using a theme that just makes sense. It’s easy to use, program, code, manipulate, etc. But even better, it’s easy for my clients to update their content. Divi has a built-in Visual Builder which makes it simple for novice users to add or edit content. Alternatively, Divi has a standard back-end builder that developers tend to prefer with less visual distractions. At the end of the day, it’s the client who pays for the work. Ease of use for the client should be the number one focus period.
As an advanced Divi user, it’s beneficial to utilize the more advanced features that Divi makes available. For example, the Divi Library provides a great building resource before pushing new modules / elements live to a site. The Global presets makes it easy to bulk edit styled elements. And the Theme Builder has advanced capabilities to customize specific pages, posts, categories, WooCommerce pages, and the list goes on.
Exploring The Divi Page Builder
The Divi Builder is one of the theme’s most powerful selling point in comparison to other themes out there. It’s a visual, drag-and-drop page builder built right into your theme. It’s similar to other builder such as Elementor Pro, Beaver Builder, etc. but BETTER! The key difference is that it’s built into the theme (also possible to use as a plugin to a custom theme).
If you’re not familiar with these visual page building tools, they let you build 100% custom designs without needing to know any code. You can do everything from the visual, drag-and-drop interface. They’re easier to use than the generic Squarespace or Wix website builders.
Divi’s page builder also comes with a large template library with over 1,383 pre-made layouts. These layouts can be applied globally across all pages (only recommended if it’s a brand new site) or to a single page or post.
The Divi Theme Has Established Resources
Finding additional help topics on forums or YouTube has really helped me love using the Divi Theme. I’ve found some really good, established authors who use Divi and share specific projects to help others win with their clients. For example, I’ve been following Josh Hall on social for years. He doesn’t always get a lot of likes on his articles but he’s active and always posting new content. MAK is another author on YouTube who regularly posts great topics on how he uses the Divi Theme.
The Divi Theme has Some BIG Integrations
A more recent discovery that has boosted my support for Divi has been among other big players who have chose to integrate with the Divi Theme.
For example, the membership plugin WishList Member recently created an integration that allows for additional customization within their member pages. These changes were locked down in the past.
On the flip side, the Divi Theme recently updated the theme to integrate with the WooCommerce plugin. This update was guaranteed to win some new Divi users. It allowed for custom shopping cart, checkout pages, product layouts, and even WooCommerce widgets within the Divi Editor. I use WooCommerce on several of my sites and this Divi update was a game changer. These checkout pages could now incorporate more design thought and conversion optimization.
Divi Cloud Feature Released in 2022
The Divi Cloud was launched in April of 2022. This acts like a Dropbox for Divi websites. The Divi Cloud enables saving layouts, headers, footers, and content blocks to the cloud for secure access. This lets users access all their favorite elements on brand new websites within the visual builder.
The Divi Cloud provides similar organization that WordPress offers allowing users to organize their Divi Cloud items into categories, folders, and favorites. Additional features include unlimited layout storage, automatic screenshots, everything is in the Visual Builder, it can be organized, layouts can easily be uploaded, and so much more. This feature is an add-on which costs around $6/mo at launch and with a standard rate of $8/mo after the promotional period.
My Final Thoughts About Divi
I use Divi as my go-to theme on all new site projects and highly recommend for all the reasons above.
For more information on the Divi Theme, head over to Elegant Themes to learn more.
