The End of Wordpress page builders for me

For many years, I used Elementor for most of my websites. It worked well, and I have nothing against it. But recently, I reached a point where I realized I no longer really need it.

I wanted to redesign three of my websites, but I wasn’t interested in manually designing everything myself again. So I tried hiring website designers and freelancers. I spoke with many people, but most of them made big claims without a clear process. Some didn’t really understand what needed to be done, and a few even stopped in the middle of the project.

After that experience, I decided to try a different approach.

I spent a few hours creating a full brand CSS palette and design system for my website using Claude AI. Then I used ChatGPT, that CSS file, and my own requirements to create visual concepts for the web pages. Once the design direction was clear, the only thing left was implementation.

That was when I realized something important: with AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude, I could create a full custom WordPress theme instead of depending on Elementor, extra addons, and freelancers who may or may not finish the job properly.

I gave the AI my page designs, CSS file, website structure, and list of required pages. After several rounds of revision — probably around 7 or 8 — I ended up with a complete custom WordPress theme in a ZIP file.

Of course, it was not perfect from the first attempt. It still needed testing, fixing, and refinement. But the result was much cleaner than what I expected.

Now I no longer have to constantly update Elementor, Elementor Pro, and multiple addon plugins. I removed many unnecessary plugins and replaced some of them with small custom AI-assisted plugins made only for what my websites actually need.

The biggest surprise was performance. On Google PageSpeed Insights, I’m now getting 100 scores across all major areas on both desktop and mobile.

For me, this was a turning point.

Now, with AI, a clear design system, and some patience through revisions, a custom WordPress theme feels more lightweight, more flexible, and more future-proof for my own websites.

Hello! As a web developer, I'm glad you found a way to build a fast website without Elementor — I hate it too! By the way, if you want to make your site safer, install the Wordfence plugin and ask ChatGPT how to change your login page. Good luck!

Be careful with these AI as they leave a lot of vulnerabilities.

overlordcc said:

Be careful with these AI as they leave a lot of vulnerabilities.

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agree on it, when you know your code or have responsible person to write and inspect it - you definitely more protected in this case, but as you know any system has vulnerabilities - the only thing matters - how hard hackers want to hack you

overlordcc said:

Be careful with these AI as they leave a lot of vulnerabilities.

Click to expand...

ReactiveOffers said:

agree on it, when you know your code or have responsible person to write and inspect it - you definitely more protected in this case, but as you know any system has vulnerabilities - the only thing matters - how hard hackers want to hack you

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Firstly i think the most important thing while using AI platforms is to act as a project manager, you have to check all aspects of your projects, and they are not in the level of set and forget yet.
I did it this way, as i have around 20 years experience in web and just become too lazy for doing things myself.
Secondly about the hackers, i think they need a good purpose to spend their time and find a problem on your system and hack you,but most of websites are not too serious to be a target for hackers,and actually most of the problem is coming when you are using a wellknown commercial plugin/script/theme and then when a hacker find a vulnerability all user websites will get affected, that's why custom system is better.