There is a wide range of options available when it comes to choosing a platform to build a website with. Due to its ease of use and relatively intuitive management dashboard, many people use the WordPress.org content management system (CMS).
Now, WordPress is great for beginners and experienced web designers such as a company like Perth Web Designers, and it provides a wide range of plugins and other tools to help you get started. As you might imagine, there are numerous plugins designed to help you design your new website, and in this article I’ve explored a few of my favourites.
- Elementor
If you want to build a custom website, drag and drop WordPress editors are a great place to start. Elementor is one of the most popular drag and drop editing plugins for WordPress, and I’d recommend checking it out.
Basically, it allows those with little to no web design experience to put together top quality designs in next to no time. It integrates with most themes, and can be used to add pretty much anything to your site.
- WordPress Slider Plugin
If you want to add sliders to your website, I’d recommend using some sort of plugin to streamline the process. There are numerous different slider plugins out there, but one of my favourites is the WordPress Slider Plugin. It comes with both free and premium plans, and is great for presenting large amounts of content without slowing your website down.
- Gallery by Envira
Standard WordPress gallery features generally leave a lot to be desired. If you want to use more customized, better looking galleries, then you will need to use a plugin like Gallery by Envira.
Basically, this plugin allows you to create highly customized galleries that include different design features or layouts. One of my favourite things about it is the fact that it allows you to modify your gallery templates by dragging and dropping different elements.
- WP Mush
Although WP Mush isn’t a web design plugin in the standard sense of the word, it’s a great tool that allows users to optimise their images and image storage. I’d recommend using WP Mush if you’re running a large website with a lot of visual content. It will help you retain a decent amount of free bandwidth, preventing your website from being too slow or crashing.
- Yoast
Again, Yoast isn’t exactly a web design plugin either, but it comes with great features that make it an absolute must for any WordPress website. When you’re designing your site, you need to keep search engine optimisation (SEO) in mind. Yoast will help you with this by providing suggestions and giving you a checklist to make sure that you’re following SEO best practices.
Ultimately, plugins are great tools when it comes to designing and launching a new WordPress website. I’d recommend exploring the five that I’ve outlined above, but make sure that you do your own research and choose plugins that are relevant to your exact needs.
