Goodbye Elementor & Hello GreenShift theme & plugin!

Recently I was hired to help migrate some sites from one server to another, and then convert a few of those sites from an Elementor to a GreenShift theme setup.

Elementor is one of the most popular WordPress page builder plugins, so I’m pretty sure I can safely say that most WordPress developers have used it or at least heard of Elementor before. I’ve been using Elementor for a few years now, and it has been my personal favourite page builder to use.

But before being hired for that websites migration project, I’d never heard of GreenShift before, and at the time, I had no idea how GreenShift was going to start changing how I’d go about building sites in the future.

So I’m going to share with you why I came to the decision to choose GreenShift over Elementor for most of my WordPress projects moving forward.

So what is the GreenShift theme?

Let me just clarify: there’s a GreenShift theme, and a GreenShift plugin.

It’s a bit like how there’s the Elementor WordPress plugin; and then there’s the Elementor Pro WordPress paid plugin, which includes a “Theme Builder”, making it work a bit like a theme.

I’d never heard of GreenShift before I started that project I mentioned earlier, and I’d only heard the term “full site editor” a few times before that. A “full site editor theme” is the type of WordPress theme that the GreenShift theme is.

I also didn’t realise that the WordPress Block Editor (aka Gutenberg) was used at the core of Full Site Editor themed websites, so I definitely got my hands dirty on that migration project!

What is the Full Site Editor?

So the Full Site Editor (FSE) is the now-native WordPress site editor.

The full site editor is used to created and manage areas of a site like patterns to template parts, menus to pages, and templates to even custom 404 error pages and more!

Just to give you a bit of a “history lesson”: back when WordPress 5.0 was released in December 2018, the new block editor, Gutenberg, was introduced. Then over 2021-2022, Full Site Editing itself was merged into the WordPress core.

“Site editing is a set of new WordPress features that help us build and edit all parts of our website using blocks: Site Editor, global styles, block themes, patterns, and theme.json.”

Source: Fullsiteediting.com

Why I converted my site from Elementor to GreenShift

For years I never really liked using Gutenberg (I think most devs felt the same way), but now having had to use it so heavily in the last few months, I’ve grown to really like how the FSE GreenShift theme and the Block Editor work together.

Even though I learned a lot with using GreenShift on that project, I thought I’d also take the opportunity to dig deeper and use GreenShift on a personal project… like redoing my website! I know, right?!

I decided to not redesign my site and just redevelop it using the GreenShift theme and plugin. I kept my site design the same because I still liked it, but redeveloped it mainly because I wanted to do a side-by-side comparison to see how easily and quickly I could replicate the look and feel of the site using GreenShift versus Elementor… and I was a lot faster than I thought I would be!

If you have any questions about GreenShift and how the build process was for me, feel free to contact me or reach out via my socials.

Lastly, I thought my site was blazing fast before when I had it built using Elementor Pro, but after I’d rebuilt it on GreenShift and did a speed test using GTmetrix, I was blown away! I’d never seen my site’s home page get a GTmetrix Grade of “A” before, and load in under 2 seconds!

Why choose GreenShift over other options

I could’ve easily written another blog post about this, but here’s just a few reasons why I think you should choose GreenShift for your next WordPress web project.

The “All in One” pack

I really had no choice and had to use GreenShift with the project I was hired for, because they’d already decided on it and bought the GreenShift “All in One” pack* which I now see as being the best value for money bundle that GreenShift offers.

As part of the “All in One” pack, you get access to GreenShift’s Premium Support, along with their 5 premium GreenShift Addon plugins:

1. SEO and Marketing Addon*
   • The GreenShift theme is already SEO-friendly, but this addon adds lots of extra features to help with creating higher conversions along with more layouts optimised for mobile.
2. Query Addon*
   • This addon unlocks powerful features allowing you to display dynamic content in more creative ways, such as being able to leverage almost any meta data and custom field associated with any type of post! #mindblown
3. Chart Addon*
   • Rather than displaying bar graphs, tables and charts as plain images, this addon takes the data and makes it more visually appealing and interactive, and presents it in better SEO-friendly formats.
4. Advanced Animation Addon*
   • The free GreenShift theme and plugin that are available from WordPress.org are pretty damn good, but this addon allows you to add high-quality, complex animations to pretty much any aspect of any block element – and you don’t have to know any code! #winning
5. WooCommerce Addon*
   • When you’ve got the WooCommerce plugin installed, the native WooCommerce blocks and patterns only get you so far, but with this addon, you can do cool things like add product swatches and dynamic product comparisons, just to name a couple!
   • There’s a little “catch” to this addon though… you’ll need the Query Addon* to use some of the WooCommerce Addon features, like “Wishlist” and “Query Listings”.

The GreenShift theme & plugin work independently

I’ve worked with other themes before, like Divi, that has the Divi Builder integrated, which also comes separately as a page builder plugin. Even though you can use the Divi theme and “turn off” the Divi Builder to use another page builder (e.g. Elementor), you’re just asking for issues, as you’re still loading resources from both for starters!

Whereas the GreenShift theme is really lightweight, and if you didn’t use the GreenShift plugin, the site would use the default WordPress Block Editor, which is more lightweight than any other page builders, like Elementor or the Divi Builder.

If you chose to not use the GreenShift theme but still use the GreenShift plugin, the plugin seems to be compatible with almost any theme, which I know gives me peace of mind!

Great developer & community support

The GreenShift development team, Wpsoul, are a dedicated bunch, always open to feedback and actively working on theme and plugin updates. Meanwhile you can find them along with other developers and users of GreenShift, interacting regularly in the public Greenshift WordPress Community Facebook Group.

Once you’ve bought any one of the GreenShift premium addons*, you gain access to Premium Support with the Wpsoul team through their Support Board in their members portal.

Final thoughts

I’m grateful I had the opportunity to work on that migration project that led me to GreenShift. In the short time I’ve been using it, I’ve developed a real appreciation for the Block Editor and for Full Site Editor themes in general, like the GreenShift.

If you’ve used the GreenShift theme and or GreenShift plugin before, let me know your thoughts in the comments. If you have any issues or tips, please feel free to share, or reach out to me if you’d like a hand.

*Links marked with an asterisk (*) are a referral or affiliate link. Thanks in advance if you click these and proceed with the purchase, as I’ll receive a small commission or benefit from your purchase, at no extra cost to you.