Note: Divi 4 is now out! Check out my look at it here!
Designing websites is fun, hell I redesigned Design Web Identity at least 5 times before transferring it to this one….
…I think I might again sometime. :P
These days there are countless customizable themes, and they’re constantly raising the bar on each other and a lot of them are very similar. But recently I discovered the Divi theme and it caught my eye.
This is the first theme I found that enables you to build really impressive and custom pages packed with features, modules and even cool animations and effects without typing a single shred of code!
Please note that there are some affiliate links in this post, if you purchase the Divi Theme after clicking on a link I make a commission. This is at no cost to you, however, and I would promote this product without the commission, as I do a lot of other software.
While I’m not usually one condoning all of the bells and whistles that are unnecessary – I do beleive that when used to highlight certain areas of your website, these things can be quite purposeful and effective.
What was really cool is I checked this theme out after it came with the Elegant Themes Developer Package – 87 Themes, and a range of premium plugins for $89 (or themes only for $67). Which is less than you’d pay for most customizable WordPress themes alone.
This them one of the best out there, and is one of my personal top Customizable Drag’N’Drop WordPress Themes.
So I didn’t expect much, but I was completely blown away.
So I thought I’d show you how it all works!
I’ve spent a few months playing with all of the themes of this package, but Divi takes the cake. So I’ve recorded 4 videos that show you the initial basic customization, how to create an email feature box and also how to use a fraction of the modules Divi has on offer.
First, Basic Customization (the less exciting stuff)
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This first video, shown above, walks you through how to set up the first few basic customizations of the theme – particularly theme colors, navigation and layout styles.
Some of things you’ll see are:
- Inserting your logo
- Exploring the backend options
- Setting theme colours
- Changing the layout style
- Changing theme colors
The idea of this first video is more to setup and lead into the exploration of the Divi page builder.
Second, creating an Email Opt In Feature Box (fun stuff)
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We’ve got a brand new page but now we’re going to start using the Divi Page builder. In this video we’ll start with something simple but very useful – an Email feature Box.
Some of things you’ll see are:
- Inserting a Subscription Module (perfect for Aweber, MailChimp or RSS)
- A brief look at setting a section & background image
- Parallax Scroll (CSS)
- Image ‘Slide-in’ Animations
Using the Divi builder you can implement a feature box within a couple of minutes and a few clicks. It’s pretty much just plug and play!
Exploring the Divi Module (more fun stuff!)
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These 2 videos are all about exploring the possibilities of the Divi 2.0 page builder and the modules available to you to use. There are a good number of modules available to use but we only explore a handful of them (all of them would take hours!).
The third video goes through a few little extras and some more effects while the fourth video (below) simply continues, exploring more of the features available in the Divi WordPress theme.
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Some of things you’ll see are:
- Inserting a full-width Map using Google Maps
- Video & Audio Modules
- Toggle sections and Accordian
- Parallax Scroll (True Parallax)
- Contact Form
- Countdown, Percentage and number graphs
- Creating a page that looks slick and eye catching.
So, Pros & Cons?
This theme is amazing, but like a all others it has it’s strengths and it’s weaknesses. There’s no such thing as a theme which suits absolutely everyone.
The Divi theme is pretty solid and what some consider strengths may be considered weaknesses by others. But here goes.
The pros….
The animated effects, parallax scroll and general layout options are pretty unreal. It’s very easy to build a website that looks fantastic with Divi.
It also loads very quickly (see my test below using the QuickSprout tool) and is incredible value considering it comes with a pack of other themes all worth the total price tag individually.
The Divi 2.0 theme is probably the best choice for anyone who wants to build fantastic looking WordPress websites with very little effort or knowledge.
The cons?
The page builder is the main strength of this theme but unfortunately it doesn’t allow you to edit posts in the same way – but if that’s a big problem you do have the Elegant Page builder plugin which comes with the Elegant themes Developer pack (which is a bit different but has similar features).
Also, you can add code above or below any post in the Divi options, so you’ve got many options to achieve the look you’re after.
Other than that you can achieve just about any design layout, but like all themes some very specific layouts may not be achievable – but that’s something faced by all easy to use, customizable themes.
Ultimately, the theme is pretty solid and the pro’s well and truly over shadow the cons.
Update: Wait a second, there’s a LOT more coming.
OK, I was doing some research (a day after the initial publishing of this post) and found some exciting news about Divi. Version 2.4 is going to be a whole new monster.
I first noticed this tweet:
Super excited about the stuff we are building into Divi 2.4 right now. It’s going to be an amazing update!
— Elegant Themes (@elegantthemes) April 17, 2015
So I investigated some more and found an interesting post Elegant Themes tweeted! It details a massive overhaul which expands the capabilities of Divi, overcoming the weaknesses mentioend above! Here’s the Tweet:
A Sneak Peek Of Divi 2.4, And Why It Will Be The Most Fantastically Fluid & Flexible Divi Yet! http://t.co/5pShGywLoN pic.twitter.com/1P32icXbXG — Elegant Themes (@elegantthemes) April 22, 2015
It basically covers a few very exciting things! I’ll cover them very quickly:
- Global Settings – expanding Divi functionality to your entire site’s template.
- Fluid Grid – allows you to be more specific with widths and heights of certain elements on your page.
- Advanced Module Settings – every single Divi module is getting more powerful & precise options
- Divi Library – An expansion on the saved layouts
Needless to say – I can’t wait to get my hands on the update (which is free once you’ve purchased). Divi has a very bright future!
Who should use this theme?
The Divi Theme is suitable for most people building websites as you can easily and very quickly achieve very impressive looking, fast loading websites with tonnes of features.
It doesn’t suit the developer or designer looking for extremely precise control over layouts and design – that’s something you’d want to use Thesis Theme for (if you have solid html and CSS knowledge). Otherwise 99% of this can be achieved with Divi – especially with the updates mentioned above.
If you do want to check it out Elegant Themes list all of the features on their website here.
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Thanks for reading and watching!
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