Who are Elegant Themes and what is Divi?
Divi is a premium WordPress Theme and standalone WordPress plugin from Elegant themes that allows users to build websites using the visual drag-and-drop Divi page builder.
Elegant Themes was founded by Founder & CEO Nick Roach back in 2008 as a WordPress Theme shop and has grown to become an industry leader in the niche. Divi was 1st released on December 11, 2013.
Elegant Themes Divi is a visual page builder and makes it easy to build websites without the need to know any code such as HTML, CSS, or PHP. Divi comes with 46 pre-made modules that can be easily dragged into your website to give instant website elements such as image sliders, contact forms, accordions, blurbs, number counters, and shops.
Every element within Divi can then be further customized using the various settings in the Divi builders sections, rows, and modules, the Theme Customizer, and the Module Customizer. Divi also comes with hundreds of free pre-made Divi layout templates that can be loaded into your page and customized using the visual builder.
How much does Divi cost?
The Elegant Themes membership includes Divi and 86 other WordPress Themes and 3 WordPress plugins. Elegant Themes membership costs $89 per year or $249 for a lifetime membership.
Unlike many stand-alone WordPress Themes, the price of the membership allows unlimited use of all Elegant Themes products on as many sites as you like, which is an amazing value.
In case you are not happy with Divi or Elegant Themes Divi does also have a return policy in which you can get a full refund up to 30 days from the membership purchase.
You can find Elegant Themes discounts on Divi Theme Examples, which will get you a 20% discount on annual Elegant Themes membership or a 10% discount on Elegant Themes lifetime membership prices.
Elegant Themes also hold an annual Black Friday sale which sees 25% discounts along with free Divi product giveaways.
How to install Divi?
Once you have signed up for an Elegant Themes membership (links above for discounts) you can log in and download any of their themes or plugins in the downloads tab of your dashboard. To install Divi you will need to have already set up your domain name, hosting, and WordPress installation. With the basics set up, you can then follow the instructions below to install and activate the Divi Theme on your WordPress install.
- Download the Divi Theme from the Elegant Themes dashboard under the Downloads tab
- Log in to your WordPress admin area
- Click on Appearance > Themes
- Click the Add New button
- Then click on the Upload Theme button
- Click Browse and select the Divi.zip file you downloaded in step 1. (Do not unzip the download)
- Once downloaded you can click on the activate button and activate Divi
How does the Divi Theme work?
Divi is packed with industry-leading features that allow users of any skill level to create beautiful, functional WordPress websites. Getting started with Divi is quite straightforward, even for a beginner, and comes with a detailed set of documentation that explains each and every area of the theme.
Divi comes with a built-in visual page builder that allows you to build, organize and customize every element of your website in real time using Divi sections, rows, and modules. Divi makes it really quick and easy to create professional web pages and websites without having to write a line of code or have any design experience.
When you create a new WordPress page or post using Divi you can decide between 3 options to create your content.
You can choose between the following options;
- Build From Scratch – “Build your page from the ground up. Don’t worry, you can access our premade layouts at any time”
- Choose a premade layout – “Choose from hundreds of world-class premade layouts or start from any of your existing saved layouts”
- Clone existing page – “Jumpstart your layout design by duplicating another page that you’ve already built”
Once you have selected one of the 3 options above, you will be taken to the Divi visual builder which is where you can either create your content from scratch or edit what is already there, depending on the selection you made.
The Divi visual builder is a powerful tool that allows you to add, edit and customize content on your WordPress page or post.
The visual builder has various options for how it looks and works, from a purely visual representation of your website in real-time in either desktop, tablet, or mobile views. to a wire-frame mode that represents your content in the form of stacked sections, rows, and module building blocks.
1. Build from scratch using the Divi Visual Builder
If you chose to build from scratch you will be taken to a blank visual builder page ready for you to start creating your own page or post using the builder sections, rows, and modules.
You can add any of the 46 (grey) modules within the column (green) row, which in turn sits within a (blue) section. Drag and drop the various modules into rows, and rows into sections until you have your page.
As you add new modules they will be auto-populated with dummy content so it is super easy to visualize what your page will look like even before you add in your own text and images.
There are 46 Divi modules to build the content with on your site, from the simple text, button, and image modules through to galleries, blogs, shops, and contact form modules.
Each module comes with its own settings and options to add content and style it just the way you like it. Module styles can be copy-pasted from module to module to maintain design consistency and they can also be made global so updates affect every instance of a particular module set.
2. Use premade layouts in the Divi Builder
If you selected to choose a premade layout you will be taken straight to the built-in Divi layouts that can be browsed, filtered, and searched to find the right layout for your site. At the time of writing, there are 100 layout packs with a total of 746 individual page layouts.
These layout packs are 100% free to use and include royalty-free images taken by the Elegant Themes’ in-house photographer. Layout packs are added to the Divi builder twice a week with a new niche selected for each pack and usually include between 7 and 9 custom design page templates.
With the Divi builder right-click options it is really easy to mix-and-match layouts and copy-and-paste sections, rows, or modules or their styles from one page to another with ease.
You can save sections, rows, and modules to the Divi library for use later on, or export them using the Divi portability features and import them for use on another Divi website.
3. Clone the existing Divi page
With many pages and posts on your website having the same styling and layout it is very useful to be able to duplicate one that you have already created.
If you select to clone an existing page you will be taken to the clone page tab of the Divi builder where you will see all your current pages, posts, projects, etc. You can use the search tool to find the one you like or narrow the options down by selecting the pages, posts, or project checkboxes.
Divi Theme Builder
The Divi Theme Builder is an advanced templating system that allows you to create templates for any part of your website. These templates can then be dynamically applied to posts and pages across your website, including custom post types like Divi Projects, WooCommerce Products, and Pages.
This gives you full control over every aspect of your website. Additionally, with the ability to selectively use or exclude templates on different pages or posts, there is no longer a need to manually edit theme template files.
Do I need to use the Divi Builder plugin?
If you have the Divi Theme installed on your WordPress website then you do not need to also install the Divi Builder plugin. The plugin is made available to Elegant Themes members so that the Divi Builder can be used on any other WordPress Theme.
The Divi Builder plugin was also a response to critics who didn’t like the migration process from Divi to another WordPress theme because of the shortcodes generated by the Divi Builder.
Using 3rd party Divi Child Themes, Plugins, and Layouts
Divi has had an active community of 3rd party designers and developers creating add-on products for the theme for several years now. With hundreds of Divi plugins, child themes, and layouts available you can extend the functionality available within the theme itself and speed up the development time of your website dramatically.
Divi Child Themes – There are currently well over a hundred Divi Child Themes listed in the Divi Theme Examples directory which will allow you to kickstart your website with a pre-built Divi website ready for you to add your own content.
Child Themes use the Divi Theme as a base Theme to create website pages and also often offer extra functionality not available within the theme as default. With the high-quality Divi layout packs being released and available directly within the Divi Builder, the number of new 3rd party child themes and layouts has dropped of late, but there are still a number of quality Divi products being produced.
Divi plugins – For adding functionality not available within the Divi Theme by default there are a number of Divi Plugins with new ones being released regularly.
Divi Booster was the 1st Divi plugin that was released to add a number of customization options for Divi that would otherwise require some coding knowledge or finding and implementing online coding guides. there are plugins for almost anything you can think of but as with WordPress in general, try and limit your plugins to a reasonable number!
Divi layouts – The Divi layouts market has declined over 2018 as Elegant Themes began releasing 2 free multi-page layout packs every week. These layouts are high quality and with 100 currently available, they cover almost any design you may need. Some 3rd party developers are still creating layouts for Divi and for something a little more exclusive you may want to check them out.
The free layouts from the Elegant theme are all listed on the Divi layouts page of this website, but for the most comprehensive collection of layouts head on over to the Divi Layouts directory.
More reasons to buy Divi over other themes
Unlimited Usage License
Elegant Themes license allows you to use their products on an unlimited number of websites, for personal or commercial use.
If you run a web design agency you can use a single Elegant Themes license to build hundreds of client websites which is an amazing value compared to single-site licenses that you will find on WordPress Themes on places like Envato.
Split Testing Tools
A useful feature that may well be overlooked by many Divi users is the fully integrated Divi Leads split testing and conversion optimization system that allows you to run split tests on any of your Divi Builder content to see which performs better with your users.
Just set up an A/B test on your content, let it run until you have some insightful data, and then keep the version that is converting your users the best.
Live Chat & Support
The official documentation for Divi is very comprehensive and should answer any questions you may have about using the theme and all of its many features.
But if you get stuck, Elegant Themes has a live chat support feature that will connect you with a tech support team member to answer your questions. However, the Elegant Themes live chat may not be the sort of live chat you are used to from other businesses in terms of response times.
Whilst I have received perfectly good answers from live chat customer support, it did take a while to get the answer. You can close the live chat support window and answers will be sent to the email address listed on your account.
Personally, I find the fastest way to find support answers is from the hugely active Divi community in one of the Facebook groups.
Regular Theme Updates
Many users in the Divi community like to grumble about the never-ending Divi updates, but I think it is a good thing and shows just how active the developers at Elegant Themes are and how they constantly strive to add new features make Divi the best possible WordPress Theme it can be.
If you take a look at the Divi change log, you will see that updates come on a regular basis to fix bugs, add new features, and occasionally fix security patches.
You do not need to update Divi unless it is a security patch, so you are totally free to make updates at intervals that suit your needs.
The Divi Community & Facebook groups
Divi has had an active community of users and product developers for a number of years now which means there are plenty of options for learning, sharing, and getting social with other Divi Theme users.
There are a number of Divi Facebook groups with thousands of active members, including the official Divi Theme Users group which is now run by the staff from Elegant Themes and moderated by various Divi community members. These groups offer amazing resources for problem-solving with almost any question gaining a solution within minutes.