A specialized WordPress AND Gutenberg agency
Did you say "page builder"? "Page builder? "Content builder? "Content editor?
The web market is constantly evolving. After HTML sites managed 100% by agencies, then CMS that made content editable, the CMS market is now giving pride of place to tools offering considerable freedom of contribution.
Be API is fully convinced by this evolution, and has long been offering its customers tools within WordPress to give them maximum autonomy.
WordPress, a CMS with multiple editorial facets
WordPress is an open-source CMS with a rich ecosystem, especially when it comes to content editing tools.
In fact, there are a number of "page builders" and "content builders", the best-known being Elementor, Divi, WP Bakery and Beaver Builder. We can also mention Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), and of course, the new WordPress editor, Gutenberg.
The flexibility that WordPress brings means that there's no single way to make WordPress sites, and that every web agency has its own skills.
Why Gutenberg?
At Be API, we've tested and worked with the majority of the manufacturers listed above; and we've been able to evaluate them in real-life conditions, and as always over the long term with our WordPress maintenance offer.
And none of them brings us as much certainty, reliability and scalability as Gutenberg, WordPress' native content builder.
Indeed, since December 2018, the month of the official release of WordPress 5.0 and this feature, Gutenberg has revolutionized layouts formerly offered by the old WordPress editor, or even ACF.
For Be API, Gutenberg represents :
The right compromise between freedom and simplicity
Our projects are aimed at contributors, not webmasters.
Gutenberg's interface is well-balanced in this sense, providing a more pleasant user experience for contribution.
The right level of performance
The tool provides good ratings on PageSpeed and Web Core Vitals indicators.
Accessibility made possible
At Be API, we believe that all projects should be accessible to as many people as possible.
RGAA compliance requested or not 🙂
Smoother maintenance
Gutenberg's technological approach allows us to look to the long term with confidence.
To discover all the features in detail, here's a demo site, as well as the agency's presentation videos.
Design system
Today, a web project with WordPress + Gutenberg isn't "just" about creating templates like it used to be.
The philosophy of a tool like Gutenberg tends towardsatomic design, with blocks that will be used in different contexts and for different content; that's why we work within a Design system logic.
For each project, we set up a design system of Gutenberg blocks, which are then used to compose patterns and pages. These blocks bring great flexibility to page composition, making it easy to add (drag & drop), organize and format rich content.
UX Writing
So yes, it's great to create a toolbox, but the question is how to use it with your content. Conversely, if you don't think about the actual content, how can you create the right toolbox?
It's these questions that we try to answer in each of our Gutenberg projects, and to do so, our design teams carry outUX Writing work, to create the corresponding toolbox from your final content, and to give you recommendations for the organization and layout of your content.
This UX Writing work is carried out on your key content, but you can also "order" more "UX Writing" pages during the entire exploitation phase of your project.
A WordPress agency organized for Gutenberg
The agency's entire methodology is organized around this editor, and all our teams are trained in its use so as to offer projects that are as close as possible to the state of the art, and as respectful as possible of the way Gutenberg works.
Our aim is to offer you a project designed for Gutenberg from start to finish.
In particular, the design part:
- Wireframes integrating all concepts (blocks, patterns, templates)
- Graphic layouts compatible with publisher limitations
For more information, please refer to one of our articles on the subject: How to design efficiently with Gutenberg
A typical project
A typical Gutenberg project is therefore based on a design system of blocks, and these blocks can be of different types:
Stylized native blocks
Gutenberg integrates native blocks (70 existing blocks, including 36 for embedding third-party services).
In our projects, we use these native blocks as much as possible, which we then style according to the project's graphic charter.
Custom-made blocks
In addition to these native blocks, depending on requirements, we also develop bespoke blocks either via the Gutenberg ReactJS framework, or occasionally via the ACF plugin.
Patterns to facilitate contribution (blank page syndrome)
A Pattern is a Composition or Set of blocks, or a group of blocks, that have been combined together to create a reusable layout (template).
At Be API, we create customized patterns to translate graphic layouts as closely as possible to the Gutenberg philosophy.
These reusable patterns are readily available to our customers.
Third-party blocks (pack or plugin)
Once again, the richness of WordPress lies in its plethora of plugins and blocks.
We mainly use standalone blocks and avoid packs to facilitate maintenance and guarantee a high level of performance.
Why we don't recommend Elementor vs Gutenberg
Argument 1
Elementor is a very powerful tool. Too powerful, in fact, for webmasters with some knowledge of HTML/CSS.
It's a tool that will give more satisfaction to the professional building your WordPress site, and little to the end-user who will have a façade of autonomy, ultimately lacking the know-how to take advantage of Elementor.
Argument 2
In the context ofwebsite factoryor even multiple environments (production, pre-production, etc.), we feel that Elementor saves too many layout elements in the database.
In fact, in awebsite factory context, where it's possible to duplicate a template site, for example, this distributes WordPress maintenance across as many sites, making maintenance much more problematic.