The way a website looks will have a huge impact on the way it is perceived, and how successful it will be. That's why site design is so crucial. Fortunately, WordPress offers a host of handy plugins that can help to ease the load.
Shifting through all of them would likely be a lengthy process, however. So to make your life a bit easier, we’ve put together some of the best offerings, covering a range of possibilities and features. What’s more, you can use all of the plugins we’ve included without the need for any coding.
In this post, we’ll round up eight of the best WordPress plugins to help with the process of website design. Without further ado, let’s get to it!
The 9 Best WordPress Plugins for Designers
1. Envira Gallery
To start things off, let's look at Envira Gallery. This is a premium WordPress gallery plugin, which enables you to create stunning image galleries and albums for your site. It boasts over 100,000 active installs, and has even managed to hit a five-star average rating.
In other words, you can rest assured that Envira will equip you with everything you need to display images effectively on your site. Plus, the plugin is very easy to use. It operates via a handy drag-and-drop editor, meaning that you won’t need any advanced tech skills to create an attractive site.
Cost: The base plugin is free, while the premium version starts at just $29.
2. Elementor
Next up, Elementor is a plugin that delivers high-end designs and advanced capabilities. Most notably, it features a drag-and-drop live editor, meaning that there’s no need to go to a preview mode to view your work. It also ensures that you can always work quickly and effectively.
As a page-builder with a professional feel, Elementor enables users to create complex design features with ease. That includes box shadows, background overlays, hover animations, and more.
Cost: A basic personal account costs just $5 per month. Unlimited plans with full functionality are $17 per month.
3. Page Builder by SiteOrigin
Page Builder by SiteOrigin has been around for many years now, but has more than managed to keep up with the more recent competition. It features an interface that is a little more lightweight than our previous offering, which can be a boon to performance.
The SiteOrigin page builder has even managed to collect over 1 million active installs at WordPress.org. This makes it the most popular page builder plugin listed within the directory. It features a very user-friendly drag-and-drop editor, as well as tons of helpful CSS controls.
Cost: The base plugin is free, although premium versions are also available from $29.
4. ShortPixel
Design isn’t just about the way your website looks to visitors. You’ll also need to consider how your site's aesthetics affect its day-to-day operation. Large images can cause numerous performance issues, for example. Fortunately, this is where ShortPixel comes in.
ShortPixel is an image compression plugin, which will enable you to optimize any images at the click of a button. This can have a positive impact on the time it takes your site to load, as well as your search engine rankings. The plugin will even compress any new images automatically.
Cost: You can try the plugin out for free, or get a premium edition with advanced capabilities starting at $4.99 per month.
5. TablePress
If your website contains a lot of interesting facts and data, there will probably come a time when you need to add a table to it. Doing this via coding can be difficult. Instead, you can save yourself a lot of time by using TablePress.
With TablePress, you can create a table from scratch directly through your WordPress admin area. Everything you need to get started is clearly laid out, and you can add as many entries as you like. Once you’re done, the table will be added to your site with a simple click.
Cost: This is a completely free plugin.
6. SiteOrigin CSS
As you'll recall, we’ve already covered one offering by SiteOrigin. However, this next plugin is a completely different kind of tool. SiteOrigin CSS is a powerful custom CSS editor.
Normally, working with CSS requires an advanced understanding of the language. Fortunately, by using this plugin, you can quickly adjust a wide variety of design features on your site – with very little need for coding. This makes it an incredibly user-friendly option.
Cost: This plugin is 100% free to use.
7. The Visual Editor
Up next, we have a plugin that does exactly what it says on the tin. The Visual Editor enables you to create visual content of pretty much any kind. That includes complex infographics, images, videos, drawings, and even animations. What’s more, you can do it all from a simple editor.
This means you need absolutely zero coding skills – making The Visual Editor an accessible choice for beginners. This plugin also operates via a drag-and-drop editor, which means that creating designs is fast and intuitive.
Cost: A free version of the plugin is available, and you have the option of four different premium plans that range from $39 to $249.
8. Jetpack
Another familiar name, Jetpack actually has a variety of different capabilities. More famously, it contains just about everything you'll need to secure your WordPress website. However, it's also a pretty powerful design tool when used effectively.
Jetpack offers a host of customization options, ranging from premium themes to conditional widgets. The latter help you embed visual content onto your site – such as social media posts and videos. In short, this plugin is a great option if you desire an all-in-one solution.
Cost: Free plans are available, while premium plans with advanced capabilities start at $3.50 per month.
9. Amelia
Amelia is a simple yet powerful WordPress booking plugin, working 24/7 to make sure your clients can book appointments with you easily and with no hassle.
Installing and configuring Amelia only takes a few clicks. They continuously focus on maximum simplicity and convenience for Amelia's end users, so most actions, both on front-end and back-end are intuitive do not require more than 2-3 clicks.
Cost: Free if you'll use the Lite version available on the WordPress repository, while the premium plans start at $59 per year.
Best WordPress Plugins Conclusion
Plugins are an essential part of the WordPress experience. They help bring new capabilities to your site, and can even simplify complex procedures – such as web design. Using any of the plugins we’ve outlined above is sure to ease the creative process, and help you craft a beautiful website.
Although all of the above tools are worth your time, Jetpack and Elementor stand out as plugins that truly simplify web design. The drag-and-drop editors these solutions feature make them the perfect option for beginners, and enable you to create aesthetically pleasing visuals in a matter of minutes.
Additionally, there other tools like MapSVG that can really help your site apart!
Image credit: Pixabay.
