Switching to Kadence and Gutenberg from Astra and Elementor

[@mhdoctor]

Nice presentation. I've also been playing with Kadence and find it has what I need for my simple sites & the pages load quickly. I appreciated the slower pace and focus on basic features/functions in the video.

[@danimordecai7611]

David, great vid. Just found this as I'm keen not have to speed up my sites. Super indepth & great instructions. Look fwd to next one. Cheers D

[@DavidMcCan]

Thanks

[@faisalshaikh7994]

I know you. I saw your comment on my post in the WPCrafter FB group. Anyway, I am glad you made video on this, em also thinking to migrate to Kadence theme with no page builder.

[@LifterLMS]

Nice video David! Cool to see your thinking around Kadence.

[@DavidMcCan]

Thanks. Yes, I'm enjoying using it and looking forward to the good things in the pipeline.

[@larryodaniel926]

Really liked this video. You tried some things I have only thought about.

[@ramonbullock6630]

Looks nice! I love your piece :D

[@natarajpatil8978]

Thanks a lot sir. I subscribed.. This video helped me a lot. 👍

[@GeoffreyProfessional]

Thanks for this, David.

[@proyecto4tmexico474]

Hi David! Your site looks great! I was just wondering how you made that sweet sidebar, do you use a plugin?

[@georgekaramolegos]

Hello David. Nice video . Did you run any speed tests to check the performance of it ?

[@DavidMcCan]

No, I didn't compare performance. In general, Kadence is a tad faster than Astra. A Gutenberg page will be a bit smaller page size, but I'm using Toolset for the Post Template which adds some JS and CSS.

[@martian-sunset]

That was fun. I have been considering moving to Kadence/Gutenberg. It seems to be gathering some steam. I like lean dev. Have you looked at the Kadence Blocks?

[@DavidMcCan]

Yes, I've been digging into them. Good stuff.

[@feed5750]

Very good! What about performance? Did your site speed improved when removing elementor? Have you compared speeds between Astra+Elementor and Kadence?

[@DavidMcCan]

I didn't compare before / after site performance. Subjectively, working in the admin seems faster. In general, Kadence is a tad faster than Astra. A Gutenberg page will be a bit smaller page size, but I'm using Toolset for the Post Template which adds some JS and CSS. The big reason for choosing Kadence was the better Gutenberg integration.

[@paxwebb]

@@DavidMcCan This is the only reason I watched the video. Improved performance is the number one reason to dump Elementor to Gutenberg. I can't believe you didn't test the performance gains...

[@DavidMcCan]

@@paxwebb - Thanks, I'll be sure to include that on the next site redo.

[@JoeGator23]

Honestly I'm going to stick with Elementor Pro and Astra Pro... It works fine and it is easier to explain to users with less user input skills required. Sure, I pay for the licenses, but you really get what you pay for.

[@DavidMcCan]

Definitely go with what works best for you. Good point about users, as basic Elementor may be faster to pick up than basic Gutenberg.

[@HarveyStroud]

Hi David, was the Toolset issue with embedding custom blocks finally resolved? How do you rate Toolset and do you use any of its other functionality and have you encountered any other problems? I wonder about overlap with up and coming Gutenberg features (e.g. the new Query loop block).

[@DavidMcCan]

The Toolset loop functionality is much more extensive than the Gutenberg version and I imagine that will be the case for a long time. Toolset has a lot of features. Comparatively, the Toolset Forms plugin is the weakest one. I continue to see some users with issues related to Toolset. On the positive side, Toolset continues to improve. They have a sandbox where you can test it out and follow along with the tutorials.

[@evuhodejegerne3922]

Hello, can I add a custom header on Kadence, like ocean wp? I want to another header on my posts with elemantor. But elemantor can't work with post Page. So I need to add my header template on post Page with kadence theme. Is there a way to do this?

[@DavidMcCan]

I don't think so. You can ask in the Kadence support forum for certain.

[@proyecto4tmexico474]

Hi @David! Your site looks great! I was just wondering how you made that sweet sidebar, do you use a plugin?

[@bradleybeck5204]

Thank you for the information in this video. I suggest that you nix all the stock photo and/or video stuff. It doesn't add any value and is totally off message.

[@DavidMcCan]

Thanks for the suggestion. Its a good idea.

[@wgm247]

This video makes me glad im with astra and elementor pro

[@DavidMcCan]

😀 - Lol. Definitely stick with what works for you.

Hi, how do you edit mobile style? Text size for example. When I switch to mobile view nothing happens.

[@DavidMcCan]

It is tucked away under the "Inherit" option. Here is a link to the KB article: kadence-theme.com/knowledge-base/customize-settings/typography-and-setting-font-sizes-for-different-devices/

[@FactorChill]

Forminator is by far the best form plugin

[@DavidMcCan]

I've heard good things about it.

[@pahtashow]

Hi How to use Kadence (Gutenberg) with CPTUI and especially with ACF ? I wanted to create stuff post type with acf plugin. Will you make a video about Kadence (Gutenberg) + CPTUI + ACF ?

[@DavidMcCan]

Sorry, there isn't support for ACF with any of the block addons. You can make custom blocks with ACF Pro or Meta Box Pro, or maybe try Toolset Blocks.

[@johnanderson2385]

@@DavidMcCan I'll use Oxygen Builder for complex stuff but after watching your video I'm really interested to try Kadence. thanks David.

[@MB-sl8pw]

Would be Nice if you had divi also

[@DavidMcCan]

Thanks for the suggestion.

[@pahtashow]

Can you please review Fluent Forms Pro vs Gravity Forms ?

[@DavidMcCan]

Hi pahtashow, The Fluent Forms team is adding new features quickly. Gravity Forms has been pretty stagnate, though they seem to have woken up. There are some addons for Gravity Forms that extend it in ways that Fluent Forms does have. These are pretty advanced integrations, etc, so it would depend on your use case. Fluent Forms has a very active community on Facebook, so that is a good place to checkout, if you are on Facebook.

[@pahtashow]

@@DavidMcCan I wanted to choose right extendable tool and I see only GF with plenty third party addons. I wanted to create a form for hiring an interpreter with functionality to selecting days in calendar with selecting hours apart for each day but also before showing the final price I wanted to show total numbers of hours just before the price. For now and for that case I see GF+Advanced calculations addon.

[@DavidMcCan]

@@pahtashow - Fluent Forms has a pretty active Facebook group. You can ask about it there to see if it would work for your use case.

[@mbronec]

Nice theme, but it doesnt display correctly on Internet Explorer. This could be problem for some users.

[@DavidMcCan]

I see what you mean. I just checked the Kadence support forum and saw that the developer is planning to drop support for IE totally. Safari is supported and I saw the developer actively troubleshooting issues.

[@easyislander]

Gutenberg was to make things more easier for the beginner and novice users. I still find it much more difficult to use than Elementor/Astra. Astra pro still works great and it's faster when putting a website together. I will stick what works for me for now until Gutenberg is easier to setup and use.

[@DavidMcCan]

Gutenberg has a learning curve that makes it a challenge for beginners. Its smart to stick with what is working for you.

[@HaifengZhu-pn3uq]

I have tried the free version of both Astra and Kadence. Kadence is a lottttttt.......... better than Astra. Even in free version of Kadence, they have a lot to offer, while Astra you may need to go pro. The features of free version of Astra is too limited.

[@DavidMcCan]

Kadence, even the free version, is very full featured. I've been very happy with it.

[@wittywolk]

What about animations?

[@DavidMcCan]

Toolset Blocks don't have any and Kadence Blocks Pro has some on scroll animation options. There are Gutenberg addons that add animations.

[@wittywolk]

@@DavidMcCan Hmm... First of all thanks for your reply. Im pretty new to wordpress and things around (themes - builders - plugins; zzz), been doing some HTML before. Can you recommend any plugin? I was thinking about building in Elementor but read many bad comments about SEO quality with Elementor.

[@DavidMcCan]

@@wittywolk - It is a broad topic and the answer depends on your skills, goals, and values. All of the main SEO plugins have Elementor integration. I created this as a fun project and maybe it will be helpful: www.webtng.com/wordpress-page-builder-finder/

[@GrantHawkey]

At what stage do you test for tablet and mobile breakpoints?

[@DavidMcCan]

Good question. I usually wait until the end, but that is probably not the best practice.

[@vmm666]

But your site is using Astra again?

[@DavidMcCan]

No, WebTNG.com is using the Kadence theme.

[@michaelruizconsultingllc6762]

This really seems to drain creativity as opposed to designing websites with Elementor.

[@DavidMcCan]

I can see how people might feel that way. Gutenberg is more limited than Elementor. However, several years ago, before Gutenberg, there weren't even native columns in the Classic editor and using a page builder was the main go-to. Now, for regular content and simpler sites Gutenberg is an option. As I think I mentioned in the video, for more advanced use cases a page builder makes sense and of course it is always a good idea to use the tools where you feel productive.

[@vojkanbg]

Set the play speed to 1.5. Thank me later. :)

[@hannesdolde5903]

seriously