Elementor transforms WordPress website building into a visual, drag-and-drop experience. Whether you're building your first website or transitioning from another platform, this guide walks you through everything from installation to creating professional pages.
Getting Started with Elementor
How to Install Elementor in WordPress
Installing Elementor takes just a few minutes:
- Log into your WordPress dashboard
- Navigate to Plugins → Add New
- Search for "Elementor"
- Click "Install Now" on Elementor Website Builder
- Click "Activate" once installation completes
Elementor is now ready to use. You'll see new "Elementor" and "Templates" menu items in your dashboard.
Creating Your First Page
- Go to Pages → Add New
- Give your page a title
- Click "Edit with Elementor"
- The Elementor editor opens with a blank canvas
Understanding the Elementor Interface
The Editor Layout
Left Panel: Contains widgets, settings, and navigation. This is your toolbox for building pages.
Canvas Area: The main editing area showing your page exactly as visitors will see it.
Bottom Bar: Quick access to settings, responsive mode, history, and preview options.
Key Panel Sections
Elements Tab: All available widgets organized by category—Basic, Pro, General, Site, WooCommerce.
Global Tab: Saved templates, colors, and fonts you can reuse across your site.
Settings Tab: Page-level options like title, status, featured image, and layout.
Building Blocks: Structure
Elementor pages are built with three structural levels:
Sections
The largest building blocks—full-width horizontal areas. Think of sections as rows that span your page. Each section can have its own background, spacing, and layout settings.
Columns
Sections contain columns (1-10). Columns determine horizontal layout within sections. A two-column section might have 50/50 split, 70/30, or any custom ratio.
Widgets
The actual content elements—headings, text, images, buttons, forms. Widgets live inside columns.
Adding Structure
- Click the "+" icon in the canvas to add a new section
- Choose a column structure (or customize later)
- Drag widgets from the left panel into columns
Essential Widgets
Basic Widgets (Free)
Heading: Titles and headlines with complete typography control. Set H1-H6 tags, colors, and effects.
Text Editor: Rich text areas for paragraphs and formatted content. Similar to WordPress's classic editor.
Image: Add images with caption, link, and lightbox options. Control size, alignment, and effects.
Button: Clickable buttons with extensive styling—colors, borders, icons, hover effects.
Spacer: Add vertical spacing between elements. Essential for controlling layout flow.
Divider: Horizontal lines or decorative separators.
Icon: Choose from thousands of icons with full styling control.
Advanced Widgets (Free)
Image Box: Image with heading and text—perfect for features or services.
Icon Box: Icon with heading and text for feature highlights.
Testimonial: Customer quotes with author info and image.
Accordion: Collapsible content sections for FAQs.
Tabs: Tabbed content organization.
Styling Elements
Every widget has three tabs of settings:
Content Tab
Controls what the widget displays—text, images, links, alignment.
Style Tab
Controls appearance—colors, typography, borders, shadows, spacing.
Advanced Tab
Layout controls—margin, padding, motion effects, responsive settings, custom CSS.
Common Styling Options
Typography: Font family, size, weight, style, line height, letter spacing.
Colors: Text color, background color, border color. Use hex codes, RGB, or pick from palette.
Spacing: Margin (outside space) and padding (inside space) with per-side control.
Borders: Type, width, color, and radius for rounded corners.
Shadow: Box shadows and text shadows with position, blur, and color control.
Working with Templates
Using Pre-Made Templates
- Click the folder icon in the canvas
- Browse templates by category or search
- Preview templates before inserting
- Click "Insert" to add to your page
- Customize text, images, and colors to match your brand
Saving Your Own Templates
- Build a section or page you want to reuse
- Right-click the section handle
- Select "Save as Template"
- Name it descriptively
- Access later from Templates → Saved Templates
Responsive Design
Responsive Mode
Click the responsive icon in the bottom bar to switch between:
- Desktop: Default editing view
- Tablet: Medium screen preview
- Mobile: Small screen preview
Device-Specific Settings
Many settings show device icons. Clicking these lets you set different values per device:
- Different font sizes on mobile vs. desktop
- Hide elements on specific devices
- Adjust spacing for smaller screens
- Change column order on mobile
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Elementor Editor Not Loading
If the editor shows a blank screen or loading wheel:
- Clear browser cache and cookies
- Disable other plugins temporarily to find conflicts
- Switch to a default theme temporarily
- Check PHP memory limit (256MB recommended)
- Ensure WordPress and Elementor are updated
Elementor Transparent Header
To make your header transparent over hero sections:
- In Elementor Pro Theme Builder, edit your header
- Set section background to transparent
- In section Layout settings, enable "Stretch Section"
- Set Position to "Absolute"
- Adjust page content to account for transparent header overlap
Changes Not Showing
- Clear any caching plugins
- Check that changes are published (not just saved as draft)
- View in incognito/private window to bypass browser cache
Best Practices
Performance
- Don't overuse sections—combine when possible
- Optimize images before uploading
- Use lazy loading for images
- Avoid excessive animations
Organization
- Name your sections and columns descriptively
- Use Navigator panel (right-click → Navigator) for complex pages
- Save reusable elements as templates
- Set up Global Colors and Fonts for consistency
SEO
- Use proper heading hierarchy (H1 → H2 → H3)
- Add alt text to all images
- Keep important content high in page structure
- Don't hide critical content in tabs or accordions
Next Steps
Once comfortable with basics:
- Explore the full widget library
- Learn motion effects and animations
- Try Theme Builder (Pro) for headers and footers
- Build a template library for your common layouts
- Experiment with custom CSS for advanced effects
Elementor's learning curve is gentler than most professional design tools. With practice, you'll move from following tutorials to creating original designs efficiently. Start simple, build confidence, and expand your skills progressively.