Using Oxygen Builder for WordPress Development
Written By: Shane Clark on July 15, 2020
By default, I prefer a WordPress website built without using a page builder or premium theme. As I have become more familiar with Oxygen Builder, I can see definite advantages as a reliable agency-wide development strategy. The ease of development, page load speed, and integration with ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) are some major selling points.
Advantages of Using Oxygen Builder
The primary advantage of using a “page builder” is the speed of development. While Oxygen does not consider itself a traditional page builder, conceptually, it is very similar in concept. In the past, I would never even consider recommending a page builder due to the load time and limitations on design implementation. Oxygen Builder uses minimal code that allows for faster page load speed. I have found that many of the design limitations I have experienced with other page builders are not an issue with Oxygen Builder.
Ease of Development with Oxygen Builder
Oxygen Builder has made development basically “drag and drop.” As you become more familiar with the tools provided by both Oxygen Builder and some of the 3rd party integrated tools, you can increase efficiency. The WordPress websites I have developed with Oxygen Builder in conjunction with some of the 3rd party tools have taken significantly fewer development hours. As with any website development project, I do recommend getting a design approved before the start of development.
Support For Gutenburg Integration
With the agency license, comes support for Gutenberg. Gutenberg allows for natural content editing and control within native WordPress. These blocks can be saved and reused as needed for other pages. The integration turns Oxygen Builder into the first drag and drop builder that works with Gutenberg.
One Time Cost for the Oxygen Builder platform
Another advantage of Oxygen Builder is the one-time cost. So many of these frameworks, themes, and other tools are paid based on use or by a yearly/monthly subscription basis. The “normal” price for the Oxygen Builder licensing ranges from $99 – $249. The subscription is based on the required features. I highly recommend an agency go with the “agency” version of the license. The agency version allows for integration with WooCommerce as well as the Gutenberg Block Builder.
Page Load Speed with Oxygen Builder
Oxygen Builder out of the box loads as fast as any theme or page builder solution I have encountered. Oxygen is built based on loading what’s needed, as it’s needed. These concepts are similar to how other compiled frameworks work. A close comparison is how Gatsby.js can render a WordPress website. In most cases, an out of the box website built with Oxygen will test with Google PageSpeed Insights to 65+ on mobile and 90+ on desktop. These speeds can increase based on hosting, image optimization, and plugins installed.
Maximizing Your Potential with Oxygen Builder
Regardless of using native Oxygen or one of the 3rd party tools, it is vital to be able to visualize a design and understand what blocks can be implemented to match the functionality of the design. The more experience you get using the Oxygen blocks will make this easier. As with any WordPress site build, it is much better to work within the native system when possible. I strongly encourage that any functionality that exists within native WordPress or a limited number of stable plugins be used.
Using Oxygen integrated 3rd Party Tools/Plugins
Many 3rd party tools can enhance your ability to build a WordPress website with Oxygen. I find that these tools/plugins can increase design flexibility as well as the speed of development. If you are considering using Oxygen, here are some tools you should look into using.
ACF(Advanced Custom Fields)
Advanced Custom Fields allows developing your WordPress administrative area in a way that is seamlessly easy to use. Oxygen supports full integration with ACF with any level license. The cost for the agency license (recommended) is $299 at the time of this posting.
Toolset
Toolset is another similar plugin to ACF to allow you to build out a data-driven administrative area. While I prefer ACF, Toolset can be a viable alternative. The agency license for Toolset is $249. This license allows for unlimited domain use.
Oxyelements
Oxyelements is a great tool that enhances Oxygen Builder. This tool has 200+ pre-built design elements that allow you to match your design to more known possibilities. The key with any effort within Oxygen is the ability to reuse the components on your site. If you think of these building blocks as your tools, Oxyelements increase the tools at your disposal. The cost of Oxyelements is $9 per month for unlimited website use.
Nimbufy
Nimbufy is a tool used to copy elements of any existing HTML layout back into Oxygen. This tool can save countless hours having to set up elements within Oxygen when the HTML layout is already available. I find this tool to use useful when replicating a client website from another platform. The limitations with this tool would be that only HTML / CSS is copied. Galeries, slideshows, and other areas of a site that are Javascript based and will not copy over.
Oxymade
Oxymade is an advanced 3rd party dashboard that can rapidly enhance your ability to build an Oxygen WordPress website. The interface is more advanced than the standard Oxygen Builder interface. The work done within Oxymade can be easily imported into your Oxygen templates. The cost of Oxymade ranges from $29 to $499. As of this posting, there a special offer for $129 for a lifetime license.
Disadvantages of Using Oxygen Builder
As with any system designed to circumvent development, there are certain disadvantages. The most common downside I have found with Oxygen is that an end-user might have a harder time naturally adding and editing content. I find that a WordPress site built with CPT (custom post types) or ACF is easier to manage.
The other possibility of a disadvantage could come if a plugin is not supported within the Oxygen Builder. If the website requires a plugin not supported by Oxygen, this could be a big problem. It is good to test any plugin up front vs. finding out later that they are not supported within Oxygen.
Summary
Oxygen Builder can be a great solution a rapidly build and deploy a WordPress website. As with any solution, it should be incorporated as part of a well thought out development strategy. Having a documented plan is especially crucial for a web development or marketing agency. If you’re looking for an Oxygen solution or would like to talk about web development or marketing, please feel free to contact me.
