[Resolved] Should I disable anything in Generatepress if I use Elementor (free)?

[Pauline]

Hi

Should I disable anything in Generatepress if I choose to use the free version of Elementor?

Pauline

[David]

Hi there,

Only if you don’t need something 🙂
I would leave the theme to control the Typography and Typography colors by disabling the defaults in Elementor settings. As long as you don’t edit them directly in Elementor editor then you can control them globally from the Customizer.

Content Title a lot of people will add in Elementor and you can use the Layout Element to disable that.

Instead of using the Elementor Canvas as this removes all theme elements, hooks etc you can also use the Layout Element to replicate a canvas by disabling all the elements you don’t need, remove sidebars etc and set page builder containers to full width.

https://docs.generatepress.com/article/layout-element-overview/

[Pauline]

Thanks David. Please excuse me – I’ve just started out on WordPress, Elementor and Generatepress, so just trying to get my head around everything. When you reply

“Instead of using the Elementor Canvas as this removes all theme elements, hooks etc you can also use the Layout Element to replicate a canvas by disabling all the elements you don’t need, remove sidebars etc and set page builder containers to full width”

– what then would I use Elementor for?

[David]

Sorry i may have added some confusion.

Elementor Free only allows you to edit the content of your posts and pages. This uses the default Template which will include the header, footer, sidebars etc ie. all of the Theme elements that you select within the Customizer.

Elementor also provides a Canvas Template, that is selectable in the WordPress editor. This will replace the standard Theme Templates, removing the header, footer etc….. its fine if you want to build a coming soon page. A lot of people reach for the Canvas template when they want a page that doesn’t need the theme elements. It was this i was referring to.

So if you need to create a page or a post that has a different layout, say no footer or no sidebar. To do this in GP we would use the Layout Module or the Layout Element to change the configuration for those pages. There are two ways to do this.

1. On a page by page basis:
https://docs.generatepress.com/article/layout-metabox-overview/

2. On a global level using display rules:

https://docs.generatepress.com/article/layout-element-overview/

The latter method is super powerful and is part of the Elements module. Which you may want to check out as you learn more:

https://docs.generatepress.com/article/elements-overview/

[Pauline]

Many thanks David, and please don’t apologise – the confusion is due to me still being at the bottom of the learning curve 🙂

It’s making more sense for me now – thanks for your reply – great support!

[David]

Glad to be of help 🙂

[Author]

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