Oxygen Builder
Oxygen is a WordPress plugin that enables you to visually design your whole website, from the header to the footer, without the need for coding. It gives total control over the appearance of the WordPress site.
When activated, Oxygen disables the WordPress theme. This means theme styles and layout of your site will not be applied while Oxygen is activated.
Oxygen, which is based on drag-and-drop technology, claims to be a relatively simple tool. But newbies may find it difficult to get a handle of the plugin as it has a learning curve. They will need some time to get familiar with the plugin operation.
I will use this Oxygen Builder review to show you all that this builder offers, how it works, and show its pros and cons.
Table of Contents
Oxygen Builder Review
Oxygen Builder is a powerful WordPress website builder that lets you edit or create whole sites from scratch. With this hybrid solution, you have more control over the content than you would have with any single page builder or theme.
Oxygen is a typical drag and drop builder that provides access to an extensive library of elements and widgets to work with sections, divs, accordions, elements, etc.
Using this builder, you can design almost any part of the website you want: pages, posts, custom post types, templates, etc.
If you are building a dynamic website, you use the template library. You can then assign layouts to archives, post types, specific pages, etc., and even a builder header and a footer.
Oxygen Builder has global styling rules for WooCommerce, texts, global colors, and fonts. Without the need for custom CSS, all of this can be managed simply inside the builder. This used to be a key feature, but the competition caught on and now offers a similar feature.
The developer-oriented capabilities are where this product really shines and outperforms the competition in terms of functionality.
The dynamic data functionality lets you fetch data from WordPress, plugins, or PHP and place it into an element. You also get access to loops and repeaters along with integration with the Advanced Custom Fields plugin.
The Oxygen builder’s powerful custom fields integration is the key to creating nearly anything you might imagine. All field values can be pushed into conditional visibility rules, text elements, and more.
How Oxygen Works?
Oxygen’s visual editor drag-and-drop interface allows you to create and change page designs exactly as you see them. To open the element browser, click the +Add button on the toolbar. To include an element on your page, just click on it.
You will see properties for a currently active element from the Primary and Advanced tabs in the left sidebar. The Primary tab will display common properties and properties for the element you are editing. The Advanced tab has a plethora of choices for further customizing the element.
To activate an element, just choose it from the page preview or the Structure panel. There are two options for rearranging elements. Using Structure panel or drag and drop.
It is sometimes more convenient to use the Structure panel to place element. This can be the case when dragging is not the best option because of long distance, when dragging large elements, or creating complicated nesting.
To access the Structure panel, locate the Structure toggle in the top right corner of the screen and click it. Then choose an element and drag it around to reposition it.
Oxygen undo history works on a per-session basis. In other words, reloading the builder and re-entering the builder will completely clear undo history.
In most cases, your pages will be formed from a number of Section elements. All of the other elements will be included inside these sections.
The Columns element is for column-based content. You can pick from preset column layouts or manually set the individual columns’ widths.
The Div element is used for grouping elements inside Section or Column to manage the layout of only those elements, without impacting the layout of other elements inside the Section or Column.
Columns, Sections, and Divs have settings to manage the alignment and layout of the elements placed inside them.
Templates & Content Library
Oxygen’s design library comprises a broad scope of complete websites, complete pages, and page sections.
Design Sets are groups of components and pages that have a similar style. Design Sets include:
- Components – elements and sections of pages designed to lay out a specific type of content. Examples include showcase, social proof, headers, pricing, and call to action.
- Pages – complete sets of customized and combined components to create a ready-made page. Examples are a contact page, product tour page, homepage, etc.
- Demo Websites – real-world websites created with components in the Design Set.
Designs created in Oxygen and then applied to numerous places on the website are known as Templates. You manage Templates from WP admin by going to Oxygen > Templates.
You can create templates applicable to blog posts, member portals, search results, WooCommerce products, bbPress, custom type archives, pages, and every other part of the site.
Header Builder
Creating responsive, multi-row, and sticky headers is possible thanks to Oxygen Header Builder.
Every Header Builder element consists of multiple Header Row elements. Header Row element is divided into 3 subsections – right, center, and left.
You can drag and position the elements inside each header row using a mouse. The Structure panel can also be used for positioning.
Code Cleanliness
Code cleanliness is what separates Oxygen from other website builders. Why? Because Oxygen can override any WordPress theme installed on your website. The complexity of its modules also ensures fewer code for the same results.
Instead of having the theme code and visual editor code bundled together, as is the case of Elementor, with Oxygen you get a single unit of code. That also means you’ll need to do some extra work to get the desired result. But it ensures indexation, effective site, and fast loading time.
Another way Oxygen has the edge over other website builders is the ability to load fewer elements when a user visits one of the site pages. This is different from Elementor, which loads an entire content library, while Oxygen only loads what’s needed for a specific page.
SEO
Oxygen Builder integrates quite well with third-party plugins such as RankMath, and makes it easy to optimize the site for SEO. Also, good indexation and fast loading of website pages are ensured by Oxygen’s lean code.
WooCommerce Integration
Thanks to Oxygen WooCommerce integration, you can easily style the entire store. For that, you need an Oxygen WooCommerce Integration addon available with the Oxygen WooCommerce pricing plan.
Gutenberg Integration
Designing individual blocks or entire pages in Oxygen and directly using or editing them in the Gutenberg block editor is made possible with the help of the Gutenberg Integration addon. The addon is available with the Oxygen Agency pricing plan.
The following types are made editable directly via Gutenberg: Images, Icons, Text, Rich Text, Section Background Images, and Link URLs.
The Gutenberg editor makes content-only changes easy without causing severe changes or unnecessary adjustments on designs.
Integration With Other Page Builders
Page builders such as Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, Themify Builder, Thrive Architect, Elementor, etc., are compatible with Oxygen. But why use another page builder when you already have Oxygen?
The reason you might want to use Oxygen with another page builder is when a site has been built using a different page builder, and you don’t want to redo it all in Oxygen yet but still want to use Oxygen to have more control over site templates, footers, headers and to replace your theme.
I have also compared Oxygen Builder vs Elementor so you can check that comparison for differences between them.
Pricing
There are four pricing plans available. Depending on individual use, the Agency plan possesses a better integration with the WordPress ecosystem thanks to Gutenberg block builder integration. In contrast, the WooCommerce plan is better for online stores interested in using Oxygen, and the Basic plan is good for bloggers.
Every plan comes with lifetime usage and unlimited sites. This means paying once you get lifetime access to tool, support, and updates. You can test the plugin using the demo site, and there is even a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Pros & Cons
Oxygen is an essential tool to create websites and pages for WordPress. In addition to its eCommerce functionality, it comes with a sophisticated set of visualization functions. However, it is not without flaws.
PROS
- Powerful features
- Great modules and templates
- Flexible for those who know how to use it
- Affordable pricing
- Option to create popups
- Display content based on conditions
- Provides complete control over site
- Integrates with ACF
- Centrally store templates
CONS
- Not compatible with some third-party plugins
- Not client-friendly as other builders
- There is a learning curve
Oxygen Builder Review Conclusion
Oxygen Builder is equipped with advanced features, the ability to output incredibly clean code, and optimized workflow. It is an essential and wonderful tool. You can even extend its features by using Oxygen Builder addons.
Good knowledge of how websites function is essential when using Oxygen. Its ability to disable the WordPress theme system also results in new development options.
Oxygen Builder has become a great choice for developers who don’t want to use simple page builders created for beginners. Its flexibility, ease-of-customization, deep features make it a great choice for coders. An icing on the cake that makes it one of the best page builders out there is its stellar pricing plans.
Oxygen is not recommended for simple bloggers that need page builders simply as a means to create a decent site. Oxygen is an excellent pick if:
- You are interested in learning website development.
- In a case where you are an experienced web developer or designer that wants full control over a website.
The plugin offers great pricing, which is hard to resist. The official support is great, and the community that surrounds the product is even better.
DISCLOSURE: Posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, I might get a small commission, without any extra cost to you. Read more about it here.