Beaver Builder Theme

If you build sites for clients, what is worth repeating is not the design, it is the setup

Anyone building their tenth site for a client already knows that the slow part is not designing the front page. It is everything before it: installing, creating the child theme, setting colours and typography, adjusting header and footer. It is done the same way every time, and every time by hand.

Beaver Builder Theme is designed for that trade. It does not try to impress with demos: it is a framework theme that handles the header, the footer and the overall styling, while the Beaver Builder plugin handles the content of the pages. Separating the two is what lets you turn the setup into a base that is copied from one project to the next, and keep the client in the page editor while the header and footer are managed separately.

Seen this way, its simplicity is not a shortcoming. It is what makes it repeatable.

What is controlled from the Customizer

• Everything in the WordPress Customizer: colours, fonts, header, footer and layout, with live and responsive preview.
• Ten one click presets that set layout and colour scheme: four full width, four boxed and two hybrid.
• Header with an optional top bar and a fixed header option.
• Footer with a widget area and a main footer.
• Code tab to add HTML, CSS or JavaScript in several locations.
• WooCommerce tab, plus tabs for The Events Calendar and BigCommerce that appear when those plugins are installed.
• Export and import settings as a backup or to take them to another site.

How to turn it into your starting base

Build the base once. Install the theme and its child theme, pick the preset closest to your usual style and adjust header, footer, colours and fonts.

Export those settings. The export tab saves the Customizer configuration so it can be imported on another site. The next site starts with your base instead of the defaults.

Put shared code in the child theme. The markup uses the usual WordPress hooks, so the functions you repeat in every project can live in a child theme you carry from client to client.

If you run a network, install it once. It is compatible with WordPress Multisite and can be installed network-wide.

A framework, not a builder: what it does not do

It does not lay out pages. The content of each page is built by the Beaver Builder plugin; the theme only provides the frame. It also works with the free Lite version of the plugin.

It does not design the header with drag and drop. Header and footer are adjusted in the Customizer with the options it includes. To design them with the builder there is Beaver Themer, which runs on top of the Beaver Builder plugin.

Presets do not combine. If you customise one and then choose another, you will probably lose some of your settings, and the preset enforces its full width or boxed layout even if you change it in the general layout. The preset is chosen at the start, not at the end.

Installing the theme and its child theme

The child theme is not mandatory, but it is recommended.

1. Upload the theme file without activating it.
2. Upload the child theme the same way.
3. Activate the child theme.
4. Open the Customizer and pick a preset before touching colours. If you had already configured the parent theme, export its settings and import them into the child.

What pairs with it in the catalogue

The theme provides the frame and Beaver Builder Pro builds the page content. To design headers, footers, post templates and archives with the builder itself, Beaver Themer.

The catalogue also has PowerPack and Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder.

Questions before using Beaver Builder Theme

Do I need the Beaver Builder plugin?

The theme is designed to work with it and is compatible with the Lite version. They are separate products, and the plugin also works with almost any other theme.

Is the child theme necessary?

It is not mandatory, but it is recommended so your changes survive updates.

Does it work on WordPress Multisite?

Yes, and it can be installed network-wide.

Does it work with WooCommerce?

Yes. It has its own WooCommerce tab in the Customizer.

Can I take my configuration to another site?

Yes, by exporting the Customizer settings and importing them on the other site.

Does switching presets erase my settings?

Probably some of them. It is best to choose one at the start.