Theme builder

What it is

With the Elementor widgets on, the theme builder lets you design in the free Elementor the header, the footer and the templates for posts, pages, archives, search results and the page-not-found (404) — and choose where each one appears: the whole site, the front page, a content type, a category, chosen pages, the search or the 404. It comes with the "Ranking Suite — Site" group in the editor (title, featured image, content, excerpt, date and author, author box, previous/next, breadcrumbs, site logo and name, archive title and posts, search and comments), dynamic fields for Elementor's own widgets (a Heading can show the post title, an Image the featured image) and reusable sections: design once, use on many pages, change in one place.

How to use it

1. In the plugin menu, open Elementor → Theme templates and turn on "Turn on the theme builder" (the Elementor widgets must be on).
2. Under "Create", pick the type (start with Header and Footer). Name it, choose where it appears and click "Edit with Elementor". Posts, archives and the 404 have ready-made templates: one click and Elementor opens with the page already built.
3. Publish the template: it takes over its place on the site right away. When two templates fit the same page, the more specific one wins (a chosen page beats "all pages", which beats "whole site"); on a tie, the last one changed.
4. Header that stays at the top when scrolling and transparent over the top: tick them on the header template screen.
5. Reusable sections: create a "Reusable section" template (or right-click a container in Elementor → "Save as section"). Use it with the "Saved section" widget or the shortcode [ranking_suite_secao id="123"] in any text. The section screen lists where it is used.
6. Works with Hello Elementor, Astra, GeneratePress, Kadence, OceanWP, Blocksy and block themes (such as Twenty Twenty-Five). The page title, description and schema still come from the SEO.

Common problems

If something goes wrong

On the Theme templates tab, the "Use the theme's header" button puts the theme's own header and footer back right away, deleting nothing. Turning the theme builder off returns the whole site to the theme, and "Undo last change" reverts the last change to where a template appears.