My Experience Developing Elementor Widgets: From Zero to a Custom Plugin

My Experience Developing Elementor Widgets: From Zero to a Custom Plugin

In this article, I want to share my personal experience with developing Elementor widgets. The journey was full of challenges and valuable insights that can be useful for WordPress developers and anyone interested in building custom Elementor widgets. Together, we’ll take a look at what Elementor is, why learning widget development matters, and the key steps to get started.

What is Elementor?

Elementor is one of the most popular WordPress page builder plugins. Without a doubt, it has played a major role in the growth and popularity of WordPress in recent years. According to BuiltWith, over 10 million live websites use Elementor.

Beyond being a simple yet powerful page-building tool, Elementor also provides a foundation for PHP developers to add deep customization features to WordPress websites.

In my opinion, the best resource for learning Elementor widget development is the official Elementor documentation. It is:

  • Written in simple language with plenty of examples
  • Well-structured and organized into topics (editor development, dynamic tags, forms, etc.)
  • Complete with both simple and advanced examples at the end of each section

I searched for video courses but couldn’t find a complete one dedicated to Elementor widget development. Most of my learning came directly from the documentation.

Why Learn Elementor Widget Development?

Since Elementor is the most widely used WordPress page builder, there are many cases where the built-in no-code tools aren’t enough. That’s where learning widget development becomes essential.

If you’re a front-end developer, you can use your coding skills to build widgets tailored exactly to your needs, with the controls you want, and reuse them across any Elementor site.

Most popular Elementor add-ons such as:

…are all built on custom widget development.

If you’ve ever used these plugins, you already know how much a well-designed custom widget can improve the user experience.

But Elementor widget development isn’t just about the front-end!

For example, imagine you have a custom post type on your site and want to display it in a unique way. Elementor lets you bring everything that’s available in WordPress development into its ecosystem.

You can:

  • Display custom posts in any layout you want
  • Use your favorite CSS framework
  • Integrate multiple JavaScript libraries without limitations
  • Work with WordPress core features and the database for fetching, storing, and validating data
  • Control how data is shown to users based on their roles

The combination of WordPress’s power and Elementor’s flexibility opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

My Journey with WordPress and Elementor

My professional journey began with WordPress, and as I gradually learned web programming languages, my knowledge grew. At first, I just used Elementor and to this day, I haven’t found a better page builder for WordPress.

Over time, I started noticing the limitations of no-code tools, so I learned PHP. This allowed me to create custom plugins and themes. I also invested time in front-end development.

Now, after developing Elementor widgets, I’ve reached the point where I can fully bridge the back-end and front-end, building widgets with all the features I want.

WordPress is an incredibly powerful CMS — but only if you know how to extend it. The same is true for Elementor: it becomes much more powerful when you dive into development.

Suggested Path to Learn Elementor Widget Development

As I mentioned earlier, the official Elementor documentation is the best starting point. I haven’t found a complete and well-structured video course that covers widget development in detail. Thankfully, the docs are clear, step-by-step, and easy to follow.

Prerequisites

You probably already know WordPress basics and have some familiarity with HTML and CSS. That’s enough to get started.

But if you want to become more professional, it’s better to also learn:

  • PHP fundamentals
  • How to build WordPress plugins
  • WordPress coding standards
  • HTML & CSS best practices
  • Basic JavaScript
  • Elementor structure and widget lifecycle
  • Working with the Controls API (input fields)
  • Rendering methods (how widgets display output)
  • Registering widgets in Elementor

Conclusion

Developing widgets in Elementor is an amazing opportunity for developers to go beyond the limitations of page builders and build dynamic, professional websites.

If you’re passionate about WordPress development and love Elementor, learning widget development can be a turning point in your career.

Start with the Elementor documentation and create your very first small widget. The learning path may look challenging at first, but with curiosity and persistence, you’ll be able to create your own custom tools — and even offer them as services to others.

Good luck!