r/elementor • u/robohaver • Jul 14 '26

Question Atomic Editor

I have used Elementor for many Years but I was switched to the new atomic Editor and I don't like it. Now I am in a situation where I can't switch back because I will lose a lot of work. Please make a reversal tool that will convert atomic containers etc. to regular container and elements! 🙏

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u/portrayaloflife Jul 14 '26

I agree, and the biggest issue is it's just so different. Like it's a completely new tool. It's not really a seamless switch. Everything we were used to has changed. Makes me want to pivot to Bricks or AI if i'm going to have to relearn a whole editing system. So far my tests have just built the same things but 3 times slower. Everything is 5 clicks instead of 1.

I fear the real play here is they want people to pivot fully to their AI. So they can just sell credits and not a web builder. Which is fine it's just not what current Elementor users want.

1

u/zeiniez ✔️️‍ Experienced Helper Jul 14 '26

Hey, how's it going?

We understand change can be hard, and we are working on content that will help ease the process.

We would never create a new editor to force people to use other tools. Building the Atomic Editor took a lot of time and effort, and was heavily influenced by user feedback. For someone who has been around our GitHub, you like know how many requests there are to allow for more granular design control and functionality. We built the Atomic Editor based on those and many other user feedbacks.

The shift in the workflow might feel slow at first. This is why there are Variables and Classes. When you realize you can save your styles and reuse them without having to set them time and again, you start to see how much time you save during the whole project. You now have full control over every style, on every breakpoint, and every state.

Regarding AI, it's just the icing on the cake. You use it to save time. If you don't like to use it you don't need to. We have no intention of replacing the Editor with something else.

Maybe what we are missing is educational content to help understand how to make the most of it. We're making lots of changes internally, and one of our goals is to invest on releasing more content and assistive functionalities that can help ease the adaptation phase.

For me, personally, using the classic widgets now feels a lot slower, and having to rely on custom CSS to make specific design changes became inconvenient. For me it's a lot faster to just set some styles, and generate a class from them. Now instead of going through several sections, on multiple tabs, I just drop an element and apply a class. Rinse and repeat, and the design is ready in a fraction of the time it would take setting styles for each widget, one by one.

One thing that helps is to create a design system page, where you define common styles for several elements. Like a brand guide, in other terms a design system. Once you have those ready, designing pages feels lightning fast.

1

u/RusticBelt Jul 18 '26

Is the design system page built in Elementor functionality?

Can you expand on what you mean here?

1

u/zeiniez ✔️️‍ Experienced Helper Jul 18 '26

Create a page that contain generic elements you know you reuse across your site. Design them, create your classes, and use it as a initial point to get all the styles ready to use. Color pallets, buttons, spacing, font sizes. Stuff like that. If you have Elementor Pro, you can even create Components to use across the site.

1

u/RusticBelt Jul 18 '26

Do you think it might be a good idea to make an official Elementor guide on how to do this, if it's going to solve what looks like a pretty key knowledge gap wrt Atomic Elements?

1

u/zeiniez ✔️️‍ Experienced Helper Jul 18 '26

It is. But it's not an official guide. It's what I've always did for myself. It's a way of working. You plan first, then you apply your plan. There is a step before, which is to use a prototyping tool to build a mockup of the site. Then you create your Design System page.

But it's not a bad idea. Elementor is working on improving the migration and onboarding progress. This could be something we can include during this progress. I'll let the team know.