From Page Builders to Native WordPress: Why We Now Build “Lean” for Maximum Performance
If you look at the evolution of how we build websites at Egret Digital, it mirrors the evolution of the web itself.
Years ago, we built sites using Astra, a fantastic, lightweight theme that gave us a solid foundation. Later, as client demands for highly customised, intricate designs grew, we transitioned to using Elementor. Elementor is an incredible tool that democratised web design, allowing agencies to build visually stunning pages with drag-and-drop ease.
We don’t knock these tools—they power millions of successful websites today. But as the digital landscape became more competitive, and Google shifted its algorithmic focus heavily toward Core Web Vitals and User Experience (UX), our philosophy had to evolve.
Today, we build websites using native WordPress (the core block editor), supplemented only by tailored tools like ACF (Advanced Custom Fields).
By using less third-party software, we build faster, better-performing, and more reliable websites. Here is a look at why we made the shift to “lean” native building, and why it matters for your business.
The Hidden Cost of “More”
Page builders like Elementor are incredibly powerful, but that power comes with a trade-off: code bloat.
To give you the ability to drag and drop any element anywhere on a page, a page builder has to load massive amounts of CSS (styling) and JavaScript (functionality) in the background—just in case you decide to use them. It also creates a deeply nested DOM (Document Object Model), meaning the browser has to read through layers and layers of structural code just to display a simple paragraph of text.
When a browser has to download, parse, and execute all that extra code, the website slows down. And in today’s attention economy, a slow website is a leaky bucket for your marketing budget.
The Native WordPress & ACF Advantage
Over the last few years, the native WordPress block editor (often referred to as Gutenberg) has matured into a powerhouse. We no longer need heavy third-party page builders to create beautiful, complex, and responsive layouts.
When we do need highly specific, dynamic functionality that core blocks can’t quite handle, we don’t install a bloated third-party plugin. Instead, we use ACF and ACF Pro. This allows us to code bespoke, lightweight blocks from scratch that do exactly what you need them to do—and absolutely nothing else.
By building natively and using ACF strategically, we embrace the “less is more” approach. The benefits are undeniable:
- Zero Bloat: Native WordPress only loads the code required for the specific blocks used on a page.
- Rock-Solid Reliability: Every time you add a massive page-builder plugin to a website, you introduce a potential point of failure. By relying on WordPress core and clean ACF fields, we drastically reduce the chance of plugin conflicts during updates.
- Future-Proofing: Because we are building with the exact tools the WordPress core team develops, our websites are natively aligned with the platform’s future trajectory.
We Don’t Just Guess It’s Fast – We Prove It
Many agencies will tell you a site is fast because it “feels” fast to them on their high-speed office Wi-Fi. We don’t rely on feelings; we rely on forensic data.
Every website we build goes through rigorous testing using WebPageTest, the industry gold standard for performance auditing. We aren’t just looking at the total load time; we are analysing the exact sequence of how the site renders on a real user’s screen.
One of our primary obsessions is a metric called First Contentful Paint (FCP). FCP measures the exact moment the browser renders the very first piece of DOM content (like text or an image) on the screen.
When you use heavy page builders, users often stare at a blank white screen while the code loads in the background. Our agency benchmark is to hit an FCP of under 0.5 seconds. We want your users to see your brand, your message, and your value proposition instantly.
Better Performance = Better Business
Why do we care so much about stripping out bloat and shaving milliseconds off load times? Because performance is no longer just a technical metric; it is a fundamental business metric.
- Conversion Rates: Amazon famously found that every 100ms of latency cost them 1% in sales. Fast sites keep users engaged; slow sites send them straight to your competitors.
- SEO Rankings: Google actively rewards fast, technically sound websites. By natively building for speed, we give your SEO campaigns a structural advantage from day one.
- User Trust: A website that loads instantly and flawlessly feels premium, authoritative, and trustworthy.
At Egret Digital, we’ve learned that the best websites aren’t the ones with the most plugins; they’re the ones engineered with the most precision.