Bricks Builder in WordPress: A Step Forward, But Not Quite a Developer’s Dream

Page builders have come a long way in WordPress. We’ve seen everything from clunky shortcodes to drag-and-drop interfaces that promise the world but often deliver bloated code and frustrating performance issues. Enter Bricks Builder, a relatively new contender that aims to shake things up. And to be fair, it does—mostly in a good way.

Bricks is built on Vue.js and renders pages on the frontend using PHP and MySQL, ensuring lightweight, efficient performance. Unlike some older page builders that rely on a mix of inline styles and excessive div nesting, Bricks outputs cleaner, more structured HTML. Plus, it operates within it’s own app removing itself from Gutenberg or the standard WordPress backend.

What Bricks Builder Gets Right

1. Performance-First Approach
   Bricks doesn’t suffer from the same bloat as some of its competitors. It’s fast, well-coded, and doesn’t overload your site with unnecessary assets. This makes it a great option for performance-conscious developers and site owners.
2. Dynamic Data Support
   Bricks makes working with dynamic content straightforward. Whether you’re pulling in ACF fields, WordPress meta fields, or creating custom loops, it handles it all natively without extra plugins.
3. Developer-Friendly (Mostly)
   Bricks allows custom queries, PHP hooks, and code blocks, which makes it more flexible than some page builders. It even lets you write your own CSS, JavaScript, and PHP, meaning you don’t have to rely solely on visual controls. And built into the child theme is an example of how you can write your own Bricks elements, encouraging developers to extend its functionality.

Where Bricks Feels Like Too Much of a Good Thing

While Bricks is a step in the right direction, it’s not quite the developer utopia some of us had hoped for. One glaring issue? The sheer number of CSS controls.

Yes, having control is great, but sometimes it feels like you’re clicking through a labyrinth of dropdowns just to adjust padding. Personally, I find it much faster to write my own CSS classes and move on. Bricks does allow you to do that, but the interface often nudges you toward using its built-in styling options, which can be tedious for developers who prefer direct coding over UI tinkering.

Also, while the structure is cleaner than many other builders, it’s still a page builder—which means it’s not as lean as hand-coded solutions. If you’re a developer used to working directly with WordPress theme files, you may still find yourself wrestling with elements you wouldn’t have had to touch in a custom-coded setup.

Final Thoughts

Bricks Builder is a strong step forward in the world of WordPress page builders. It balances ease of use with developer flexibility better than most alternatives. It’s lightweight, powerful, and more thoughtfully designed than many of its predecessors. But for developers who love writing CSS directly, navigating through its exhaustive styling controls can feel more like a chore than a convenience.

So, should you use Bricks? If you’re looking for a fast, modern, and relatively developer-friendly page builder, absolutely. But if you’re the kind of developer who would rather write CSS than click through UI panels, you might find yourself missing the simplicity of just coding things yourself.

Still, as far as page builders go, this is one of the best yet. And hey, at least it’s not another shortcode disaster, right?