Creating Full-Width Pages with Elementor and Astra: Best Practices

Preface

Are you ready to unleash the full potential of your website? Creating full-width pages is a fantastic way to make a bold statement, showcase your content beautifully, and provide an immersive experience for your visitors. If you’re using WordPress with Elementor and Astra, you’re in luck! This powerful combination makes it incredibly easy to design stunning, full-width layouts. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the best practices for creating full-width pages, ensuring your website stands out from the crowd.

Why Use Full-Width Pages?

Before we dive into the how-to, let’s explore why you might want to use full-width pages in the first place:

• Visual Impact: Full-width pages create a strong visual impact, allowing you to showcase large images, videos, and graphics effectively.
• Improved User Experience: By removing sidebars and other distractions, full-width layouts can provide a cleaner, more focused user experience.
• Better Content Presentation: Full-width designs give you more space to present your content in a visually appealing and engaging way.
• Modern Design Aesthetic: Full-width layouts are a hallmark of modern web design, helping your website look up-to-date and professional.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have the following:

• WordPress: A self-hosted WordPress website is essential. If you don’t have one, check out this complete guide on how to make a free website with WordPress.
• Astra Theme: Install and activate the Astra theme. You can find it in the WordPress theme directory or through the Astra Pro plugin.
• Elementor Page Builder: Install and activate the Elementor plugin. We recommend using Elementor Pro for the full range of features, but the free version will also work for basic full-width layouts.

Hint: Always keep your WordPress installation, themes, and plugins up to date to ensure optimal performance and security. 

Method 1: Setting Full-Width Layouts with Astra Theme Settings

Astra offers a straightforward way to set full-width layouts directly from its theme settings. Here’s how:

1. Edit the Page: Go to the WordPress admin area and open the page you want to edit.

2. Astra Settings: Look for the ‘Astra Settings’ meta box, usually located below the content editor. If you don’t see it, make sure the Astra theme is activated.

3. Content Layout: In the Astra Settings, find the ‘Content Layout’ option. Select ‘Full Width / Stretched’ from the dropdown menu. This will remove any sidebars and allow your content to span the entire width of the screen.

   Info: With Astra Pro you have even more options to adjust the layout. 

4. Disable Title: If you don’t want to display the page title, toggle the ‘Disable Title’ option to ‘Yes’.

5. Update the Page: Click the ‘Update’ button to save your changes. View the page to see the full-width layout in action.

<div class='astra-full-width'>
    <!-- Your full-width content here -->
</div>

Method 2: Using Elementor’s Page Layout Settings

Elementor provides its own set of layout settings that you can use to create full-width pages. This method is particularly useful if you want to design the entire page with Elementor.

1. Edit with Elementor: Open the page you want to edit and click the ‘Edit with Elementor’ button.

2. Settings Icon: In the Elementor editor, click the ‘Settings’ gear icon in the lower-left corner of the screen.

3. Page Layout: In the ‘Page Layout’ dropdown, select ‘Elementor Full Width’. This will remove the theme’s header, footer and any sidebars, giving you a clean canvas to work with. Alternatively, for a completely blank canvas, select ‘Elementor Canvas’.

   Info: Choosing ‘Elementor Canvas’ removes the header and footer. Ensure you recreate navigation elements within Elementor itself.

4. Design Your Page: Start designing your page with Elementor elements. You can drag and drop sections, columns, and widgets to create your desired layout.

Best Practices for Designing Full-Width Pages

Now that you know how to create full-width pages, let’s look at some best practices to ensure your designs are effective and visually appealing:

• Use High-Quality Images: Since full-width pages often feature large images, it’s crucial to use high-resolution images. Optimize your images for the web to reduce file size without sacrificing quality. Tools like TinyPNG (https://tinypng.com/) can help with this.

• Maintain Readable Typography: Ensure your text is easy to read by using appropriate font sizes, line heights, and contrast. Choose fonts that are legible and visually appealing. For inspiration check out this blogpost: How to choose the right fonts for your Website

  You can use this blog post as well: 10 Best Google Fonts.

• Pay Attention to Spacing: Proper spacing is essential for creating a balanced and visually appealing layout. Use margins and padding to create whitespace around your elements.

• Use Columns and Sections: Divide your content into logical sections and columns to create structure and visual interest. Elementor makes it easy to create complex layouts with its drag-and-drop interface.

• Optimize for Mobile: Ensure your full-width pages look great on all devices by using Elementor’s responsive editing features. Test your designs on different screen sizes to ensure everything looks and functions correctly.

• Consider Loading Speed: Full-width pages with large images and complex layouts can be slow to load. Optimize your website for speed by using a caching plugin, optimizing images, and minimizing the use of unnecessary elements.

Advanced Tips and Tricks

• Use Background Overlays: Add a background overlay to your images to improve text readability and create a more visually appealing design.
• Incorporate Video Backgrounds: Video backgrounds can add a dynamic and engaging element to your full-width pages. Use short, muted videos that are optimized for the web.
• Create Parallax Effects: Parallax scrolling effects can add depth and visual interest to your pages. Elementor offers a variety of parallax effects that you can easily apply to your sections.
• Use Custom CSS: For advanced customization, you can use custom CSS to tweak the appearance of your full-width pages. Elementor allows you to add custom CSS directly to your elements.

/* Example CSS to adjust the padding of a section */
.elementor-section {
  padding-top: 50px;
  padding-bottom: 50px;
}

Troubleshooting Common Issues

• Content Not Full Width: If your content isn’t spanning the full width of the page, double-check your Astra settings and Elementor layout settings. Make sure you’ve selected the correct full-width option in both places.
• Header and Footer Issues: If you’re using Elementor Canvas and having trouble with your header and footer, you may need to recreate them within Elementor using templates.
• Responsive Issues: If your full-width page isn’t displaying correctly on mobile devices, use Elementor’s responsive editing features to adjust the layout and styling for different screen sizes.

Hint: Clear your browser cache and WordPress cache regularly to ensure you’re seeing the latest version of your website. 

Examples of Stunning Full-Width Pages

Need some inspiration? Here are a few examples of websites that use full-width pages effectively:

• Apple: Apple’s website (https://www.apple.com/) uses full-width layouts to showcase its products with stunning visuals and minimalist design.
• Airbnb: Airbnb’s website (https://www.airbnb.com/) uses full-width layouts to highlight its listings with large, immersive images.
• Dropbox: Dropbox’s website (https://www.dropbox.com/) uses full-width layouts to present its features and benefits with engaging graphics and concise text.

For even more inspiration check out this blogpost: Showcase of beautiful Websites built with Elementor – Part 1

And here is Showcase of beautiful Websites built with Elementor – Part 2

Info: Full-width pages are a great way to showcase your products or services with stunning visuals and minimalist design. 

Conclusion

Creating full-width pages with Elementor and Astra is a simple yet powerful way to enhance your website’s design and user experience. By following these best practices, you can create visually stunning layouts that captivate your audience and help you achieve your website goals. Whether you’re showcasing products, presenting information, or creating an immersive experience, full-width pages are a valuable tool in your web design arsenal. So go ahead, experiment with different layouts, and see how full-width pages can transform your website!