If you aren’t happy with your website theme and want to have more control over its look, structure and feel, then Cobalt Apps Dynamik Website Builder (DWB) might be for you.

Why should you consider using Dynamik Website Builder

Here are 7 reasons why you should consider DWB:

• You want to have full control over your site layout, including the ability to build custom pages.
• You want complete control of your typography, including the option to integrate Google fonts, Typekit fonts and use Font Awesome — all of which can be done without touching a single line of code.
• You want to modify the location, size, and styling of headers, footers, sidebars, custom content widgets.  
• You want to edit your color scheme, font sizes, line spacing, background colors and images, borders, and more quickly.
• You want the ease of a front-end CSS editor that allows you to view on-page style changes without switching browser tabs or windows.
• You want to create and target custom widget areas by page and posts.
• You want the ability to export your design as a stand-alone Genesis child theme — yes, you can sell Genesis child themes built with DWB.

If this and more appeals to you, then the Dynamik Website Builder might be a perfect solution.

A Brief History

I started using the first incarnations of DWB in 2009 when it was developed as a standalone theme under the Frugal and later, Catalyst brand names. In 2013, the product underwent another significant change when it transitioned to become a highly customizable child theme under the Genesis Framework. Today DWB, combined with the power and speed of the Genesis Framework, is a robust website development and design tool that gives users full control over their website.

No Coding Experience Required

Users can create highly customized, professional looking websites without touching a single line of code. If you have a basic familiarity of CSS and PHP, you can take your site to the next level. Create highly customized page layouts using the integrated custom CSS and PHP builders that create and write the code for you.

Let’s Look Under the Hood

As a child theme, DWB sits on top of the Genesis Framework, meaning you get the power, speed and features of Genesis. DWB creates three additional menu items under the Genesis menu in WordPress: Dynamik Settings, Dynamik Design and Dynamik Custom.

Dynamik Settings offers a handful of customizable settings that I rarely touch. Starting out you’ll want to keep all the default settings that make your site HTML5 compliant and fully responsive.

In the beginning, you’ll want to spend 99% of your time in the Dynamik Design menu options. The Dynamik Design menu is the real workhorse of DWB. Here you’ll find nearly 300 design options organized in 22 different element categories. Plus there’s an additional set of four ‘universal design controls’ which allow you to change simultaneously similar features across multiple design categories.

I know your thinking, ‘That’s a lot of options, maybe too many.’ You’d be right, but the Design Options are well organized by element as you see in the image above. Plus, many of the options are the same from one element to the next, such as font settings.

One unique feature is the ability to create a static, fully-widgetized home page with just a few mouse clicks. With a little extra CSS, this becomes a full-width page. With a couple more mouse clicks and plugin you can add a full-width slider. Just add images and content, some additional styling and you have the perfect one-page, fully-responsive website or a professional looking home page.

Turbocharge Your Website Design

If the Design Options of DWB are the engine of this child theme, Dynamik Custom is the turbocharger. The Custom menu lets you get creative with your website design. It goes beyond the CSS styling options under the Design menu. More complex design features can be created here. Advanced custom CSS styling is addressed here as well as access to the front-end CSS Builder. This feature gives you the power to customize your CSS styling on the active page in your browser. No need to switch between the Design Menu and your active page. Changes are instantaneous and saved to a separate custom CSS stylesheet within the theme.

The Dynamik Custom menu allows you to add or remove WordPress or Genesis functions to your theme, add custom Javascript and create custom page templates. You can create custom widget areas for any page and place them using any of the 60 hooks available through Genesis and DWB. The design options are practically endless.

The Dynamik Custom menu options are powerful and require some knowledge of CSS and PHP. Though, even then, DWB provides a PHP builder that will write and format much of the code for you. To help you through that learning curve, Cobalt Apps provides an extensive library of videos through Vimeo, including on that will guide you through the entire process of building a site from scratch.

The Wrap Up

If you want to have complete control over the creative process of building your website, it’s hard to beat Dynamik Website Builder. The only feature lacking is a drag n’ drop page layout feature though there are some promising plugins that can fill that gap. One, in particular, BeaverBuilder, shows a lot of promise. It plays well with Genesis and DWB. I’m experimenting with that right now and will have a review on it in the near future.

I’ve been using DWB, and it’s predecessors for over six years now. When Cobalt Apps made the switch to developing DWB as child theme under Genesis, I felt it was the perfect combination. One added benefit of DWB — if you’ve pondered building your own WordPress theme DWB is a good way to get acquainted with the process, improve your knowledge of CSS and wade into PHP. It’s not only a great website builder, but an excellent educational tool.

A Final Word – Disclosure and Pricing

If you don’t want to get into the weeds of your website’s design, DWB isn’t for you. And, just like any other theme, there is a learning curve involved. The good news, DWB was created for folks who don’t want to touch code and the benefits far weigh any downside if you want roll-your-own professional-looking website.

You can find pricing information here. If you decide to dive in and purchase the Dynamik Website Builder, as a matter of disclosure, I am a Cobalt App affiliate and receive a commission on any sale. That does not affect your cost, and I would greatly appreciate your support.

I hope you found article useful and informative. Return soon to find some screencasts on the Dynamik Website Builder.

Bonus

Want to see all of the design options available to you in Dynamik? Go to Dynamik Website Builder Screenshots on Pinterest to view screenshots of all the Dynamik Website Builder menu options.