Pros
Searching for a great plugin to add a simple table to your blog posts? You're in good hands - In this post, I will share my WP Table Builder review and talk a little bit about the Pro Addon. This is a fantastic plugin to help you create beautiful tables in WordPress; let's dive in.
Plugins are great for adding features and improving the functionality of a WordPress blog. I'm sure you already knew that, of course. But if you're just starting to wrap your head around WordPress and the use of plugins, it can be daunting at first.
Some folks love using plugins, like myself, and others not so much. Of course, you don't want to have too many plugins installed on your blog; otherwise, that can impact your site's page loading speed.
But here's the thing:
If you need a snazzy contact form? There's a plugin for that! Need a chat feature for your online store? Yep, there's a plugin for that too. Need to add a cool-looking table in your content? You've guessed it; there's a plugin for that. Bringing us to the topic of this post.
Using tables in your blog posts has many benefits, and it's something that you may have seen a lot of other bloggers use in their content. Let's take a look at a few of these benefits -
The most vital benefit of using tables in your blog posts, in my opinion, is it helps to engage the audience more effectively. Yes, the SEO benefit is worthy, but improving page experience also matters.
Tables can provide all the information a reader needs, depending on the use of the table. For a pricing or comparison table, it's quicker for a reader to engage with the table content than to read an entire blog post just to find the essential parts.
So, we're going to look at a plugin to create great tables with.
Now, I know what you're thinking. You don't need to install a plugin to add a table; WordPress already has this feature built-in in its Gutenberg block library, right?
Yes it has, but it's pretty lame. Have your tried using it? It's horrendous, in my opinion.
So, what plugin should you use to add tables to your blog and content?
Well, there are quite a few to choose from, and many from the WordPress repository are free to use. We're going to focus on one: WP Table Builder.
It's pretty obvious since it's in the name. It's a plugin designed to make it super easy for anyone to build custom tables and add to their content without touching a single line of code. It's a powerful drag-and-drop table builder you've been looking for.
Behind WP Table Builder is an ambitious team with a hunger and passion for simplifying tables in WordPress. You can learn more about them here.
So essentially, WP Table Builder comes in two versions. The free version, which you can download from the WordPress repository here. Let's talk about that first -
If you need some basic tables to add to your blog posts, perhaps you want to add a table of content or a list of resources. The free version of the plugin already comes with a host of goodies! Here's a quick list of some of those features -
One notable feature in WP Table Builder is the responsive options. One of the concerns many of these other free table builder plugins struggle with is responsiveness. WP Table Builder takes care of this, and your table looks beautiful on smaller screens and devices. There are also additional options for tweaking your responsive tables.
Once you've installed and activated the plugin, it's straightforward to use. You can use the editor cell options to create your tables from scratch. You simply select how many rows and columns you need. In fact, you have complete control over the rows and columns layout, including inserting columns after and before, inserting rows after and before, and more.
Once you've created your table, you can save it and copy the shortcode to drop into your content. Alternatively, you can use the dedicated WP Table Builder Gutenberg block to add your tables to your blog posts whenever you need to.
The premium add-on to the plugin is essentially another plugin that you have to install. This add-on will give you a few extra features to play with. These include -
Here are some screenshots of the pre-designed tables that come with the pro add-on.
As I said at the start of this post, tables have many uses. But if you're struggling with how to use tables in your blog content, here are a few ideas to consider.
Right then, here is a list of the pros and cons of using WP Table Builder and the Pro Add-on plugin! I've purposely created a table (Using WP Table Builder) to display the pros and cons, so you can see how this kind of looks.
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I know that this is kind of a short review because there isn't a great deal to talk about. It's a simple enough plugin that does the job it was designed to do.
I've been using WP Table Builder for a month or so and, for me, it's a huge time saver. The pro-add-ons are great, but they're not essential for simple uses.
The thing that I love most about WP Table Builder is that I don't have to keep creating the same tables over and over again to use them in other blog posts. I simply select the block and pick the table I want from the list.
I give WP Table Builder 4.7 Stars and highly recommend it.
WP Table Builder has everything you need to create great-looking tables that will enhance your content and improve engagement and conversions for your blog or website. However, if for some reason you don't think WP Table Builder is the plugin you need, check out these alternatives.
About the Author - Samantha Van Marciano is a part-time writer and editor at Magnet4Blogging. She brings with her 20 years of marketing experience. She specializes in both website statistical and data analysis.
