Glossary

Short, plain definitions of the words used across this documentation.

Block editor / Gutenberg The page editor built into WordPress. You build pages out of “blocks”: a heading block, an image block, a button block, and so on. “Gutenberg” is just its nickname. BlockShift converts your Elementor pages into this editor.

Block A single piece of content in the WordPress editor. One heading, one image, one paragraph, one button. Pages are made by stacking blocks.

Elementor A popular page builder plugin. It adds its own drag-and-drop editor and saves pages in a format only it understands, which is why Elementor pages need Elementor to display, and why a converter like BlockShift is needed to leave it.

Page builder Any plugin (Elementor being one) that layers its own design editor on top of WordPress. Convenient, but it usually means extra code on every page and a dependency on that one plugin.

Conversion / migration Taking an Elementor page and rebuilding it as standard WordPress blocks. The two words mean the same thing here.

Widget vs. block Elementor calls its content pieces widgets. WordPress calls its content pieces blocks. BlockShift’s job is to match each Elementor widget to the right block. See Supported Widgets.

Fallback When BlockShift meets an element it has no exact match for, it uses a safe general-purpose conversion rather than failing. That’s the fallback. The Conversion Log tells you when it was used.

Section content width How wide the main content area of a page is, in pixels (1140, say). Setting this in Settings to match your Elementor design makes converted pages come out the same width.

Metadata and featured image Metadata is the behind-the-scenes information attached to a page, such as SEO details and custom fields. The featured image is the main image WordPress associates with a page or post. BlockShift can copy both from the original page.

API key A private key that lets the plugin use an outside AI service (Anthropic’s Claude) on your behalf. You only need one for the optional AI Enhancement feature; everything else works without it.

Staging site A private copy of your site used for testing, so you can try changes without affecting the live version. Worth using for a first migration.

WooCommerce The most widely used plugin for running an online store on WordPress. BlockShift can convert Elementor’s WooCommerce elements, such as product grids, cart, and checkout, into their block versions.

Full-Site Editing (FSE) A newer WordPress approach to editing your whole site (headers, footers, templates) with blocks, not just individual pages. Converting to blocks moves you closer to being able to use it.

Back to the Home page.