Gemini on the Bricks Website Builder
Melinda, on staff here at CharlesWorks, made me aware of the Bricks website builder. We build websites here at CharlesWorks making that particular topic is an extremely interesting one for us.
What follows is my exact prompt to Gemini concerning the Bricks Website Builder along with its exact response. As always, the output obtained is only as good as the prompt provided the AI!
What can you tell me about Bricks website builder at bricksbuilder.io. They also have info at:
Bricks Documentation: https://academy.bricksbuilder.io
Bricks Community on Facebook: https://facebook.com/groups/brickscommunity
Bricks Forum: https://forum.bricksbuilder.ioI want to know what company owns them, what country they are in, and anything else you can tell me about them, especially complaints.
Bricks Builder is a popular, performance-focused visual site builder for WordPress. Here is the information you requested based on its official documentation and company history:
Ownership and Location
- Founder/Owner: Bricks is owned and developed by Thomas Ehrig. He is a well-known developer in the WordPress community, having previously created the “Brisk” and “Authentic” themes.
- Country: The company is based in Germany.
- Company Name: While it operates under the brand “Bricks,” the legal entity associated with the founder’s projects is typically listed as Thomas Ehrig (registered as a sole proprietorship/freelancer or small GmbH in Germany). You will often see his name attached to the support and development updates.
Key Features & Reputation
Bricks is currently considered one of the “big three” modern WordPress builders (alongside Oxygen and Zion), known for:
- Performance: It generates very clean code with no “div-bloat,” leading to high Google PageSpeed scores.
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Full Site Editing: It allows you to build headers, footers, and templates visually.
- Developer-Friendly: It includes features like a “Query Loop Builder” for dynamic data and the ability to write custom PHP and CSS directly in the builder.
Common Complaints & Criticisms
While Bricks is highly rated (often preferred over older builders like Elementor or Divi), there are several recurring complaints and “growing pains” users mention:
- Learning Curve: Because Bricks follows standard CSS naming conventions and structures, it can be intimidating for beginners who are used to more “hand-holding” builders. You need a basic understanding of how CSS (Flexbox and Grid) works to get the most out of it.
- Stability (Beta-like feel): Although it is in stable release, Bricks is a newer product. Some users complain that updates occasionally introduce bugs or changes that require them to tweak their sites.
- Vulnerability Incidents: In early 2024, Bricks suffered a significant security vulnerability (CVE-2024-25600) that allowed remote code execution. While the team patched it within 24 hours of disclosure, it was a major point of concern for the community at the time.
- Pricing Changes: Bricks originally offered a very affordable “Lifetime Deal” (LTD). As the product matured, they increased the price and eventually moved toward more restrictive or expensive licensing tiers, which caused some friction with late adopters.
- Documentation Gaps: While the Bricks Academy is growing, some users feel that it doesn’t cover complex “edge case” scenarios well, forcing users to rely heavily on the Facebook group or Forum for answers.
Community and Support
- The Forum: The official forum is very active and is the primary place where the developers track bug reports.
- Facebook Group: This is the most active hub for “how-to” questions and design inspiration.
- Roadmap: They maintain a Public Roadmap where users can see what features are currently being built, which helps alleviate complaints about missing features.
Note: I created this chat using Gemini Pro. Pro is Gemini’s paid version. It’s available for a monthly charge in a Google Workspace account.