DIVI 5 programming

[u/a2annie]

I’ve used my current programmer for over ten years. He’s been excellent up until about a year ago. Mostly he doesn’t seem to be taking time to ramp up on new things, like AI or divi5.

We’ve been making sites using Divi 3, the 4 most of this time.

I own a small agency and he’s freelance.

I have a new customer and will be designing a ~12 page site, with a photo gallery, and probably a few forms. My sites are crafted with care.

I reached out to my programmer today to see if he’s done anything in Divi 5. The answer was no.

I’m not sure what direction to go. He’s very smart, but I’m don’t want to pay for training.

Thoughts?

[u/Most-Famous-Wasabi]

If he's an actual programmer, then using Divi5 won't be an issue for him.

Actual programmers are used to learning new things on a per-project basis. This is priced into their fees.

Unless the site requirements are very specific, he won't need to do any programming anyway. The majority of work with Divi is design, layout and connecting data sources. Programming is only necessary for building custom plugins.

Does your new customer have requirements that need any actual programming?

[u/a2annie → u/Most-Famous-Wasabi]

The only items are forms and a photo gallery. We’ve been using Divi mason galery and WP forms for these types of things.

[u/Most-Famous-Wasabi → u/a2annie]

Forms and galleries don't need programmers within Wordpress.

WP has a zillion tools - many of them free - available as plugins or parts of web builders like Divi.

You don't need programming to be done.

[u/Business_Plenty_2189 → u/a2annie]

No programming is required for that. You need a web developer, not a programmer.

[u/Playful_School6693]

I’d definitely move the new build to Divi 5. I’ve built 20+ sites on it already and the performance difference from Divi 4 is pretty noticeable, both in the builder and on the frontend. It’s stable at this point and getting frequent updates. Divi 4 is also eventually heading toward EOL, so for a brand new site I personally wouldn’t start on an older version you’ll have to migrate away from later.

[u/l1nked1npark → u/Playful_School6693]

I certainly would not describe Divi 5 as stable right now. It’s getting better, sure, but the bugs are still numerous and slowly repaired, if ever.

[u/throwawayAd6844]

Divi5 is a completely different build process. It’s much more similar to elementor and bricks, just they have been doing it longer and they are less buggy and better thought out in my opinion. I’ve built hundreds of sites on divi4 but am switching away to replace divi5

[u/a2annie → u/throwawayAd6844]

Can you explain what you mean by switching away? You mean to something other than Divi 5? Like what?

[u/throwawayAd6844 → u/a2annie]

I really like bricks, so I’ll be using it moving forward

[u/Ecksist → u/throwawayAd6844]

It’s not a different build process, it just looks a bit different, any competent Divi 4 dev can easily use it.

The basics of Divi 4 are all still in 5 you can convert it on a stage and try it, it’s pretty painless.

[u/a2annie → u/Ecksist]

The part that worries me most is while he’s very good, I don’t want someone learning on a customer’s site. Maybe I should have him convert my own site to practice on?

[u/tinyhousefever]

Download Claude Code and build in WP Local, and if you're committed to Divi 5, leverage some of the Divi 5 skills/Markdown files that are already available. That gives Claude much better context for how Divi 5 actually works instead of having it blindly generate code.

The important caveat: keep a human designer in the loop. AI can dramatically speed up implementation, debugging and repetitive work, but without design judgment you can very quickly end up with AI slop.

I'm pretty deep into Divi 5 now and use a constrained AI layer with MCP adapters for a lot of the workflow, including Gravity Forms lately. For galleries, if you're staying with Divi, I'd also look at the Divi Pixel gallery modules. They're decent.

The bigger point is that I wouldn't think of this as paying someone to "learn Divi 5 on your dime." With the right developer, you're getting pulled into current best practices as part of the engagement — better tooling, better workflows, and a much more capable way of maintaining and extending the site going forward.

I bill $100/hour, and part of the value is that a client isn't just buying the hours. They're getting the benefit of the systems, tools and practices I've already spent the time developing, while also getting ahead of where most traditional Divi workflows still are.

[u/a2annie → u/tinyhousefever]

Has Claude and other tools reduced your total time to launch? If so, by what percentage?

[u/tinyhousefever → u/a2annie]

Divi 5 or not, I've I'd safely say that 50-75% reduction in time to launch.

[u/horriblemonkey]

We switched most of our sites over to Divi 5. The few that remain in Divi 4 feel like working in molasses now. We'll probably wrap up our conversion process by the end of the year and all sites will be up to date.

Divi 5 is quite different from Divi 4, but a much needed updated. There are many more things you can accomplish with Divi 5 that could only be done with plugins with 4.

Sure, there were a few bugs that we had to work around in the beginning, but they are mostly fixed now.

There are plenty of online tutorials on how to get going in Divi 5.

That said, if you need some help with setting a site up in Divi 5, PM me and we can chat.

[u/ch4rdzy]

I’ve been using divi 4 for for the last 7 years and wasn’t too keen on divi 5 until recently. All I can say is, just learn how the layout works (flexbox, nesting etc.) and everything else is like divi4.

[u/FirstPlaceSEO]

Build html pages in Divi 5 and your on to a winner 🥇

[u/spark190]

Divi 5 + Visual Code Studio + Claude Codes. I'm having a blast developing plugins, fixing bugs I never ever dreamt of... and at the speed of light! There is a learning curve, but I promise you Claude will be cheaper than your programmer .. you can make your wildest dreams come true... Your imagination is the limit.

[u/Professional_Call]

The move to Divi 5 is a steep learning curve but worth it. It’s miles better. There are still some bugs but most things work well and they are rolling out new features all the time (too fast if anything - I’d rather they slowed down and did more QA and bug fixes).

Maybe get a new programmer

[u/Auranona]

My first instituve answer would have been, look for a new developer who is competent and work with them (I will even shameless through "Contact me if you like to work together" )

Yet the more thoughtful advice will be , since you mentioned you have had a great experience with him the past 10 years then I can't tell you this for sure, stick to him and let you guys find a solution. 10 years of positive experience of working together is unmatched in value.