Hire Extra Developers

Extra is a premium WordPress theme developed by Elegant Themes – the same company behind Divi. Where Divi is a general multipurpose theme, Extra is specifically designed for content-heavy sites: news magazines, review sites, and blogs with multiple categories and high posting frequency. Extra uses the Divi Builder for page layouts but adds magazine-specific features on top: a visual Category Builder for designing category page layouts, a post review functionality with star ratings and criteria scoring, and post format support for galleries, videos, audio, and links.

Extra is sold as part of the Elegant Themes membership alongside Divi – one subscription covers both themes plus the Divi Builder plugin. This means Extra benefits from the same updates and support as Divi, and developers who know Divi can transfer much of that knowledge to Extra projects.

Extra’s Category Builder is the most Extra-specific feature – it allows designing custom layouts for category archive pages using a visual interface, producing magazine-style category pages with featured posts, recent posts grids, and sidebar layouts. This is distinct from how Divi handles category pages and requires Extra-specific knowledge to configure correctly.

Extra developer work typically involves:

• Category Builder configuration – designing category page layouts with specific featured post sections, post grids, and sidebar arrangements.
• Custom homepage layout using the Divi Builder within Extra.
• Review functionality setup – configuring post review criteria and star rating display for review-style content.
• Child theme setup and CSS customisation for brand-specific magazine styling.
• Performance optimisation – Extra and the Divi Builder load significant assets that need configuration for acceptable page speed.
• WooCommerce integration for sites that combine magazine content with e-commerce.

Extra requires Divi Builder knowledge alongside Extra-specific features. Look for developers who have worked with Extra specifically – the Category Builder interface is distinct from Divi’s page building and requires Extra-specific experience to configure efficiently.

For magazine sites with high content volumes, ask about their approach to performance. Extra and Divi Builder together are not lightweight – getting acceptable Core Web Vitals scores on a content-heavy Extra site requires deliberate performance configuration that developers with Extra experience know how to approach.

Common Extra problems:

• Category page not matching Category Builder design – the Category Builder layout is saved but not assigned to the correct category. Ensure the layout is assigned to the specific category in the Category Builder.
• Extra review scores not displaying on posts – the review feature is not enabled in the post settings. Enable the review option on the specific post and configure the review criteria.
• Extra site slow – Divi Builder and Extra’s magazine features load significant CSS and JavaScript. Enable Divi’s static CSS file generation and configure a caching plugin specifically for dynamic content exclusions.
• Extra layout breaking after Divi update – a Divi Builder update changed element output. Review the Elegant Themes changelog and update the affected layouts.

Extra and Divi update together through the Elegant Themes update system with an active Elegant Themes subscription. Major Divi Builder updates sometimes affect Extra’s Category Builder layouts – test updates on staging before applying to high-traffic magazine sites. Elegant Themes releases updates frequently.

Specify whether this is a new Extra build or maintenance of an existing site, describe the content model (number of categories, post types, review functionality), and the specific requirement. For Category Builder work, describe the desired category page layout in detail.