This add-on plugin extends immonex Kickstart1 powered WordPress installations by a variety of widgets and other dynamic content elements for the quick and easy implementation of real estate agency sites and portals with the Elementor Website Builder.
The focus here is on the presentation of real estate offers, the data of which is maintained using a common software solution for real estate agents and continuously synchronized via an OpenImmo® XML interface with immonex OpenImmo2WP2 (Doc) on the WP import side.
Tip
All widgets can be used in full with the free Elementor version. Elementor Pro is only required for using the dynamic tags.
The plugin supports both Kickstart's basic frontend components – property list and detail views, search form, image/video galleries, maps, 360° tours ... – and those of its add-ons like Team (contact persons, agencies, inquiry forms etc.) and Print (PDF exposé generation).
Suitable widgets are also available for embedding content elements provided by the following immonex plugins:
- Energy Scale Pro3 (Doc): energy scales according to EnEV or GEG
- Lead Generator3 (Doc): valuation request forms for generating qualified seller contacts
- Notify3 (Doc): property search agent with email notifications
With the widgets and dynamic tags provided by this add-on, template pages (e.g., for real estate archives and individual pages) can be implemented both as Elementor Pro templates and as regular pages that can be used in combination with the free version of Elementor.
Custom layouts created in this way can be seamlessly integrated into the framework of any WordPress theme. Furthermore, multilingual websites can also be created on this basis with WPML or Polylang.
immonex is the PropTech umbrella brand of a versatile portfolio of software solutions for the German-speaking real estate industry.
As a part of this, the immonex WP Plugin Suite includes a wide range of WordPress plugins for the implementation of sophisticated real estate agency websites and portals, which can be flexibly combined depending on the specific project requirements.
OpenImmo-XML is a proven standard for the exchange of real estate data, which is supported primarily in German-speaking markets by almost all common software solutions and portals for real estate professionals in the form of corresponding import/export interfaces2.
Kickstart Elementor is available in the official WordPress Plugin Repository.
A user/dev documentation including detailed instructions how to install, setup and customize the plugin (in German) is available here:
https://docs.immonex.de/kickstart-for-elementor/
The plugin offers various options for project-related customization via options and custom skins. The following information relates to the development of the add-on plugin itself.
- Git
- npm (Node.js)
- Composer
- PHP_CodeSniffer
- WordPress Coding Standards for PHP_CodeSniffer
- WP-CLI
- ready-to-go WordPress installation on a local webserver
We keep it simple and rely on battle-proven standards and best practices whenever possible!
- PHP compatibility: 8.3+
- Coding Standard (PHP): WordPress PHP Coding Standards
- Git branching strategy: GitHub Flow
- Git commit messages: Conventional Commits
- CSS of Core Skins (template sets) shipped with this plugin are most widely built upon the BEM methodology with Two Dashes style as naming convention.
- Plugin and skin CSS files are being compiled from SCSS files during the build process using sass.
Setting up a simple development environment starts by cloning this repository and installing dependencies:
$ cd ~/projects
$ git clone git@github.com:immonex/kickstart-for-elementor.git immonex-kickstart-for-elementor
$ cd immonex-kickstart-for-elementor
$ npm install
$ composer install
⚠️ PHP_CodeSniffer and the related WP sniffs are not part of the default dependencies and should be installed globally.
Then, a symlink to the src directory has to be created in the plugins folder of the local WP installation:
$ ln -s ~/projects/immonex-kickstart-for-elementor/src/ ~/htdocs/wp-dev-installation/wp-content/plugins/immonex-kickstart-for-elementorNow, the plugin can be activated in the WP backend.
The JS/CSS build process is based on the module/asset bundler webpack. A set of simple npm scripts defined in package.json is used to perform the required steps (no Gulp or Grunt needed).
Create a production version of the sources in the build folder and a corresponding ZIP archive in dist:
$ npm run buildCreate and serve a development version with automatic rebuild and browser reload whenever PHP, (S)CSS or JS files are updated:
$ npm run devFor the latter option, a Browsersync proxy URL to the local WP dev installation has to be defined in the file .env (use .env.example as template).
The PHP source code formatting corresponds to the WordPress PHP Coding Standards.
The source files can be checked with PHP_CodeSniffer (if, as recommended, installed globally as described here):
$ phpcsTo fix violations automatically as far as possible:
$ phpcbf
⚠️ The JavaScript code may differ from the (slightly dusty...) WP recommendations in favor of a more contemporary style.
Locally running unit tests (PHPUnit) requires an additional temporary WordPress installation (see infos on make.wordpress.org). To use the test install script included in this repository, the file .env containing credentials of a local test database has to be created or extended first (see .env.example).
After that, the temporary testing environment can be installed:
$ npm run test:installRunning tests in the tests folder:
$ npm run testThe regular translations for this plugin are provided via translate.wordpress.org (GlotPress).
Additionally, formal and informal German translations (PO/MO files) are available in the src/languages folder, too. This directory also contains a current POT file (as base for custom/local translations) that can be updated with the following command:
$ npm run potThe API documentation based on the sources can be generated with the following command and is available in the apidoc folder afterwards:
$ npm run apidocTo view it using a local webserver (port 8000):
$ npm run apidoc:viewIf these docs are not needed anymore, the respective folders can be deleted with this command:
$ npm run apidoc:delete(The folder apidoc is meant to be used locally, it should not be a part of any repository.)
The source files (markdown) of the docs for users and integrators mentioned above are located in the doc folder. A globally installed doc-gen package (currently not available publicly) and a suitable user account are required for publishing...
$ npm run doc...or publishing it under https://docs.immonex.de/kickstart-for-elementor/:
$ npm run doc:publishCopyright (C) 2014, 2026 inveris OHG / immonex
This plugin is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This plugin is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
Footnotes
-
immonex Kickstart is a license-fee free Open Source Plugin that extends WordPress sites – regardless of the theme used – by essential components for publishing real estate offers, which are synchronized via an import interface: list and detail views, property search, location maps etc. The range of functions and content elements can be expanded modularly by various add-ons as needed. ↩
-
immonex OpenImmo2WP, initially released in 2015, is a tried and tested solution for importing OpenImmo-XML data into WordPress sites that supports the specific data structures of various popular real estate themes and frontend plugins by means of customizable mapping tables. ↩ ↩2
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Current and fully functional versions (including betas) of all immonex plugins (free and premium) as well as OpenImmo demo data can be downloaded and licensed free of charge at the immonex Developer Portal for testing, development and demonstration purposes. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
