WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application to a tool that is now used to create all types of sites.
Whatever you can think of, somewhere around the world someone is bound to be already building it with WordPress!
In this article you will discover how to create stunning content faster and design beautiful page layouts with drag & drop ease in WordPress websites.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Does The Default WordPress Visual Editor Meet All Of Your Content Creation Needs?
Using the WordPress WYSIWYG content editor to create or edit complex web site pages can be quite challenging.
(The built-in WordPress visual content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” text and images, but adding complex page elements can be quite challenging!)
For example, if you look at the screenshot below …
To add the above to a page would require adding something that looks like this inside your default WordPress visual content editor …
Normally, this is not really an issue … unless you choose to reconfigure the layout (for example, move some of the content from box 1 into box 2, or change the background colour in box 3 from bright red to dark red. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code inside the content editor.
The WordPress visual editor is supposed to be an easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor, but as you can see, when working with more complex content elements, often what you see in the WordPress visual content editor screen may not be what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some cases, users may even be better off working directly inside the html editor tab instead of the WordPress visual editor when trying to add complex page elements …
Even though WordPress is very user-friendly, this makes it difficult for non-technical users to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental problem of using shortcodes and HTML to create content in the default WordPress WYSIWYG editor can be summarized by asking two questions:
1) Speed – How long will it take to create a page using the editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the editor resemble the content in the “front end” when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above image, what you see in the content editor does not look even remotely similar to what you see in the front end. This means that users need to translate mentally what the content will look like when working with sophisticated layouts. Other solutions require multiple steps before you can start configuring your page layout, or endlessly going back and forth between tabs and performing updates to see how your content is coming along, which interrupts the creative process, as you wait for your updated content to refresh.
A number of WordPress developers have tried to come up with a range of solutions to try and address this issue. Some of these solutions range from plugins you can add to your site that add new functionality to the editor, to themes that provide built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make creating complex content easier!)
Some solutions end up including so many complex page design features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end editors …
Many of these alternative solutions work fine, but they don’t really seem to address the fundamental issue of using shortcodes and HTML as described earlier. Creating, adding and editing sophisticated content elements on a web page becomes overly complicated, involves multiple steps and doesn’t match what users expect to see on the “front end.”
If you want to create or edit complex layouts quickly, this can start to become really frustrating after a while.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your page builder to function?
Now that you’ve asked this question, visualize this …
- You spot something in the content that needs to be changed so you, just click on the content and start writing. Your content is instantly fixed.
- You can just drag and drop elements on the page, and the page looks exactly as it will appear on the front end without having to mentally visualize any HTML or shortcodes.
- You have an idea for a specific piece of content that you would like to add, so you simply begin typing, and your web page gets built as you go, with no delays, no switching tabs, and without having to wait for pages to refresh.
Would this not be the ideal way to create content for your site? A true visual editor where all you have to do is click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your posts and pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex page layouts quickly for your web content with no technical constraints!)
If you are ready to change the way you create content in WordPress site, then here is a plugin that you may want to consider using …
Thrive Content Builder Plugin – The Fastest Way To Build Stunning Content In WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive click-to-edit drag and drop content builder for WordPress.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin is a new and incredibly easy way to speed up the process of adding amazing content to WordPress sites.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor and a sidebar menu that lets you drag and drop design elements to your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual content builder to your WordPress site)
The Thrive Landing Pages And Content Builder plugin is actually a combination of the Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages plugins rolled into one, plus an additional plugin feature called Thrive Lightbox.
We will discuss each of the above plugins and how all of this exciting functionality works seamlessly together to help you easily transform and improve your website and create amazing sales pages and content.
Thrive Content Builder For WordPress
With the Thrive Content Builder plugin, you can easily build complex web page design layouts using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your page can be configured and edited with ”click-to-edit” and “drag and drop” ease …
Once you have positioned your elements on your page, you can continue to further edit them without having to go through multiple steps or opening more option screens …
The built-in functionality of the plugin also lets you build stunning landing pages and easily edit these …
Thrive Content Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, working on content with the Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin installed is so effortlessly simple, that the developers warn that once you start using it, it will ruin the experience of using all other content editors forever, and you’ll never look back!
For more details, visit the plugin site here: Thrive Content Builder
Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages were created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another terrific plugin for WordPress we’ve previously reviewed on this site.
See this article to read more about the plugin:
Benefits
Below are just some of the many benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up the process of designing pages and creating content for your WordPress site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In No Time.
Thrive Content Builder is quite easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is very simple to use and lets you create and edit content in real-time.
A Truly Visual Content Builder
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the editor – fonts, visual elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what you get on the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits of using this plugin include the following:
- Attractive Page Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality.
- Add Customizable Elements Without Short Codes: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get an exciting and an easy-to-use drag and drop WordPress content editor, but the plugin also includes a jaw-dropping collection of professional design elements that you can add to your layouts without using short codes, like content toggle, feature grids, testimonials, Google Map embeds, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff for your updated content to load frees up your attention and allows you to build the pages your business needs, quickly and without having to mess with code or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you need done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily insert, edit and customize page elements like testimonial boxes, flat design elements, star ratings for review pages, dividers, responsive videos, etc.)
Plugin Features
Thrive Content Builder offers many features to site owners. Below we have listed just some:
- Built-In WordPress Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have access to all of the regular text editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold, paragraph centering, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Multi-Style Elements Menu: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” list of multi-style elements to your post or page screen for editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin provides you with various eye-catching and customizable elements that will help increase the effectiveness of your sales pages, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonials, and guarantees. In addition to customization options, various elements also offer multiple design options.
- Mobile-Friendly Design: Add mobile-friendly elements like column layouts, text boxes, content dividers, e.g. which will resize and display correctly on different device screens.
- Add Animation To Your Pages: The Event Manager feature lets you create animations, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Template Sets
Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language to take your visitors from initial signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages plugin gives you access to conversion-optimized web page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time designing stunning landing pages for your WordPress web site
- 100% conversion-optimized page templates
- No technical skills required
- Works with all themes
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages not only lets you create beautiful content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of beautifully designed, conversion optimized web page templates and fully customizable …
(Landing page sets that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are over 30 templates available, with more templates being worked on. In addition to the templates shown above, the developers plan to release new web page templates for email lead generation, sales pages, course pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Completely Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template
Typically, to be able to have completely customizable landing page templates, you would need to either pay a web designer to do the work, or learn web coding languages like HTML and CSS and figure out how to edit the page code yourself.
As Shane Melaugh, co-founder of Thrive Themes says …
“There are many ways to get a pre-designed page published quickly, but the problem comes with customization. Total design freedom requires either hiring web developers to do the work for you, or learn how to do it yourself, which involves learning how to code or use overly complicated editors. Customizable usually means complicated, expensive or time-consuming. So, you can either have something that is fast and easy to set up, or something that is customizable and flexible. But you couldn’t have both … until now! With Thrive Landing Pages you get the best of both worlds for building conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you attractive pre-designed web pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that lets you change or edit any element of the page …
With the landing page template sets included with this plugin, you can do the following:
- Change text in any button, headline, bullet point, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other component of your landing page
- Replace the background image and edit colors
- Change the color of text, buttons, links, etc.
- Select your own fonts
- Select your own images and graphics
- Change the size of the content area
- Rearrange the order of page elements
- Translate everything on the page into a different language
- Add custom content in your pages
- Start with a blank page and create your own templates, or even build a library of custom landing page templates.
(Change and edit any aspect of the page)
Thrive Lightbox – Transform Your Website Into A Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin combo also includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully configurable two-step opt-in forms and events to your pages …
(Add lead capture forms and animation to your WordPress web site with Thrive Lightbox)
Thrive Lighbox 2-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process helps improve your conversion rates. Visitors click on a button or image, and then they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Visitors click on a button and are presented with an opt-in form)
Thrive Lightbox Event Manager
An “event” consists of a trigger and an action. You can make an opt-in form appear when your visitor clicks or hovers their mouse over a button or an image, or when someone scrolls down to a certain point on the page. You can also use the Event Manager to animate attention-getting elements on your page, using a range of animation effects (e.g. fade in, slide in from left to right, roll out, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your web pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
A lightbox and event is created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over all events, triggers and design.
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials that plugin users have submitted for Thrive Content Builder:
”Wow! This is just getting better & better. This plugin is making my websites look so professional. Keep up the great work and thank you for the new features. Ladonna Ragalin”
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”Your stuff is beautifully designed, fast and has great options for marketers that you just don’t see with other themes. Great, great job! Absolutely love Thrive! David Coleman”
Plugin Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any WordPress theme, not just with the Thrive Landing Pages plugin. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on pages or posts that were not created using the plugin.
You can add WordPress short codes inside Thrive Content Builder or Thrive Landing Pages and they will be displayed correctly on your website.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build with Thrive Content Builder.
Product Support
Thrive Content Builder comes with free updates, new landing templates and upcoming features. The Thrive team is constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive software is well-supported, and users get unlimited updates, plus 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, thirty day, full money-back guarantee.
This is an exciting product for WordPress users that will just keep getting better.
Software Price
At the time of writing, the pricing information shown below includes all three components described above (Thrive Content Builder, Thrive Landing Pages & Thrive Lightbox):
- Single Site Edition – This license enables you to activate the plugin on a single domain. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This license lets you run the plugin on all domains that you own. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Price = $87.00.
- Agency Licensing – This option lets you configure the plugin on all of your own web sites and your client domains. It includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Please Note: Pricing for Thrive Content Builder depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the plugin sells for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin seller when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
The developers of the Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin repeatedly maintain that the plugin’s architecture gives you the “best of both worlds,” and help bring back the “joy of creating content.”
On the one hand, you have the time-saving benefits of ready-made web page elements and beautiful, pre-designed templates that help speed up your content creation, and on the other hand, you have 100% control over the design process and the ability to edit and customize everything on your web page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, that allows you to see exactly how the content you are working on will display when published.
For ”how to” videos of the plugin in action, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive Content Builder website.
Install This Plugin …
If you want to edit something, you click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, you can see the change happen immediately. If you want to move something, you drag it and drop it into its new position. There are no unnecessary steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your site and create awesome sales pages and engaging content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For more information, check out the plugin here:
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