WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application to a tool that is now used to create all types of websites.
Whatever you can imagine, someone is most likely already building it with WordPress!
This article will help you discover the simplest, most intuitive WYSIWYG content editor for WordPress.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Does The WordPress Content Editor Meet All Of Your Content Creation And Editing Needs?
Using the WordPress visual content editor to build or edit sophisticated web pages can be challenging.
(The built-in WordPress WYSIWYG editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional content, but adding complex layouts can be challenging!)
For example, if you look at the illustration below …
Adding the above to a page would require typing something that looks like this inside the default WordPress visual content editor …
Normally, this is not an issue … until you want to reconfigure your layout (for example, move part of the content from box 1 into box 2, or change the background colour inside box 1 from bright red to some other color. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code or html.
The WordPress visual content editor is supposed to provide non-technical users with an easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) content editor, but as you can see, if you are working with more complex content elements, often what you see may not be what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some situations, some people argue that users could be better off working with the html source itself instead of the visual editor when trying to create something other than simple page elements …
Even though WordPress is very user-friendly, this makes it difficult for WordPress site owners with no coding skills to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental challenge about having to use shortcodes and HTML to create content in the default WordPress editor can be summarized by asking two questions:
1) Speed – How long will it take to create a page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the ”back end” match the “front end” content when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above screenshot, what you see in the editor does not look anything like what you see in the front end. This means that you have to abstract what the content will look like when working with sophisticated layouts. Other solutions require taking several steps before you can begin configuring your page layout, or endlessly switching tabs and performing tweaks and updates to see how your content is coming along, which can impact how quickly you can create your content, as you wait for the updated content to load.
Many WordPress developers have come up with a range of solutions with the goal of addressing this issue. Some of these solutions range from standalone WP plugins you can add to your site that add new functionality to the editor, to WP themes that include built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make creating complex content easier!)
Some solutions combine so many complex page design features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these solutions work fine, but they still fail to address the fundamental issue of using shortcodes and HTML as described earlier. Adding and editing non-linear content on a 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 page layouts quickly, this can become very frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like to build and edit your web pages?
Now that you’ve asked this question, imagine the following scenario …
- You look at your content and if you spot something that needs to be changed, just click on the content and start editing it. Your content has been instantly edited.
- You can drag and drop elements on the page, and see them exactly as they will display on the front end without having to mentally visualize code.
- You have an idea for an item of content you’d like to create, so you immediately begin typing, and your web page gets built on the fly, with no delays, without switching of tab browsers, and without waiting for new content to refresh and reload.
Would that not be the perfect way to create content for your WordPress site? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex page layouts quickly for your web content without 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 Ultimate Drag And Drop Front End Builder For WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive WordPress click-to-edit drag-and-drop content builder.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin is a new and exciting way to speed up the process of creating great content on.
Once installed, the plugin adds a visual content editor and a sidebar menu that lets you select, then drag and drop design elements on your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new content editing option to WordPress)
The plugin is actually a combination of the Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages plugins combined into one, plus an additional plugin feature called Thrive Lightbox.
Let’s review each of the above and how all of this powerful functionality works seamlessly together to help you transform and improve your website and create awesome marketing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder For WordPress
You can easily add content to your web pages and build complex page layouts using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your web page can be built, edited and rearranged by ”clicking-to-edit” and “dragging and dropping” things around the page …
Once you have positioned elements on a page, you can then further edit them without going through additional steps or switching screens …
You can also work inside stunning landing pages that can just as easily be edited or customized …
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, working on content with Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages installed is so effortlessly simple, that the developers guarantee that once you start using it, you’ll never look back!
Go here to learn more about the plugin: Thrive Content Builder
The integrated Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin was created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another excellent plugin that we have previously written about on this site.
See this post to read about this plugin:
Benefits Of Using Thrive Landing Pages And Content Builder Plugin
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up the process of designing pages and creating content for your WordPress website:
Fast And Simple To Install And Set Up. Ready To Go To Work In Very Little Time.
Thrive Content Builder is very easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Edit And Add Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is very simple and intuitive to use and lets you edit and build content in real-time.
What You See Is Truly What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the editor – typefaces, elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see on the front end of your site.
Additional benefits and advantages include:
- Beautiful Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with drag-and-drop ease.
- Add Customizable Elements With No Shortcodes Involved: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get a visually exciting drag and drop WordPress content editor, but the plugin also includes a jaw-dropping collection of functional and attractive design elements that you can customizable and use on your web pages without using shortcodes, such as flat design elements, borderless content, buttons, custom HTML and CSS, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff, or having to wait for the page to refresh frees up your attention and allows you to build the pages your business needs, quickly and without having to edit code or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you need done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily insert, edit and customize web page elements like testimonial boxes, pricing tables, borderless content, section dividers, responsive Google map embeds, etc.)
Features
Thrive Content Builder provides website owners many unique features. Here are just some of those:
- All WordPress Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have all of the regular text editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold, paragraph centering, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements Menu: The plugin makes a “drag and drop” table of multi-style elements available on your post or page screen for creating and editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin provides you with various eye-catching and customizable elements that will help you increase your conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonials, and guarantees. In addition to being customizable, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Responsive Design: Add mobile-friendly columns, boxes, section dividers, e.g. which will resize and display great on different device screens.
- Add Animation To Your Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you insert animated images, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Sets
Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language to take your visitors all the way from signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages lets you add conversion-optimized pages to your site)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time creating and customizing web pages
- 100% conversion-optimized page templates
- No tech skills needed
- Works with all WordPress themes
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages not only can be used to create beautiful content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of beautifully designed, conversion optimized landing page templates and fully customizable …
(Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are over thirty 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.
Customize Your Landing Page Template Sets
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 how to code web pages and figure out what to do 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 complex 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 creating conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you stunning pre-built web page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that lets you change and customize any element of your page templates …
With the landing page template sets included with this plugin, you can:
- Modify text in any headline, button, bullet point, etc.
- Delete text, images or any other element of your landing page
- Replace the background image and edit colors
- Edit the color of links, text, buttons, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Use your own images and graphics
- Modify content area size
- Change the order of elements on the pages
- Translate everything on the page into a different language
- Add custom content anywhere in the pages
- Start with a blank page and create your own templates, or even build a custom landing pages library.
(Change or customize any element of your page)
Thrive Lightbox Plugin – Transform Your Web Site Into A Marketing Machine
The Thrive package also includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully editable 2-step opt-in forms and events to your content pages …
(Add lead capture forms and animation to your pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Two-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process helps to increase your conversion rates. Visitors click on an image or button, and then they are presented with your opt-in form …
(When visitors click on the button, they 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 over a button or graphic elements, 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 various effects (e.g. zoom in, slide in from top to bottom, roll out, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your WordPress site 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.
Testimonials From Plugin Users
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback that users have submitted regarding Thrive Content Builder:
“I have had nothing but the best experience imaginable with this tool since I purchased it. This is by far one of, if not the best plug-in I have purchase to date and it has definitely made working with WordPress a whole new experience. Jim Bond”
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”Great stuff! I am really impressed by all the new additions. You guys have shown a true commitment to making these themes and the Content Builder awesome. Michael Johnson”
Plugin Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any WordPress theme, not just with the Thrive Landing Pages plugin. Note, however, that you cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content that was not created with the plugin.
You can add short codes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will display correctly on on your web site.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content built using Thrive Content Builder.
Support
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages 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 lifetime software updates, plus 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, thirty day, full refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product that just keeps getting better.
Software Pricing
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 edition enables you to configure the plugin on one website only. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This allows you to set up the plugin on all sites that you own. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Price = $87.00.
- Agency License Edition – This allows you to set up the plugin on all of your own websites and your client web sites. Includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $247.00 per year.
Note: Current pricing for Thrive Content Builder depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current price at the time this review was published. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the software developer when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
The developers of the Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages 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 time-saving features like ready-made web page elements and beautiful, conversion-optimized templates that help speed up content design, and on the other hand, you have complete control over your design process and the freedom to edit anything and everything on your web page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, that lets you work unhindered by overly complicated steps.
For ”how-to” videos showing plugin usage, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive plugins website.
Get This Plugin …
If you want to edit something, you just click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, do it, and you’ll see the change happen immediately. If you want to move something, simply drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no extra steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your web site and create amazing sales pages and content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For more details, visit the plugin website here:
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