WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application into a tool that is now being used to create all types of websites.
Whatever you can imagine, someone is bound to be already building it using WordPress!
In this article you will discover the ultimate click-to-edit front end visual editor for WordPress.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
The WordPress Editor – Is There A Better Tool For Designing Pages In WordPress?
Using the built-in WordPress editor to create or edit sophisticated content elements can sometimes be quite challenging for non-technical website owners.
(The default WordPress WYSIWYG content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” text and media, but adding complex content elements can be quite challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the layout shown below …
Creating the above page elements in a page would require inserting something like this into your default WordPress visual content editor …
Normally, this is not really an issue … unless you need to edit an element in your layout (for example, move some of the content from box 1 into box 2, or replace the button inside box 3 from dark green to maroon. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code.
The WordPress visual editor is supposed to provide users with an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, if you are creating with complex content elements, often what you see in the visual editor may not be the same as what you are getting when the web page is published …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some situations, you may even be better off working with the html source itself instead of the visual editor when trying to create something other than simple layouts …
Even though WordPress is the most user-friendly CMS platform available, this makes it hard for non-technical users to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental problem about having to use 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 build a web page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the ”back end” resemble the content in the “front end” when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above screenshot, what you see when working in the content editor looks nothing like what you see in the front end. This means that you need to abstract what your content will look like when working with sophisticated layouts. Other solutions require taking a number of steps before you can begin configuring your page layout, or endlessly switching tabs and performing tweaks and updates to see how your content is progressing, which interrupts the creative process, as you wait for your updates to load.
A number of WordPress web developers have come up with a range of solutions with the objective of making the visual editor more intuitive. Some of these solutions range from standalone WordPress plugins you can install on your site that add new functionality to the editor, to themes that offer built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make content creation easier!)
Some solutions end up requiring so many page-building features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these solutions work fine, but they still don’t address the fundamental issue of using HTML and shortcodes as described earlier. Creating, adding and editing non-linear content 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 page layouts quickly, this can start to become very frustrating after a while.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like to build and edit your web content?
Now, imagine this …
- You look at your content and if you spot something that needs fixing, simply click on the content and start typing. Your content has been instantly changed.
- 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 translate HTML or shortcodes.
- You have an idea for an item of content that you would like to add, so you just start typing, and you build your web page on the fly, without delays, with no tab switching, and without waiting for new content to refresh and reload.
Would that not be the ideal way to create content for your WordPress site? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around the pages and posts?
(Imagine being able to create complex page layouts in real-time for your web content without technical skills required!)
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 And Landing Pages
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive click-to-edit drag-and-drop content and landing page editor for WordPress.
Thrive Content Builder provides WordPress users with a new and incredibly easy way to speed up the process of adding amazing content to WordPress websites.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor and a menu that lets you select, then drag and drop design elements on your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual content builder to WordPress)
The plugin is actually a combination of the Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages plugins merged into one, plus an additional plugin feature called Thrive Lightbox.
We’ll take a look at each of the above plugins and how all of this powerful functionality works together to help you easily transform and improve your business online and create awesome marketing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder – WordPress Click-To-Edit Drag & Drop Content Creation Plugin
You can easily add complex design layouts to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Every element on your web page can be built by ”clicking-to-edit” and “dragging and dropping” things around the page …
Once you have positioned elements on your page, you can then edit them without having to go through multiple steps or switching tabs …
You can also build highly attractive landing pages and easily edit these …
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing web pages with Thrive Content Builder installed is so amazingly simple, that the developers warn that once you start using it, it will ruin the experience of using any other content editor forever, and you’ll never look back!
For more details, visit the plugin site here: Thrive Content Builder
The integrated Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin was created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another excellent plugin that we have written about on this site.
See this article to read more about this plugin:
Plugin Benefits
Here 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 web site:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
Thrive Content Builder is really easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Edit & Create Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is is not only really simple to use, it also lets you build and add content to your web pages in real-time.
What You See Is Exactly What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “backend” as you work within the editor – typefaces, elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what you get in the front end of your site.
Additional benefits of this plugin include the following:
- Eye-Catching Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with drag-and-drop ease.
- Add Customizable Elements With No Shortcodes Required: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get a visually exciting click-to-edit WordPress content editor, but the plugin also includes an impressive collection of functional and attractive web design elements that you can add to your pages without using shortcodes, like content toggle, table of contents builder, testimonials, responsive Google maps, etc.
- Distraction-Free Content Creation: Not having to wait for the new content to refresh 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 steps to get what you need done.
(Create, edit and customize page elements like testimonials, tabbed content, table of contents builder, call to action buttons, responsive Google map embeds, etc.)
Plugin Features
Thrive Content Builder provides WordPress users many great features. Below we have listed just some:
- All Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have access to all of the regular text editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold formatting, left-aligned paragraphs, font sizes, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements: The plugin makes a “drag and drop” list of multi-style elements available on your post or page screen when editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with a range of eye-catching and customizable elements that will help you increase your conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonials, and guarantee forms. In addition to being customizable, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Mobile-Friendly Design: Add mobile-friendly columns, guarantee boxes, dividers, e.g. which will display great on different screens.
- Add Animation To Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you create animated content elements, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Landing Page Sets
Landing page template sets are templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language to take your visitors all the way from initial signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages plugin provides you with conversion-optimized page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money creating web pages for your website
- 100% conversion-optimized pages
- No web coding skills required
- Works with any WordPress theme
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages not only can be used to create beautiful-looking content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of beautifully designed, conversion optimized 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 currently 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, lesson pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Fully Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template
Normally, in order to have a fully customizable landing page template, you would need to either pay a web designer to do the work, or learn how to code web pages 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 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 creating conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you beautiful pre-built web pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change or edit any element of your page template …
With the landing page template sets included with this plugin, you are able to:
- Modify text in all bullet points, buttons, headlines, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other component of your landing page
- Change any background images and background colors
- Edit the color of text, links, buttons, etc.
- Select your own fonts
- Use your own images
- Edit the size of the content area
- Rearrange the order of elements on the page
- Translate everything on the page into different languages
- Add custom content anywhere inside the pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own from scratch and save them as new page templates.
(Change or customize anything on your page templates)
Thrive Lightbox Plugin – Transform Your WordPress Website Into A Powerful Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin combo also includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully editable two-step opt-in forms and animated objects to your WordPress site …
(Add opt-in forms and events to your sales pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Thrive Lighbox 2-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process can help improve your conversion rates. Visitors click on a button or image, and then they are presented with your opt-in form …
(When visitors click on the button, they are presented with an opt-in form)
Event Manager
An “event” consists of a trigger and an action. You can make opt-in forms 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 images on your page, using a range of animation effects (e.g. fade out, slide in from right to left, roll out, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your WordPress site with Thrive Lightbox)
Lightboxes and events are created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over the events, triggers and design.
Feedback From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials plugin users have published about 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 Thrive Landing Pages. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content that was not created using the plugin.
You can add short codes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will display correctly when published.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build using Thrive Content Builder.
Support
Thrive Content and Landing Page 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 very well-supported, and users get unlimited upgrades, and one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, thirty day, complete refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product 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 Licensing – This option lets you install the plugin on a single web site. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This enables you to run the plugin on unlimited websites that you own. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency License Edition – This license option enables you to run the plugin on all of your own sites and any client sites. Includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $247.00 per year.
Please Note: The cost of purchasing Thrive Content Builder depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current pricing when this article was published. This may not be the actual price set by the product developer when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
The Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin developers emphatically 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 template sets that help speed up the content creation process, and on the other hand, you also have complete control over the design process and the freedom to change and customize everything on your page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, which lets you work unhindered by overly complicated options.
For a demo video showing plugin usage, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive website.
In Conclusion …
If you want to edit something, you just click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, you’ll 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 amazing sales pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For complete details, visit the plugin website here:
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