WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application into a tool being used to create all kinds of websites.
Whatever you can think of, someone is most likely already building it using WordPress!
In this article you will discover the fastest visual content editor for WordPress web sites.
Drag And Drop Content Editors For WordPress
The WordPress Visual Content Editor – Is There A Better Way To Design Pages In WordPress?
With so many improvements that WordPress has gone through in recent years, many WordPress users and developers feel that the WordPress content editor is not really suitable for building and editing complex layouts.
(The WordPress WYSIWYG content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional text and images, but adding more complex page elements can be challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the content shown below …
Adding the above to your content would require adding something that looks like this inside your WordPress content editor …
Typically, this is not really an issue … unless you choose to change your layout (for example, move part of the content from box 1 into box 2, or change the background color in a box from red to purple. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code inside the content editor.
The WordPress visual editor is supposed to give non-technical users an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to create more complex content elements, what you see on your screen may not be the same as what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some situations, you would probably be better off working directly inside the WordPress html (text) editor tab instead of the WYSIWYG editor when trying to build fancy page elements …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it difficult for non-technical website owners to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental challenge about having to use HTML and shortcodes to create content in the default WordPress visual editor can be summarized by asking 2 questions:
1) Speed – How long does it take to create a web page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the editor resemble the “front end” content when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above, what you see when working in the editor doesn’t look anything like what you see in the front end. This means that users have 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 tweaks and updates to see how your content is coming along, which interrupts the creative process, as you wait for the new content to load.
A number of WordPress developers have come up with various solutions with the objective of addressing this issue. Some of these range from stand alone plugins you can install on 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 end up including so many complex page design features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these editors work, but they don’t address the fundamental challenge of using HTML and shortcodes 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 your web pages to look “just right” quickly, this can become quite frustrating after a while.
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 this …
- You look at your content and if you see something that needs changing, simply click on the content and start editing it. Your content has been instantly edited.
- You simply 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 a specific piece of content that you would like to add, so you simply begin typing, and your web page gets built on the fly, without delays, without switching of tab browsers, and without waiting for pages to refresh.
Would that not be the ideal way to create content for your web site? A true WYSIWYG 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 web page layouts quickly for your web content with no 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 – The Simplest, Most Intuitive WYSIWYG Editor For WordPress Websites
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive WordPress click-to-edit drag and drop content building plugin.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin is a new and incredibly easy way to speed up the process of adding content to your WordPress website.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor with an item menu that lets you select, then drag and drop design elements to your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual editor to WordPress)
The 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.
Let’s review each of the above and how these features work together to help you easily transform and improve your site and create awesome marketing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder – WordPress Plugin
This plugin lets you easily add complex design layouts to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your page can be created using “drag and drop” and “click-to-edit” …
Once elements have been added to a page, you can continue to further edit or customize these without going through additional steps or switching tabs …
You can also work inside highly attractive landing pages that can also be easily edited …
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 the Thrive Content and Page Builder plugin installed is so effortlessly simple, that the developers warn that once you start using it, you’ll never look back!
More info: Thrive Content Builder
The integrated Thrive Content Builder plugin was created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another great plugin that we have previously reviewed on this site.
To read more about this plugin, go here:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Easy To Install
Thrive Content Builder installs just like any WordPress plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Add & Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is is not only very simple to use, it also lets you edit and add content right inside your web pages in real-time.
What You See Is Really What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the editor – typefaces, visual elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see on the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits include the following:
- Stunning Page Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality.
- Add Customizable Elements With No Shortcodes Involved: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get an amazing drag and drop content builder, but the plugin also includes a very decent collection of web design elements that you can insert into your content layouts without using shortcodes, like columns, borderless content, buttons, responsive maps, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to constantly switch tabs as you tweak content and then wait for the updated content to refresh frees up your attention and allows you to be more focused while you work or click through multiple steps to get what you need done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily insert, edit and customize page elements like testimonial boxes, columns, styled lists, section dividers, HTML code insert boxes, etc.)
Plugin Features
Thrive Content Builder offers many features to website owners. Here are just a few of these:
- Built-In Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have access to all of the built-in WordPress content editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold formatting, justified text, headings and font sizes, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Multi-Style Elements: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” table of elements to your post or page screen when editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with a range of attention-grabbing and customizable elements that will help you increase your sales conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonial boxes, and guarantees. In addition to customization options, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Responsive Element Design: Add mobile-friendly columns, boxes, content dividers, e.g. which will display great on all different kinds of devices.
- Add Animation Events To Web Pages: The Event Manager feature lets you insert animations, 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 from initial signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages lets you add conversion-optimized pages to your website)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money designing web pages
- 100% conversion-optimized web page templates
- No web coding skills required
- Works with any WordPress theme
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder 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 …
(Landing page template sets 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 page templates for email lead generation, sales pages, training pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Completely Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template
Typically, to be able to fully customize a 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 mess around with 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 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 and edit any aspect of the page templates …
The landing page template sets included with this plugin let you do the following:
- Change text in any button, headline, bullet point, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other component of your landing page
- Change the background image and edit color
- Change the color of links, text, buttons, etc.
- Use your own fonts
- Select your own images and graphics
- Edit content area size
- Change the order of web page elements
- Translate everything on the page into a different language
- Add any kind of custom content in any of the pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own web pages from scratch and save them as new page templates.
(Change and edit any aspect of the page templates)
Thrive Lightbox – Transform Your Website Into A Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin combo includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully configurable two-step opt-in forms and animated objects to your site …
(Add opt-in forms and animated objects to your pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Two-Step Opt-in Forms
A 2-step opt-in process can increase your conversion rates. When visitors click on an image or button 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 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 pages, using a range of effects (e.g. zoom in from the page center, slide in from left to right, rotate, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
A lightbox and event is created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over events, triggers and design.
Testimonials From Plugin Customers
Here are some of the testimonials and comments that customers 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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”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 theme in WordPress, not just with Thrive Landing Pages. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on pages or posts that were not created with the plugin.
You can add shortcodes inside Thrive Content Builder or Thrive Landing Pages and they will display correctly when published.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content built using Thrive Content Builder.
Thrive Content Builder Support
Thrive Content Builder Plugin provides free updates, new landing pages and upcoming features. The plugin developers are constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive software is really well-supported, and users get unlimited software updates, and 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, thirty day, full refund 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 License – This option allows you to run the plugin on a single web site. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This lets you install the plugin on all of your personal websites. It includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency Edition – Use on your websites and on all your client websites. Pricing includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Note: Current pricing for Thrive Content Builder can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The price above was current at the time this content was written. This may or may not be the actual price set by the software author when you visit the product 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 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 time-saving features like ready-made page elements and beautiful, pre-designed templates that help to speed up content creation, and on the other hand, you have complete control over the design process and the freedom to change everything on your page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, that allows you to see exactly how the content you are working on will display to visitors when published.
For a demo video of the plugin in action, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive website.
Get The Plugin …
If you want to edit something, 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, simply drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no unnecessary steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your site and create awesome marketing pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
To learn more, check out the plugin here:
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