WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool into a tool being used to create all kinds of websites.
Whatever you can think of, someone is probably already building it with WordPress!
In this article you will learn how to create beautiful page layouts with drag & drop ease in WordPress sites.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The WordPress Editor Still Meeting All Of Your Page Design Needs?
With all the many improvements that WordPress has undergone in recent years, many WordPress users feel that the WordPress content editor is lagging behind all of the other developments being made to the software.
(The built-in WordPress visual content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional content, but adding more complex layouts can be quite challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the layout shown below …
To create the above boxes with text and buttons, users would have to add short codes to the content for each of the page elements they would like to add to their page …
Normally, this is not an issue … until you decide to reconfigure your layout (for example, move some of the content from box 3 into box 2, or change the background color inside box 3 from green to some other colour. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code.
The WordPress visual content editor is supposed to give non-technical users an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, if you are working with complex page elements, what you see 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 instances, users could be better off working inside the html (text) editor tab instead of the WordPress visual editor when trying to build non-linear page elements …
Even though WordPress is the most user-friendly CMS platform available, this makes it hard for WordPress site owners with no coding skills to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental issue of having to use HTML and shortcodes to create content in the default WordPress WYSIWYG editor can be summarized by asking the following questions:
1) Speed – How long does it take to create a 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 image, what you see when working in the back end 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 taking several steps before you can start configuring your page layout, or endlessly switching browser tabs and performing updates to see how your content is coming along, which interrupts the creative process, as you wait for the content to load.
Many WordPress developers have come up with different solutions aiming to make content editing easier. Some of these solutions range from standalone WP 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 editors …
Many of these solutions work, but they don’t really address the fundamental challenge of using shortcodes and HTML 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 layouts quickly, this can become quite frustrating after a while.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your web content editor to behave?
Now, visualize the following scenario …
- You spot something in your content that needs changing so you, simply click on the content and start editing it. Your content has been instantly changed.
- You can just drag and drop items around the page, and the page looks exactly as it will display on the front end without having to mentally translate any shortcodes or HTML.
- You have an idea for some content that you’d like to create, so you simply start typing, and you build your page on the fly, without delays, without tab switching, and without waiting for new pages to refresh and reload.
Would that not be the perfect way to create content for your web site? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around the page?
(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 Landing Pages And Content Builder
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive click-to-edit drag-and-drop content and landing page building plugin for WordPress.
Thrive Content Builder is a new and incredibly easy way to set up conversion-focused pages on your WordPress website.
Once installed, the plugin adds a visual content editor with an item menu that lets you select, then drag and drop design elements to your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new content editor to your WordPress site)
Thrive Landing Pages And Content Builder 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 all of the above and how all of this exciting functionality works together to help you easily transform and improve your business online and create amazing marketing pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder Plugin
You can easily add complex design layouts to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Every element on your page can be configured by ”clicking-to-edit” and “dragging and dropping” things around the page …
Once elements have been added to a page, you can then customize them without going through additional steps or opening new option screens …
You can also work inside highly attractive landing pages that can also be easily customized …
Thrive Content and Landing Page Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing web pages with the Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin installed is so amazingly simple, that the developers warn that you will never look at creating and adding content the same way once you start using it
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 that we have previously reviewed on this site.
Go here for more information about the plugin:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Fast And Easy To Install And Configure. Ready To Go To Work In Minutes.
Thrive Content Builder installs like any plugin. Just upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP admin user login and activate.
Add & Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is simple to use and lets you build and add content right inside your pages in real-time.
What You See Is Truly What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “back end” as you work within the editor – fonts, visual elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see in the front end of your site.
Additional benefits of using the plugin include:
- Create Eye-Catching Page Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any type of layout you can imagine with drag-and-drop ease.
- Add Design Elements Without Short Codes: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get a click-to-edit content builder, but the plugin also includes an impressive collection of design elements that you can customizable and add to your content layouts without using shortcodes, like pricing tables, table of contents builder, dividers, custom HTML and CSS, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff, or having to wait for the 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 want done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily add, edit and customize page elements like testimonial boxes, pricing tables, borderless content, section dividers, responsive maps, etc.)
Thrive Content Builder Features
Thrive Content Builder provides many powerful features to WordPress users. Below we have listed just some:
- Regular Content Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have all of the regular text editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold, paragraph formatting, font sizes, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” table of multi-style elements to your post or page screen when editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with various attention-grabbing and customizable elements that will help you increase your conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonial boxes, and guarantees. In addition to being customizable, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Responsive Element Design: Add mobile-friendly columns, guarantee boxes, content section dividers, e.g. which will display correctly on different screens.
- Add Animation To Web Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you create animated buttons, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web 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 gives you access to conversion-optimized page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time designing and customizing pages
- 100% conversion-optimized landing pages
- No tech skills required
- Works with all WordPress themes
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder not only lets you create beautiful content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of beautifully designed, page templates that are conversion-optimized 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 30 templates available, with more templates scheduled for future release. In addition to the templates that are currently available, expect to see new templates in the future for email lead generation, sales pages, course pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Fully Customizable Landing Page Template Sets
Normally, to be able to have completely customizable landing page templates, you would need to either hire a web designer to do the work, or learn web coding languages like HTML and CSS 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 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-built pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that lets you change and customize any element of your page …
The landing page template sets included with this plugin let you do the following:
- Edit text in any button, headline, bullet point, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other element of your landing page
- Change the background image or colour
- Change the color of text, links, buttons, etc.
- Select your own fonts
- Use your own images and graphics
- Edit content area size
- Rearrange the order of elements on your page
- Translate everything on the page into a different language
- Add custom content inside your pages
- Start with a blank web page and create your own templates, or even build a custom landing page templates library.
(Change and customize any aspect of your page templates)
Thrive Lightbox – Transform Your Site Into A Powerful Marketing Machine
The Thrive package includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully editable 2-step opt-in forms and events to your web pages …
(Add lead capture forms and events to your web pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
2-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process helps to increase your conversion rates. When visitors click on a button or image they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Capture more leads and subscribers with a 2-step opt-in process)
Thrive Lightbox Event Manager
An “event” consists of a trigger and an action. You can make an opt-in form appear when when visitors click or hover 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 animation effects (e.g. zoom in, slide in from right to left, rotate, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your WordPress website with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Lightboxes and events are created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over the events, triggers and design.
Feedback From Plugin Users
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback plugin users have submitted for 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”
Thrive Content Builder Plugin – Useful 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 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 the front end.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build with Thrive Content Builder.
Plugin Support
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder comes with free updates, new landing templates 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 lifetime software upgrades, and one 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 just keeps getting better.
Product 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 license allows you to install the plugin on 1 website only. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This edition lets you set up the plugin on all of your personal domains. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Price = $87.00.
- Agency License – Use on your web sites & on client sites. It includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $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 at the time this content was written. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin author 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 the latest price:
Additional Information
The Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder 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 the time-saving benefits of ready-made page elements and beautiful, pre-designed templates that help to make designing your content faster, and on the other hand, you have 100% control over the design process and the ability to change everything on your page, using the plugin’s click-to-edit and drag and drop features, that allows you to see how the content you are working on will display to visitors when published.
For ”how-to” videos of the plugin in action, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive website.
Download This Plugin …
If you want to edit something, just click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, do it, and you can see the change happen immediately. If you want to move something, you drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no complicated steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your web presence and create awesome marketing pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content, Thrive Content and Landing Page Builder delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For complete details, visit the plugin website here:
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