WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application to a tool being used to create all types of web sites.
Whatever you can imagine, somewhere around the world someone is bound to be already building it with WordPress!
This article will help you discover the simplest way to build beautiful layouts in WordPress.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
The WordPress Editor – Is There An Easier Tool To Create Stunning-Looking Content In WordPress?
Using the built-in WordPress WYSIWYG content editor to create or edit sophisticated page elements can be difficult.
(The built-in WordPress editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional text and media, but adding complex layouts can be challenging!)
For example, if you look at the screenshot below …
To create the above layout in a page would require inserting something like this into your WordPress editor …
Typically, this is not an issue … until you decide to change something in the layout (for example, move part of the content from box 3 into box 2, or replace the button inside a box from bright red to light green. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code or html.
The WordPress editor is supposed to provide users with an easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) content editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to edit more complex layouts, what you see on your screen may not be what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some situations, users would probably be better off working with the html source itself 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 WordPress site owners without coding skills to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental issue with using HTML and shortcodes to create content in WordPress can be summarized as follows:
1) Speed – How long will it take to build a page using the editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the ”back end” match 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 back end does not look even remotely similar to what you see in the front end. This means that you have to translate mentally what the content will look like when working with complex layouts. Other solutions require a number of 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 progressing, which can affect how fast you can create your content, as you wait for pages to reload.
A number of WordPress developers have tried to come up with different solutions to try and make content editing more intuitive. Some of these solutions range from plugins you can install on your site that add new functionality to the editor, to WP themes that provide built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make content creation easier!)
Some solutions end up combining so many complex page-building features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these editors work, but they still fail to address the fundamental challenge of using shortcodes and HTML as described earlier. Adding and editing sophisticated content elements 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 layouts 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 pages?
Now that you’ve asked this question, imagine the following scenario …
- You spot something in the content that needs fixing so you, simply click on the content and start changing it. Your content has been instantly edited.
- You 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 visualize HTML or shortcodes.
- You have an idea for some content that you would like to create, so you just start typing, and your page gets built as you go, with no delays, no switching tabs, and without having to wait for new web pages to reload.
Would this not be the ideal way to build content for your WordPress website? A true WYSIWYG content editor where all you have to do is click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around the page?
(Imagine being able to create complex pages in real-time 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 – Create Stunning Content Faster And Beautiful Page Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease In WordPress Sites
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive click-to-edit drag-and-drop content creator and editor for WordPress.
Thrive Content Builder is a new and exciting way to speed up the process of adding content to your WordPress website.
Once installed, the plugin adds a visual content editor with an item menu that lets you click, then drag and drop elements to your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual content editor to WordPress)
Thrive Content Builder And Landing Pages 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 an in-depth look at all of the above plugins and how all of this exciting functionality works together to help you transform and improve your web presence and create amazing sales pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder – Click-To-Edit Drag & Drop Content Building Plugin For WordPress
This plugin lets you easily build complex web page design layouts using drag and drop elements …
Every aspect of your web page can be created, changed and repositioned by dragging and dropping things around the page and then clicking to edit them …
Once elements have been added to the page, you can continue to further customize or edit these without going through additional steps or switching screens …
The built-in Thrive Landing Pages also lets you work inside beautiful landing pages and easily customize these …
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing web pages with the plugin installed is so effortlessly simple, that the developers warn that you will never look back once you start using it
For more details, visit the plugin site here: Thrive Content Builder
The integrated Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin was created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another terrific plugin that we have written about on this site.
To read about this plugin, go here:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up the process of designing pages and creating content for your site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Set Up. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
Thrive Content Builder installs just like every other plugin. Just upload a zip folder containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Real-Time Content Building And Editing
Thrive Content Builder is simple to use and lets you edit and build content in real-time.
A Truly Visual Content Builder
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “back end” as you work within the content editor – fonts, visual elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what you get on the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits include the following:
- Beautiful Page Layouts With Drag And Drop Ease: Create any type of layout you can imagine with drag-and-drop ease.
- Design Elements Included: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get an exciting and an easy-to-use click-to-edit content editor, but the plugin also includes a very decent collection of professional web design elements that you can insert into your pages without using short codes, like tabbed content, star ratings for review pages, call to action buttons, HTML code insert boxes, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff for the new content to reload frees up your attention and allows you to be more focused while you work or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you want done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily insert, edit and customize web page elements like testimonial boxes, flat design elements, content reveal feature, call to action buttons, credit card icons, etc.)
Thrive Content Builder Features
Thrive Content Builder offers WP users many great features. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- Regular WordPress Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have all of the regular content editing options that you are used to (e.g. underlines, paragraph formatting, headings and font sizes, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” list of elements to your post or page screen when creating and editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin provides you with a range of attention-grabbing and customizable elements that will help increase the effectiveness of your sales pages, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonial boxes, and guarantee forms. In addition to customization options, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Responsive Design: Add responsive columns, boxes, dividers, e.g. which will display great on different-sized screens.
- Add Animation Events To Pages: The Event Manager feature lets you insert animated page content, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Templates
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 conversion-optimized web page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time designing and customizing web pages
- 100% conversion-optimized pages
- No coding 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, conversion optimized page templates and fully customizable …
(Landing page template sets that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are currently 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, training pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Completely Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template
Typically, to be able to have a completely customizable landing page template, you would need to either pay a web site developer 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 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 building conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you beautiful pre-built 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 …
With the landing page templates included with this plugin, you can do the following:
- Change text in any headline, bullet point, button, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other component of the landing page
- Replace any background images or background colours
- Edit the color of text, links, buttons, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Select your own images
- Change content area size
- Rearrange the order of elements on your page
- Translate everything on the page into a different language
- Add custom content in any of the pages
- Start with a blank page and create your own templates, or even build a library of custom landing page templates.
(Change or customize anything on the page)
Thrive Lightbox Plugin – Transform Your Website Into A Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin package includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully editable 2-step opt-in forms and animated objects to your web site …
(Add lead capture forms and animated elements to your WordPress site with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
2-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process helps to 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 when visitors click or hover 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 in, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your web pages 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
Below are just some testimonials that users have published about the Thrive Content Builder plugin:
”You guys are simply awesome I am loving everything you are doing at the moment. Keep up the great work you really are making such a big difference in this field. Jule Fuller”
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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 theme in WordPress, not just with the Thrive Landing Pages plugin. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on existing pages or posts that were not created using 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 you build with Thrive Content Builder.
Support
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages comes with free updates, new landing pages 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, complete refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product that will just keep getting better.
Product 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 Licensing – This license enables you to use the plugin on 1 site only. It includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License Edition – This allows you to run the plugin on all of your personal websites. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency License – This option enables you to install the plugin on all of your own websites and any client sites. Includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Please Note: The price of the Thrive Content Builder software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the plugin retails for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual price set by the product author when you visit the website 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, pre-designed templates that help make designing your pages faster, and on the other hand, you have 100% control over the design process and the ability to edit and customize anything and everything on your web page, using the plugin’s click-to-edit and drag and drop features, that allows you to get things done without having to go through multiple steps.
For ”how-to” videos of the plugin in action, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive Content Builder website.
Download This Plugin …
If you want to edit something, simply click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, do it, and you’ll see the change happen instantly. If you want to move something, all you have to do is simply drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no unnecessary steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your business online and create amazing sales pages and content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here:
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