WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool to a tool that is now used to create all kinds of sites.
Whatever you can think of, someone is probably already building it with WordPress!
In this article you will discover how to create stunning content with drag & drop ease in WordPress sites.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Does The WordPress WYSIWYG Editor Still Meet All Of Your Web Design Needs?
Using the built-in WordPress content editor to build or edit complex page elements can be quite challenging for non-technical users.
(The WordPress editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional content, but adding more complex page elements can be challenging!)
For example, if you look at the screenshot below …
To add the above layout to a page would require entering something like this inside the WordPress content editor …
Generally, this is not really an issue … unless you want to edit an integral aspect of your layout (for example, move some of the content from box 1 into box 2, or replace the background colour in a box from green to dark red. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code.
The WordPress editor is supposed to give non-technical users an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, when working with complex layouts, what you see on your editor screen may not be what you are getting when the content is published …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some situations, some people argue that you could even be better off working directly with the html source itself instead of the visual editor when trying to add something other than simple layouts …
Even though WordPress is the most user-friendly CMS platform available, this makes it hard for WordPress users without knowledge of HTML or CSS to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental problem with having to use shortcodes and HTML to create content with WordPress 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” 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 when working in the content editor doesn’t look even remotely similar to 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 several steps before you can begin 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 then affects how fast you can create your content, as you wait for the content to reload.
Many WordPress developers have tried to come up with different solutions to make content editing easier. Some of these alternative solutions range from standalone WP plugins you can add to your site that add new functionality to the editor, to themes that include built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make creating complex layouts easier!)
Some solutions end up requiring so many complex page-building features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these editors work fine, but they don’t really address the fundamental challenge 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 content quickly, this can become really 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 that you’ve asked this question, visualize the following scenario …
- You look at your content and if you see something that needs to be changed, just click on the content and start typing. Your content has been instantly changed.
- You simply drag and drop items on the page, and see them exactly as they will appear on the front end without having to mentally visualize shortcodes or HTML.
- You have an idea for some content you’d like to create, so you just start typing, and you build your page as you go, with no delays, without switching of tab browsers, and no waiting for pages to republish and reload.
Would this not be the perfect way to build content for your site? A true visual content editor where all you have to do is click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex web page layouts 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 – The Simplest WYSIWYG Content Editor For WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive WordPress click-to-edit drag-and-drop content building plugin.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin provides WordPress users with a new and exciting way to set up conversion-focused pages on any WordPress site.
Once installed, the plugin adds a visual content editor and a sidebar menu that lets you select, then drag and drop elements on your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual content builder to WordPress)
The Thrive Landing Pages And Content Builder 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.
In this article we’ll take an in-depth look at each of the above plugins and how these features work seamlessly together to help you easily transform and improve your business online and create amazing sales pages and content.
Thrive Content Builder Plugin For WordPress
With this plugin installed easily add complex design layouts to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Every aspect of your page can be created and changed by dragging and dropping things around the page and then clicking to edit them …
Once elements have been positioned on a page, you can then continue to customize or edit them without going through additional steps or opening more configuration windows …
The built-in functionality of the plugin also lets you work inside beautiful landing pages and easily edit these …
Thrive Content and Page Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, working on content with Thrive Content and Landing Page Builder installed is so effortlessly simple, that the developers guarantee that once you start using it, you’ll never look back!
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 excellent plugin that we have previously recommended on this site.
Go here to read about the plugin:
Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Really Easy To Install
Thrive Content Builder is quite easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugins folder via your WordPress admin area and activate.
Real-Time Content Content Creation
Thrive Content Builder is really simple and intuitive to use and lets you build and add content to your pages in real-time.
What You See Is Truly What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “backend” as you work within the content editor – fonts, visual elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what you get in the front end of your site.
Additional benefits of this plugin include:
- Eye-Catching Web Page Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease: Create any type of layout you can imagine with drag and drop ease.
- Customizable Elements Included: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get an amazing click-to-edit content builder, but the plugin also includes a collection of design elements that you can customizable and use on your layouts without using shortcodes, like content toggle, styled lists, page section dividers, responsive videos, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff, or wait for the updates to refresh frees up your attention and allows you to be more focused while you build content or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you want done.
(Easily create, edit and customize page elements like testimonials, tabbed content, content reveal feature, dividers, code insert boxes, etc.)
Features
Thrive Content Builder offers website owners many unique features. Here are just a few of these:
- Regular WordPress Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have all of the regular text editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold formatting, centering text, headings, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements Menu: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” table of multi-style elements to your post or page screen for creating or editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin includes 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, various elements also offer multiple design options.
- Responsive Design: Add responsive elements like column layouts, text boxes, section dividers, e.g. which will resize and display great on different device screens.
- Add Animation 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 Template Sets
Landing page template sets are web page 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 gives you access to conversion-optimized web page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money creating and customizing landing pages
- 100% conversion-optimized landing pages
- No technical skills needed
- Works with any theme
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages not only lets you create beautiful-looking content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of beautifully designed, web page templates that are conversion-optimized and fully customizable …
(Landing page sets that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are over 30 templates available, with more templates being worked on. In addition to the templates that are currently available, expect to see new templates in the future for email lead generation, sales pages, lesson pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Fully Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template
Typically, in order to have a fully customizable landing page template, you would need to either pay a web 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 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 building conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you beautiful pre-built page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that lets you change and edit any aspect of your page templates …
With the landing page template sets included with this plugin, you are able to:
- Change text in all headlines, buttons, bullet points, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other component of your landing page
- Replace all background images or background colour
- Edit the color of links, text, buttons, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Use your own images
- Change the size of the content area
- Change the order of elements on your pages
- Translate everything on the page into different languages
- Add custom content inside the pages
- Start with a blank web page and create your own templates, or even build a library of custom landing pages.
(Change or edit anything on the page templates)
Thrive Lightbox Plugin – Transform Your WordPress Site Into A Powerful Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin combo includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully customizable two-step opt-in forms and events to your content pages …
(Add lead capture forms and animation to your web pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Two-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process can improve 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 reaches 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 out, slide in from top to bottom, roll in, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your web pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
A lightbox and event is created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over your events, triggers and design.
Testimonials From Customers
Here are a few of the testimonials and feedback that 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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“I’m blown away by the plugin. Keep up the incredible, WordPress changing work, guys! Dean Phillips”
Thrive Content Builder Plugin – Useful Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any theme in WordPress, not just with the Thrive Landing Pages plugin. Note, however, that you cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on pages or posts that were not created using the plugin.
You can add WordPress shortcodes inside Thrive Content Builder or Thrive Landing Pages and they will display correctly on on your site.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build with Thrive Content Builder.
Support
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder Plugin provides 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 very well-supported, and users get unlimited upgrades, plus 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 30 day, 100% money-back guarantee.
This is an exciting product that will just keep 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 License – This enables you to configure the plugin on a single web site. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This license option lets you set up the plugin on all of your personal web sites. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $87.00.
- Agency License Edition – This allows you to run the plugin on all of your own web sites and all client domains. Includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $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. When we last checked, the product is being retailed for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product seller when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing information:
Additional Information
The developers of the Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin 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 templates that help to make designing your content faster, and on the other hand, you also have complete control over the design process and the freedom to edit and customize anything and everything on your web page, using the plugin’s click-to-edit and drag and drop features, which lets you get things done without having to keep switching tabs or going through multiple steps.
For ”how-to” videos of the plugin in action, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the plugin website.
Our Recommendation …
If you want to edit something, simply click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, you can 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 overly complicated 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.
For full details, visit the plugin website here:
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