WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application to a tool that can be used to design all types of pages – direct sales pages, portfolio pages, business pages, etc.
Whatever you can think of, someone is most likely already building it using WordPress!
In this article you will discover how to create stunning content and design beautiful page layouts with drag & drop ease in WordPress sites.
Drag And Drop Content Editors For WordPress
The WordPress Visual Editor – Is There A Faster Option To Design Amazing-Looking Web Pages In WordPress?
Using the WordPress content editor to create or edit complex page layouts can sometimes be quite challenging.
(The WordPress content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional text and images, but adding more complex content elements can be quite challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the content shown below …
To create the above layout, you would normally need to add shortcodes to the content for every single element you want to display to visitors …
Generally, this is not an issue … unless you need to change the layout (for example, move part of the content from box 1 into box 2, or change the background color inside a box from bright red to maroon. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code.
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, when working with more complex page elements, often what you see on your screen may not be the same as what you are getting when the page goes live …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some instances, users would probably be better off working inside the text editor tab instead of the WordPress visual editor when trying to add fancy layouts …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it difficult for WordPress site owners with no knowledge of HTML or CSS to have full control of their own content.
The fundamental issue with using shortcodes and HTML to create content in WordPress can be summarized as follows:
1) Speed – How long does it take to build a web page using the 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 editor does not look anything like what you see in the front end. This means that users need to mentally translate what the content will look like when working with complex layouts. Other solutions require multiple 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 the updated content to load.
A number of WordPress developers have tried to come up with different solutions to try to make the visual editor more intuitive. These range from standalone WordPress plugins you can install on your site that add new functionality to the editor, to WordPress 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 combining so many page-building features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these solutions work, but they don’t address the fundamental problem with using shortcodes and HTML as described earlier. 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 your content to look “just right” quickly, this can start to become very frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your content builder to work?
Now, imagine the following …
- You spot something in your content that needs changing so you, simply click on the content and start writing. Your content is then instantly changed.
- You can just drag and drop items on the page, and the page looks exactly as it will display on the front end without having to mentally abstract from HTML or shortcodes.
- You have an idea for an item of content you would like to create, so you simply start typing, and your page gets built as you go, without delays, no switching of tab browsers, and without waiting for new web pages to republish and reload.
Would this not be the ideal way to build content for your web site? A true WYSIWYG content builder where all you have to do is click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around the pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex web 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 Plugin – Create Beautiful Page Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease In WordPress Websites
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive WordPress click-to-edit drag and drop content editing plugin.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin provides you with a new and exciting way to speed up the process of adding amazing content to 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 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 rolled into one, plus an additional plugin feature called Thrive Lightbox.
Let’s examine all of the above and how these powerful features work seamlessly together to help you transform and improve your website and create amazing marketing pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder Plugin
This plugin lets you easily add content to your web pages and build complex page layouts using drag and drop elements …
Every element of your page can be configured with ”click-to-edit” and “drag and drop” ease …
Once elements have been added to your page, you can continue to further customize these without going through multiple steps or opening more configuration windows …
The built-in Landing Pages editor also lets you work inside stunning landing pages and easily edit 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 amazingly easy, that the developers warn that once you start using it, you’ll never look back!
More info: Thrive Content Builder
Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages were created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another amazing plugin for WordPress that we have previously recommended on this site.
See this article for more information about using this plugin:
Plugin Benefits
Here we have listed just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Quick And Easy To Install And Set Up. Be Up And Running In Very Little Time.
Thrive Content Builder is really easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your admin login and activate.
Real-Time Content Content Editing
Thrive Content Builder is is not only very simple to use, it also lets you build content in real-time.
What You See Is Exactly What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “back-end” as you work within the content editor – typefaces, visual elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what you get in the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Add Eye-Catching Page Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with drag and drop ease.
- Add Design Elements With No Short Codes Involved: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get an exciting and easy-to-use drag and drop WordPress content builder, but the plugin also includes a jaw-dropping collection of web design elements that you can use on your web pages without using shortcodes, such as columns, feature grids, testimonials, responsive videos, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to constantly switch tabs as you edit content and then wait for for your updated content to refresh frees up your attention and allows you to build the pages your business needs, quickly and without having to edit code or click through multiple steps to get what you want done.
(Add, edit and customize page elements like testimonial boxes, tabbed content, styled lists, call to action buttons, countdown timers, etc.)
Features
Thrive Content Builder offers WP users many great features. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- All Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have all of the regular WordPress text editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold, paragraph formatting, headings, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements Menu: The plugin makes a “drag and drop” table of multi-style elements available on your post or page screen for editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with various eye-catching and customizable elements that will help you increase your sales conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonial boxes, and guarantee forms. In addition to being customizable, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Responsive Web Page Design: Add mobile-friendly columns, boxes, content dividers, e.g. which will display correctly on devices with differently sized screens.
- Add Animation Events To Your Web Pages: The Event Manager feature lets you add animated page content, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Landing Page Template Sets
Landing page sets are web 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 plugin lets you add conversion-optimized pages to your web site)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time creating stunning web pages for your web site
- 100% conversion-optimized landing pages
- No technical skills needed
- Works with all themes
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder 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 …
(Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are over thirty templates available, with more templates being worked on. In addition to the available templates, the developers plan to release new web page templates for email lead generation, sales pages, course pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Fully Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template Sets
Normally, to be able to fully customize 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 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 creating conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you beautiful pre-designed web page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that lets you change or customize any aspect of your page template …
With the landing page template sets included with this plugin, you can:
- Edit text in any button, bullet point, headline, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other component of your landing page
- Change all background images or background colours
- Change the color of text, links, buttons, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Use your own images
- Modify the size of the content area
- Change the order of elements on your pages
- Translate everything on the page into a different language
- Add any kind of 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 and customize anything on your page)
Transform Your Site Into A Powerful Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox
The Thrive plugin combo includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully configurable 2-step opt-in forms and animated elements to your pages …
(Add lead capture forms and events to your WordPress website with Thrive Lightbox)
2-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process can help 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 two-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 your visitor clicks or hovers 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 images on your page, using a range of animation effects (e.g. fade out, slide in from right to left, 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 all events, triggers and design.
Testimonials
Below are just some testimonials users have submitted regarding Thrive Content Builder:
”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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“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. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content that was not created with the plugin.
You can add shortcodes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will be displayed correctly on your website.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build with Thrive Content Builder.
Support
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder 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 products are well-supported, and users get unlimited upgrades, plus one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, thirty day, 100% refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product for WordPress users that will just keep getting better.
Product License 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 allows you to install the plugin on 1 website only. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Price = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License – This license option allows you to use the plugin on unlimited domains that you own. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency License Edition – This edition enables you to install the plugin on all of your own websites and your client websites. It includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Note: The price of the Thrive Content Builder software depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current price when this review was written. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the software author when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
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 page elements and beautiful, conversion-optimized templates that help make designing your content faster, and on the other hand, you have complete control over your design process and the freedom to change anything and everything on your page, using the plugin’s click-to-edit and drag and drop features, which lets you get things done without having to go through multiple steps.
For a demo video of the plugin in action, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive Content Builder website.
Install The 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 will see the change happen instantly. If you want to move something, all you need to do is simply drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no additional steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your business online 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 full details, check out the plugin here:
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