WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool into a tool being used to create all kinds of sites.
Whatever you can imagine, somewhere around the world someone is probably already building it using WordPress!
This article will help you discover how to create stunning content faster and design beautiful layouts with drag & drop ease in WordPress.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Does The Default WordPress Content Editor Meet All Of Your Web Design Needs?
With all the many improvements that WordPress has undergone in recent years, many WordPress developers believe that using the WordPress content editor to build or edit more complex website pages can sometimes be quite challenging.
(The default WordPress WYSIWYG content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” content, but adding more complex page elements can be quite challenging!)
For example, if you look at the screenshot below …
To create the above boxes with text and buttons, you would normally have to add shortcodes to your content for each of the elements you want to create …
Normally, this is not really an issue … unless you decide to change a fundamental aspect of your layout (for example, move some of the content from box 1 into box 2, or change the button in a box from bright red to yellow. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code.
The WordPress visual content editor is supposed to provide users with an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to add more complex content elements, what you see on your screen is not 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 directly inside the WordPress html (text) editor tab instead of the visual editor when trying to add fancy page elements …
Even though WordPress is the most user-friendly CMS platform available, this makes it hard for non-technical users to have full control of their own content.
The fundamental problem with having to use shortcodes and HTML to create content with WordPress can be summarized as follows:
1) Speed – How long does 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 screenshot, what you see when working in the editor doesn’t look even remotely similar to what you see in the front end. This means that users 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 tweaks and updates to see how your content is coming along, which interrupts the creative process, as you wait for your page to load.
A number of WordPress web developers have come up with various solutions to try and make the visual editor more intuitive. Some of these range from standalone 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 layouts easier!)
Some solutions require so many page design features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these alternative editors work fine, but they still don’t address the fundamental problem with using HTML and shortcodes as described earlier. Creating and adding 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 quite frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your web page builder to behave?
Now, imagine the following …
- You see something in your content that needs fixing so you, simply click on the content and start editing it. Your content has been instantly changed.
- You simply drag and drop items on the page, and see them exactly as they will display on the front end without having to mentally visualize code.
- You have an idea for a specific piece of content that you’d like to add, so you immediately start typing, and you build your page on the fly, with no delays, with no switching tabs, and without having to wait for new web content to republish and reload.
Would this not be the ideal way to build 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 page?
(Imagine being able to create complex page layouts ”on the fly” 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 Plugin – Create Stunning Content Faster And Beautiful Web Page Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease In WordPress Websites
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive click-to-edit drag-and-drop content and page building plugin for WordPress.
Thrive Content Builder is a new and exciting way to set up conversion-focused pages on any WordPress website.
Once installed, the plugin adds a visual content editor and a menu that lets you click, then drag and drop design elements on your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual editor to your WordPress site)
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.
We will discuss all of the above plugins and how all of this powerful functionality works seamlessly together to help you easily transform and improve your business online and create amazing sales pages and content.
Thrive Content Builder
You can easily add content to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your page can be designed by dragging and dropping things around the page and then clicking to edit them …
Once elements have been positioned on your page, you can then edit these without going through multiple steps or switching screens …
You can also build stunning landing pages and easily customize these …
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing pages and working on content with Thrive Content Builder installed is so effortlessly easy, 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 amazing plugin that we have recommended on this site.
See this page for more information about this plugin:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up the process of designing pages and creating content for your website:
Ready To Use In No Time
Thrive Content Builder installs just like every WP plugin. Simply upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Real-Time Content Content Creation
Thrive Content Builder is simple to use and lets you create content in real-time.
A Truly Visual Content Editor
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the editor – fonts, elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what you get on the front end of your site.
Additional benefits of using the plugin include the following:
- Design Eye-Catching Page Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality.
- Customizable Elements Included: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get an exciting and an easy-to-use drag and drop content builder, but the plugin also includes a very decent collection of customizable web design elements that you can add to your pages without using short codes, for e.g.: flat design elements, styled lists, section dividers, responsive Google maps, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff for your new content to load 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 need done.
(Create, edit and customize page elements like testimonial boxes, flat design elements, gradient boxes, page section dividers, countdown timers, etc.)
Features
Thrive Content Builder provides WordPress users many unique features. Here are just some of these:
- Built-In Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have all of the built-in WordPress editing options that you are used to (e.g. underline, centering text, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements: The plugin makes a “drag and drop” list of multi-style elements available on your post or page screen for editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with a range of attention-grabbing and customizable elements that will help increase your conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonial boxes, and guarantee forms. In addition to being customizable, various elements also offer multiple design options.
- Mobile-Friendly Design: Add responsive columns, guarantee boxes, dividers, e.g. which will adjust to display correctly on different device screens.
- Add Animation Events To Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you insert animated content elements, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Landing Page Templates
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 gives you conversion-optimized web page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money creating pages
- 100% conversion-optimized web page templates
- No tech 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, conversion optimized web page templates 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 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, training pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Completely Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template Sets
Typically, to be able to have fully customizable landing page templates, you would need to either pay a web site designer to do the work, or learn how to code web pages 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 mess around with code or use 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 stunning pre-designed pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change and customize any element of your page templates …
With the landing page template sets included with this plugin, you can:
- Edit text in all bullet points, headlines, buttons, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other element of your landing page
- Replace the background image or background colour
- Change the color of links, text, buttons, etc.
- Use your own fonts
- Select your own images
- Change the size of the content area
- Rearrange the order of web page elements
- Translate pages into different languages
- Add 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 web page templates.
(Change and edit anything on your page template)
Thrive Lightbox Plugin – Transform Your Web Site Into A Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin package includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully customizable 2-step opt-in forms and animated elements to your website …
(Add opt-in forms and animated objects to your sales pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Thrive Lighbox Two-Step Opt-in Forms
A 2-step opt-in process helps to increase your conversion rates. Visitors click on a button or image, and then they are presented with your opt-in form …
(When visitors click on the button, they are presented with an opt-in form)
Event Manager
An “event” consists of a trigger and an action. You can make opt-in forms appear when when visitors click or hover over a button or an image, or when someone reaches a certain point on the page. You can also use the Event Manager to animate images on your page, using various effects (e.g. fade in, slide in from left to right, rotate, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your marketing 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.
User Testimonials
Here are a few of the testimonials and comments that customers have submitted regarding the Thrive Content Builder plugin:
”Wow! This is just getting better & better. This plugin is making my websites look so professional. Keep up the great work and thank you for the new features. Ladonna Ragalin”
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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”
Useful Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any WordPress theme, not just with Thrive Landing Pages. Note, however, that you cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content that was not created with the plugin.
You can add shortcodes inside Thrive Content Builder or Thrive Landing Pages and they will be displayed correctly when published.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build using Thrive Content Builder.
Thrive Content Builder 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 well-supported, and users get unlimited updates, and one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, thirty day, 100% refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product for WordPress users that just keeps getting better.
Software Cost
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 Edition – This enables you to configure the plugin on a single domain. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Price = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This enables you to activate the plugin on unlimited sites that you own. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency Edition – This edition enables you to use the plugin on all of your own domains and your client websites. It includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Note: Pricing details of this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price above was correct at the time this article was written. This may not be the actual price charged by the plugin seller when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
The Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin developers repeatedly assert 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 web page elements and beautiful, pre-designed template sets that help to speed up your content creation, and on the other hand, you also have complete control over your design process and the freedom to change anything and everything on your web page, using the plugin’s click-to-edit and drag and drop features, which allows you to work unhindered by overly complicated options.
For a demo video showing plugin usage, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the plugin website.
Download This Plugin …
If you want to edit something, you just click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, you can 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 web presence and create awesome sales pages and engaging content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For complete details, visit the plugin website:
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