WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool to a tool being used to design all types of pages – marketing pages, portfolio pages, business pages, etc.
Whatever you can think of, somewhere around the world someone is probably already building it using WordPress!
In this article you will learn how to create stunning content with drag & drop ease in WordPress.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The WordPress Editor Meeting All Of Your Content Creation Needs?
With all the many developments that WordPress has undergone in recent years, many WordPress developers feel that using the default WordPress editor to build or edit complex content elements can sometimes be difficult.
(The built-in WordPress visual content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” text and media, but adding more complex page elements can be quite challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the layout shown below …
Adding the above page elements would require entering something like this in the default WordPress editor …
Normally, this is not an issue … unless you need to change the layout (for example, move some of the content from box 1 into box 2, or change the button inside box 2 from green to gold. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code inside the editor.
The WordPress visual content editor is supposed to give users an easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, but as you can see, when working with complex layouts, often 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 cases, users could even be better off working directly with the source html itself instead of the WYSIWYG editor when trying to build complex page elements …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it hard for WordPress users without knowledge of HTML or CSS to have full control of their own content.
The fundamental issue about having to use HTML and shortcodes to create content in the default WordPress editor can be summarized by asking two questions:
1) Speed – How long will it take to build a page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the editor match the “front end” content when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above, what you see in the editor doesn’t look anything like what you see in the front end. This means that you need to mentally translate what the content will look like when working with complex 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 can affect how fast you can create your content, as you wait for the content to refresh.
A number of WordPress web developers have tried to come up with various solutions with the goal of addressing this issue. Some of these alternative solutions range from plugins you can install on your site that add new functionality to the editor, to WP themes that come with 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 design features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these alternative editors work, but they fail to address the fundamental issue of using shortcodes and HTML as described earlier. Creating and adding sophisticated content elements 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 after a while.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your web page builder to function?
Now, imagine the following scenario …
- You look at your content and if you spot something that needs changing, simply click on the content and start editing it. Your content has been instantly edited.
- You can drag and drop items around the page, and the page looks exactly as it will appear on the front end without having to mentally translate shortcodes or HTML.
- You have an idea for some content you’d like to add, so you simply begin typing, and your web page gets built on the fly, without delays, no tab switching, and without waiting for edits to republish and reload.
Would that not be the ideal way to create content for your WordPress website? A true visual content editor where all you have to do is click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your posts and pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex web pages ”on the fly” 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 – Create Beautiful Page Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease In WordPress Sites
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a unique WordPress plugin that lets users quickly build stunning content layout with a true WYSIWYG click-to-edit and drag and drop content editor.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin is a new and incredibly easy way to speed up the process of creating content on your WordPress website.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor with a sidebar menu that lets you drag and drop design elements to your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new editor to WordPress)
The 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.
We will take an in-depth look at all of the above and how these features work seamlessly together to help you easily transform and improve your site and create amazing marketing pages and content.
Thrive Content Builder For WordPress
With Thrive Content Builder easily add content to your web pages and build complex page layouts using drag and drop elements …
Every element of your page can be created using “drag and drop” and “click-to-edit” …
Once elements have been positioned on the page, you can then further edit or customize these without having to go through multiple steps or switching tabs …
You can also build beautiful landing pages that can just as easily be edited or customized …
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, working on content with the Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin installed is so effortlessly simple, that the developers warn that once you start using it, you’ll never look back!
To learn more about this plugin go here: Thrive Content Builder
Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages were created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another fantastic plugin for WordPress we’ve written about on this site.
Go here to read more about the plugin:
Benefits Of Using Thrive Landing Pages And Content Builder Plugin
Here are just some of the benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Quick And Simple To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
Thrive Content Builder installs just like every plugin. Just upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Build And Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is really simple and intuitive to use and lets you create and edit content in real-time.
A Truly Visual Content Builder
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the editor – typefaces, visual elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see on the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits and advantages include:
- Stunning Layouts With Drag And Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with drag and drop ease.
- Add Customizable Elements Without Shortcodes: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get a visually exciting drag and drop content builder, but the plugin also includes a jaw-dropping collection of design elements that you can customizable and add to your pages without using short codes, such as content toggle, star ratings for review pages, dividers, custom HTML and CSS, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff, or having to wait for your new content to load frees up your attention and allows you to be more focused while you build or edit your content or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you want done.
(Add, edit and customize page elements like testimonials, flat design elements, table of contents builder, page section dividers, credit card icons, etc.)
Features
Thrive Content Builder offers many powerful features to web site owners. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- All WordPress Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have access to 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 multi-style elements to your post or page screen when creating and editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin includes a range of eye-catching and customizable elements that will help increase the effectiveness of your sales pages, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonials, and guarantees. In addition to being customizable, various elements also offer multiple design options.
- Responsive Element Design: Add mobile-friendly elements like column layouts, text boxes, content dividers, e.g. which will adjust to display great on different device screens.
- Add Animation Events To Web Pages: The Event Manager feature lets you create animated content elements, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your 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 signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages plugin lets you easily add conversion-optimized pages to your website)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time building and customizing pages for your website
- 100% conversion-optimized pages
- No coding skills required
- Works with any theme
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages not only can be used to create beautiful content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of professionally 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 30 templates available, with more templates planned 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.
Completely Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template Sets
Typically, to be able to fully customize landing page templates, you would need to either hire a web 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 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-designed 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 are able to:
- Modify text in all buttons, bullet points, headlines, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other part of the landing page
- Replace the background image and edit colors
- Change the color of links, buttons, text, etc.
- Use your own fonts
- Select your own images
- Change the size of the content area
- Change the order of web page elements
- Translate everything on the page into different languages
- Add any kind of custom content inside any of the pages
- Start with a blank page and create your own page templates, or even build a library of custom landing pages.
(Change or customize any element of your page)
Thrive Lightbox – Transform Your Web Site Into A Powerful Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin package also includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully editable two-step opt-in forms and animated objects to your web pages …
(Add lead capture forms and animation to your WordPress site with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
2-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process helps increase your conversion rates. Visitors click on a button or image, and then they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Opt-in forms can help improve your conversion rates.)
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 graphic elements, 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 various animation effects (e.g. zoom in from the page center, slide in from top to bottom, roll out, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your 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.
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials and feedback that customers have provided 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 – Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any theme in WordPress, not just with Thrive Landing Pages. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on pages or posts that were not created with the plugin.
You can add WordPress shortcodes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will display correctly on on your site.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content built using Thrive Content Builder.
Product Support
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder Plugin 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 very well-supported, and users get unlimited upgrades, and 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, thirty day, complete refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product for WordPress users that just keeps 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 set up the plugin on 1 website only. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License Edition – This license option enables you to activate the plugin on all websites that you personally own. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency Licensing – This license enables you to activate the plugin on all of your own web sites and any client sites. Cost 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 special offers. The above reflects the price at the time this review was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the software author when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest price:
Additional Info
The developers of the Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin 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 time-saving features like ready-made web page elements and template sets that help to speed up your content creation, and on the other hand, you have complete control over the 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, that lets you get things done without having to open multiple dialog boxes.
For demo videos showing how the plugin works, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive Content Builder website.
Our Recommendation …
If you want to edit something, you 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 need to do is drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no additional steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your site and create amazing sales pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content, Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For full details, check out the plugin here:
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