WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application to a tool that can be used to design all types of web pages – landing pages, product showcase pages, business pages, etc.
Whatever you can imagine, somewhere around the world someone is probably already building it using WordPress!
In this article you will discover the simplest, most intuitive WYSIWYG editor for WordPress web sites.
Drag And Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The Default WordPress WYSIWYG Editor Still Meeting All Of Your Page Design Needs?
Using the WordPress WYSIWYG content editor to build or edit sophisticated content elements can sometimes be quite difficult.
(The default WordPress content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” content, but adding more complex page elements can be challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the content shown below …
To create the above layout, users would normally need to insert short codes into the content for each of the elements they want to display …
Generally, this is not an issue … unless you decide to edit an element of your layout (for example, move some of the content from box 1 into box 2, or change the background color in a box from bright red to light green. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code inside the content editor.
The WordPress content editor is supposed to provide users with an easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, but as you can see, if you are creating with more complex page elements, what you see may not be what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some cases, you could even be better off working directly with the source html itself instead of the WYSIWYG editor when trying to create fancy layouts …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it hard for WordPress users with no coding skills to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental challenge with having to use HTML and shortcodes 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 in the content editor doesn’t look at all like what you see in the front end. This means that you have to translate mentally what your content will look like when working with complex layouts. Other solutions require 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 progressing, which can affect how quickly you can create your content, as you wait for your content to load.
A number of WordPress developers have come up with various solutions to try to address this issue. These solutions range from stand alone WP plugins you can install on your site that add new functionality to the editor, to themes that come with built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make creating complex content easier!)
Some solutions end up including so many complex page design features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end editors …
Many of these solutions work fine, but they don’t really address the fundamental issue of using HTML and shortcodes as described earlier. Adding and editing non-linear content 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 your page content to look ”perfect” 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, visualize this …
- You see something in your content that needs to be changed so you, simply click on the content and start changing it. Your content is then instantly changed.
- You just drag and drop elements on the page, and the page looks exactly as it will appear on the front end without having to mentally abstract from code.
- You have an idea for a specific piece of content that you would like to add, so you just start typing, and your web page gets built on the fly, with no delays, with no tab switching, and no waiting for web pages to reload.
Would this not be the perfect way to create content for your WordPress site? A true WYSIWYG content builder 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 pages quickly 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 Fastest WYSIWYG Content Builder For WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive click-to-edit drag-and-drop content and landing page builder plugin for WordPress.
Thrive Content Builder provides WordPress users with a new and incredibly easy way to set up conversion-focused pages on any WordPress web site.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor with a menu that lets you drag and drop design elements to your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new editor to your WordPress site)
Thrive Content Builder And Landing Pages 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 take an in-depth look at each of the above plugins and how all of this exciting functionality works seamlessly together to help you transform and improve your site and create amazing marketing pages and content.
Thrive Content Builder
Thrive Content Builder lets you easily add content to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your web page can be built with “drag and drop” and “click-to-edit” ease …
Once you have positioned your elements on the page, you can then customize these without having to go through additional steps or complicated settings windows …
You can also work inside highly attractive landing pages that can also be easily edited …
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 Builder and Landing Pages installed is so amazingly easy, that the developers warn that you will never look at creating and adding content the same way once you start using it
Learn more about the plugin 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 previously reviewed on this site.
To read more about the plugin, see this article:
Benefits
Below are just some of the many benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Installation Is Easy
Thrive Content Builder installs just like every plugin. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Real-Time Content Content Editing
Thrive Content Builder is is not only very simple and intuitive to use, it also lets you create and edit content in real-time.
A Truly Visual Editor
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the content editor – typefaces, elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see in the front end of your site.
Additional benefits of using the plugin include:
- Stunning Web Page Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any layout you can imagine with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality.
- Design Elements Included: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get a click-to-edit content editor, but the plugin also includes a jaw-dropping collection of customizable design elements that you can customizable and insert into your content layouts without using shortcodes, for e.g.: content toggle, borderless content, call to action buttons, responsive videos, etc.
- Distraction-Free Content Creation: Not having to wait for your content to load frees up your attention and allows you to build the web pages your business needs, quickly and without having to edit code or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you need done.
(Easily add, edit and customize web page elements like testimonials, pricing tables, borderless content, section dividers, HTML code insert boxes, etc.)
Thrive Content Builder Features
Thrive Content Builder offers WordPress users many features. Here are just some of these features:
- Regular WordPress Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have all of the built-in text editing options that you are used to (e.g. underlines, centering text, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” table of multi-style elements to your post or page screen when editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with various eye-catching and customizable elements that will help you increase the effectiveness of your sales pages, 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 Page Design: Add mobile-friendly columns, boxes, dividers, e.g. which will resize and display great on different device screens.
- Add Animation Events To Web Pages: Thrive Content Builder’s Event Manager feature lets you add animations, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Landing Page Sets
Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of 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 easily add conversion-optimized pages to your website)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money designing landing pages for your website
- 100% conversion-optimized page templates
- No tech skills required
- Works with any theme
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages not only can be used to create beautiful-looking content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of professionally designed, landing page templates that are conversion-optimized and fully customizable …
(Landing page template sets that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are 30+ templates available, with more templates being worked on. In addition to the existing 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.
Customize Your Landing Page Template Sets
Typically, in order to have a completely customizable landing page template, you would need to either hire a web site designer to do the work, or learn web coding languages like HTML and CSS 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 building conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you attractive pre-built web page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change or edit anything on your page …
With the landing page template sets included with this plugin, you can:
- Change text in all buttons, bullet points, headlines, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other element of your landing page
- Replace all background images or background colours
- Change the color of text, buttons, links, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Use your own images and graphics
- Edit content area size
- Rearrange the order of page elements
- Translate pages into different languages
- Add custom content anywhere inside the pages
- Start with a blank web page and create your own templates, or even build your own custom landing pages library.
(Change or customize anything on your page)
Transform Your Site Into A Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox
The Thrive plugin combo also includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully editable 2-step opt-in forms and events to your site …
(Add lead capture forms and animated objects to your WordPress web site with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Thrive Lighbox 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 …
(2-step opt-in forms help to improve your conversion rates.)
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 attention-getting elements on your page, using various effects (e.g. zoom out, slide in from bottom to top, roll out, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your sales 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 a few of the testimonials and comments that users have written about 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 – 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 WordPress short codes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will be displayed correctly on the front end.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content built using Thrive Content Builder.
Support
Thrive Content Builder provides free updates, new landing templates and upcoming features. The plugin developers are constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive products are well-supported, and users get unlimited updates, and one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 30 day, complete refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product for WordPress users that just keeps getting better.
Product License 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 Edition – This edition lets you use the plugin on one website only. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License – This lets you use the plugin on all sites that you personally own. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency Edition – Use on all your websites & on client domains. 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 pricing above was current at the time this review was written. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the plugin developer when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Information
The developers of the Thrive Content Builder 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 templates that help to make designing your pages faster, and on the other hand, you also have complete control over your design process and the ability to edit 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 open multiple dialog boxes.
For a demo video of the plugin, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the plugin website.
In Conclusion …
If you want to edit something, just click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, you’ll see the change happen immediately. If you want to move something, just drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no additional steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your website and create awesome marketing 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 more details, visit the plugin website here:
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