WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application to a tool being used to create all types of web sites.
Whatever you can think of, somewhere around the world someone is most likely already building it with WordPress!
In this article you will discover the simplest WYSIWYG editor for WordPress websites.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The WordPress Visual Content Editor Still Meeting All Of Your Web Design Needs?
With all the many developments that the WordPress platform has gone through in recent years, many WordPress developers and users feel that using the default WordPress editor to create or edit more complex layouts can sometimes be challenging.
(The built-in WordPress WYSIWYG content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional 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 content shown below …
To create the above layout, users would have to insert shortcodes into the content for each of the elements they would like to display on the page …
Normally, this is not an issue … until you have to change the layout (for example, move some of the content from box 3 into box 2, or replace the button in box 2 from red to blue. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code or html.
The WordPress visual editor is supposed to give users an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, if you are working with complex page elements, often what you see on your editor screen is not 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 html source itself instead of the visual editor when trying to create something other than simple layouts …
Even though WordPress is very user-friendly, this makes it difficult for users without knowledge of HTML or CSS to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental problem about having to use HTML and shortcodes to create content with WordPress can be summarized by asking 2 questions:
1) Speed – How long will it take to create a web page using the 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 screenshot, what you see in the content editor does not look even remotely similar to what you see in the front end. This means that users have to abstract what the content will look like when working with sophisticated layouts. Other solutions require a number of 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 impacts how fast you can create your content, as you wait for your updates to refresh.
Many WordPress web developers have tried to come up with different solutions with the objective of making content editing more intuitive. Some of these alternative solutions range from WordPress plugins you can add to 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 page layouts easier!)
Some solutions combine so many page design features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these solutions work, but they don’t address the fundamental challenge 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 to create or edit complex layouts quickly, this can become very 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, imagine the following …
- You look at your content and if you see something that needs fixing, just click on the content and start writing. Your content has been instantly changed.
- You can just 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 an item of content you would like to add, so you immediately start typing, and you build your web page on the fly, with no delays, with no switching of tab browsers, and without waiting for web pages to refresh and reload.
Would that not be the ideal way to create content for your WordPress web site? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your pages and posts?
(Imagine being able to create complex web page layouts ”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 – The Ultimate Click-To-Edit Front End Builder For WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive click-to-edit drag-and-drop content and landing page editor for WordPress.
Thrive Content Builder is a new and incredibly easy way to speed up the process of adding content to WordPress sites.
Once installed, the plugin adds a visual content editor with a sidebar menu that lets you click, then drag and drop elements on your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual content builder 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.
Let’s take a look at each of the above and how all of this exciting functionality works together to help you easily transform and improve your web presence and create awesome sales pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder – WordPress Plugin
With Thrive Content Builder easily build complex web page design layouts using drag and drop elements …
Every element on your page can be configured, edited and customized with ”click-to-edit” and “drag and drop” ease …
Once you have placed elements on your page, you can continue to further customize or edit them without going through multiple steps or opening extra settings windows …
You can also create stunning landing pages that can just as easily be edited or customized …
Thrive Content Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing pages with the plugin installed is so amazingly easy, that the developers guarantee that you’ll never look at creating content the same way once you start using it
More info: Thrive Content Builder
The integrated Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin was created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another fantastic plugin that we have previously written about on this site.
Go here to read more about the plugin:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Be Up And Running In No Time
Thrive Content Builder is really easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugin folder via your WordPress dashboard and activate.
Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is simple and intuitive to use and lets you build and add content right inside 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, page layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see on the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits include the following:
- Create Beautiful Web Page Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality.
- Add Customizable Elements With No Shortcodes Involved: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get an exciting and simple-to-use drag and drop content editor, but the plugin also includes a collection of design elements that you can customizable and use on your web pages without using short codes, like content toggle, star ratings for review pages, call to action buttons, responsive Google map embeds, etc.
- More Enjoyable Content Creation: Not having to wait for your updates to reload frees up your attention and allows you to build the web pages your business needs, quickly and without having to deal with code or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you want done.
(Insert, edit and customize web page elements like testimonial boxes, tabbed content, borderless content, section dividers, Google Map embeds, etc.)
Plugin Features
Thrive Content Builder offers many features to site owners. Here are just some:
- Regular Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have all of the regular WordPress text editing options that you are used to (e.g. underlines, paragraph formatting, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Multi-Style Elements: 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 your sales conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonials, and guarantee forms. In addition to customization options, various elements also offer multiple design options.
- Responsive Design: Add responsive elements like column layouts, boxes, section dividers, e.g. which will display correctly on all different kinds of devices.
- Add Animation To Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you create animated page elements, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Template Sets
Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language to take your visitors from initial signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages plugin provides you with conversion-optimized page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time building great-looking pages for your WordPress site
- 100% conversion-optimized web page templates
- No web coding skills required
- Works with any theme
Thrive Content and Landing Page Builder not only lets you create beautiful content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of beautifully designed, 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 over thirty templates available, with more templates scheduled for release. 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, in order to have a fully customizable landing page template, you would need to either pay 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 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 creating conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you attractive pre-built web pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change or customize any element of the page …
The landing page templates included with this plugin let you do the following:
- Change text in all buttons, bullet points, headlines, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other component of your landing page
- Replace all background images and background colours
- Edit the color of buttons, links, text, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Select your own images
- Modify content area size
- Change the order of page elements
- Translate everything on the page into a different language
- Add any type of custom content in the pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own pages from scratch and save them as new page templates.
(Change or customize any element of your page template)
Thrive Lightbox Plugin – Transform Your Site Into A Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin combo also includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully editable 2-step opt-in forms and animated objects to your pages …
(Add opt-in forms and animated objects to your pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Two-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 when visitors click or hover their mouse 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 web pages, using a range of animation effects (e.g. zoom in, slide in from bottom to top, rotate, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your web pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Lightboxes and events are created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over all events, triggers and design.
User Testimonials
Below are just some testimonials that plugin customers have published 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 Plugin – Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any WordPress theme, not just with Thrive Landing Pages. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on pages or posts that were not created using the plugin.
You can add shortcodes inside Thrive Content Builder or Thrive Landing Pages and they will display correctly when published.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build using Thrive Content Builder.
Thrive Content Builder Plugin Support
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages 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 products are very well-supported, and users get unlimited upgrades, and 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, thirty day, complete money-back guarantee.
This is an exciting product for WordPress users that will just keep 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 lets you run the plugin on 1 web site only. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This option enables you to run the plugin on all of your personal websites. Cost includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency Licensing – This enables you to set up the plugin on all of your own domains and your client web sites. Price includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Note: Price details for this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the product is selling for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the software 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 current pricing details:
Additional Information
The developers of the Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin repeatedly 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 beautiful, conversion-optimized template sets that help to make designing your content faster, and on the other hand, you also have 100% control over your design process and the ability to change anything and everything on your web page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, that lets you get things done without having to keep switching tabs or going through multiple steps.
For a demo video showing plugin usage, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive website.
Get The Plugin …
If you want to edit something, you just click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, do it, and you will see the change happen immediately. If you want to move something, just drag it and drop it into its new position. There are no additional steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your site and create amazing 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:
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