WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application to a tool being used to create all kinds of websites.
Whatever you can imagine, someone is most likely already building it with WordPress!
This article will help you learn how to create stunning content faster and design beautiful layouts with drag & drop ease in WordPress.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The Default WordPress Visual Editor Still Meeting All Of Your Content Creation Needs?
With so many developments that the WordPress platform has gone through in recent years, many WordPress developers and users believe that the WordPress content editor is lagging behind all of the other improvements made to the software.
(The built-in WordPress WYSIWYG content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” content, but adding more complex layouts can be quite challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the layout shown below …
To create the above page elements in a page would require inserting something that looks like this into the WordPress visual content editor …
Typically, this is not an issue … unless you choose to change your layout (for example, move some of the content from box 3 into box 2, or change the button in box 2 from green to blue. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code or html.
The WordPress content 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, if you are working with complex page elements, often what you see in the WordPress visual editor may not be the same as what you are getting when the web page goes live …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some cases, some people argue that you could be better off working inside the WordPress text editor tab instead of the visual editor when trying to create non-linear layouts …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it difficult for non-technical website owners to have full control of their own content.
The fundamental issue with using HTML and shortcodes to create content with WordPress can be summarized as follows:
1) Speed – How long will it take to build a web page using the editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the editor 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 doesn’t look at all 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 taking several steps before you can begin configuring your page layout, or endlessly going back and forth between browser tabs and performing tweaks and updates to see how your content is coming along, which then affects how quickly you can create your content, as you wait for your page to load.
Many WordPress developers have tried to come up with various solutions with the goal of making the visual editor more intuitive. Some of these solutions range from WP plugins you can add to your site that add new functionality to the editor, to themes that offer built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make content creation easier!)
Some solutions require so many page-building features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end editors …
Many of these alternative solutions work fine, but they fail to address the fundamental challenge 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 web content to look ”perfect” quickly, this can start to become very frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like to build and edit your content?
Now, imagine this …
- You look at your content and if you spot something that needs to be changed, simply click on the content and start writing. Your content is then instantly fixed.
- You can drag and drop elements around the page, and the page looks exactly as it will appear on the front end without having to mentally abstract from shortcodes or HTML.
- You have an idea for a specific item of content that you’d like to create, so you just begin typing, and you build your web page as you go, without delays, no switching of tab browsers, and without waiting for new web content to resave and reload.
Would that not be the perfect way to create content for your WordPress website? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex 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 Simplest Way To Build Stunning Content In WordPress Sites
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a revolutionary WordPress plugin that gives you complete control over every aspect of your web page design with a click-to-edit and drag and drop content editor.
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 an item menu that lets you click, then drag and drop design elements to your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new content editor to WordPress)
The plugin is actually a combination of the Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages plugins combined into one, plus an additional plugin feature called Thrive Lightbox.
We’ll take a look at all of the above and how all of this functionality works seamlessly together to help you easily transform and improve your website and create awesome sales pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder For WordPress
This plugin lets you easily add complex design layouts to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Every aspect of your page can be built by dragging and dropping things around the page and then clicking to edit them …
Once elements have been added to your page, you can then continue to edit these without going through multiple steps or switching screens …
You can also create highly attractive landing pages that can also be easily edited …
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 and working on content with Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages installed is so effortlessly easy, that the developers guarantee that once you start using it, it will ruin the experience of using all other content editors forever, and you will never look back!
To learn more about this plugin go here: 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 for WordPress that we have previously written about on this site.
For more information about this plugin, see this post:
Plugin Benefits
Below 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 Easy To Install And Implement. Ready To Use In No Time.
Thrive Content Builder installs like every other WP plugin. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your administrator section and activate.
Create And Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is is not only very simple to use, it also lets you create content in real-time.
What You See Is Truly What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “back end” as you work within the content editor – typefaces, elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what you get in the front end of your site.
Additional benefits of the plugin include the following:
- Stunning Web Page Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with drag and drop ease.
- Add Design Elements Without Using Short Codes: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get a drag and drop content builder, but the plugin also includes a collection of professional web design elements that you can customizable and add to your content layouts without using shortcodes, for e.g.: content toggle, star ratings for review pages, dividers, responsive Google map embeds, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff for the updates to reload 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.
(Add, edit and customize page elements like testimonials, flat design elements, styled lists, section dividers, custom HTML and CSS, etc.)
Thrive Content Builder Features
Thrive Content Builder provides website owners a number of unique features. Here are just some of those:
- Built-In WordPress Content Functionality Is Still Available: You have access to all of the regular content editing options that you are used to (e.g. underline, centering text, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” list of elements to your post or page screen when creating and editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin provides you with 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, testimonial boxes, and guarantees. In addition to being customizable, various elements also offer multiple design options.
- Mobile-Friendly Design: Add mobile-friendly columns, boxes, section dividers, e.g. which will resize and display great on different device screens.
- Add Animation To Your Pages: Thrive Content Builder’s Event Manager feature lets you add animated page content, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – 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 from signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages lets you easily add conversion-optimized pages to your site)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money creating beautiful web pages
- 100% conversion-optimized web page templates
- No coding skills needed
- Works with any WordPress theme
Thrive Content and Page Builder not only can be used to create beautiful-looking content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of beautifully designed, conversion optimized landing 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 thirty templates available, with more templates being worked on. In addition to the existing templates, the developers plan to release new templates for email lead generation, sales pages, training pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Completely Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template Sets
Normally, in order to have fully customizable landing page templates, you would need to either pay a web 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 creating conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you great-looking pre-built web page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that lets you change and edit any element of the page templates …
The landing page templates included with this plugin let you do the following:
- Edit text in all bullet points, headlines, buttons, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other element of your landing page
- Change the background image and background color
- Edit the color of links, text, buttons, etc.
- Select your own fonts
- Use your own images and graphics
- Change content area size
- Change the order of elements on the page
- Translate pages into a different language
- Add custom content anywhere in 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)
Transform Your WordPress Website Into A Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox
The Thrive plugin package also includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully configurable 2-step opt-in forms and animated elements to your pages …
(Add opt-in forms and animated objects to your WordPress pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Thrive Lighbox 2-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process can increase your conversion rates. Visitors click on a button or image, and then they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Visitors click on a button and are presented with an opt-in form)
Thrive Lightbox Event Manager
An “event” consists of a trigger and an action. You can make opt-in forms appear when your visitor clicks or hovers 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 web pages, using a range of 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 web pages with Thrive Lightbox)
A lightbox and event is created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over events, triggers and design.
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials and comments that users have published about 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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”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”
Thrive Content Builder Plugin – 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 that was not created with the plugin installed.
You can add WordPress short codes inside Thrive Content Builder or Thrive Landing Pages and they will be displayed correctly when published.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content built with Thrive Content Builder.
Support
Thrive Content and Page Builder 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 software is well-supported, and users get lifetime updates, plus 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, thirty day, full refund 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 License – This license option enables you to activate the plugin on 1 web site only. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License Edition – This license option enables you to set up the plugin on unlimited web sites that you own. Cost includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $87.00.
- Agency Licensing – This edition allows you to use the plugin on all of your own sites and all client sites. Includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $247.00 per year.
Note: The cost to purchase Thrive Content Builder depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the product is being retailed for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the software seller when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing information:
Additional Plugin Information
The Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin developers 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 the time-saving benefits of ready-made web page elements and template sets that help speed up page design and content creation, and on the other hand, you have 100% control over the design process and the ability to edit anything and everything on your web page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, that lets you see how the content you are working on will display after being published.
For ”how-to” videos of the plugin, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive website.
Get This Plugin …
If you want to edit something, simply click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, 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 extra steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your site and create awesome sales pages and engaging content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For more details, check out the plugin here:
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