WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application into a tool that can be used to create all types of websites.
Whatever you can imagine, someone is bound to be already building it using WordPress!
This article will help you discover the simplest, most intuitive visual content editor for WordPress.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The WordPress Content Editor Still Meeting All Of Your Page Design Needs?
With all the rapid developments that WordPress has undergone in recent years, many WordPress users and developers believe that using the built-in WordPress WYSIWYG editor to build or edit more complex content elements can sometimes be difficult.
(The default WordPress editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” content, but adding complex content elements can be quite challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the layout shown below …
To create the above boxes with text and buttons in a page would require typing something like this inside your WordPress editor …
Generally, this is not really an issue … unless you need to edit an element in your layout (for example, move some of the content from box 1 into box 2, or replace the background colour in a box from bright red to light green. 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 editor, but as you can see, if you are creating with complex layouts, often what you see is not exactly what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some situations, users would probably be better off working directly with the html source itself instead of the visual editor when trying to build something other than simple page elements …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it hard for users with no knowledge of HTML or CSS to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental challenge of having to use shortcodes and HTML to create content with WordPress can be summarized by asking 2 questions:
1) Speed – How long will it take to create a page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the editor match the content in the “front end” when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above, what you see in the editor looks nothing like what you see in the front end. This means that you have to translate mentally what the content will look like when working with sophisticated layouts. Other solutions require taking 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 interrupts the creative process, as you wait for your updates to refresh.
A number of WordPress developers have 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 themes that offer built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make creating complex layouts easier!)
Some solutions end up requiring so many page design features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end editors …
Many of these editors work, but they don’t really address the fundamental problem with using HTML and shortcodes as described earlier. Creating, adding and editing 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 to create or edit complex page layouts quickly, this can start to become really frustrating after a while.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your web content editor to function?
Now that you’ve asked this question, visualize this …
- You look at your content and if you see something that needs to be changed, just click on the content and start typing. Your content has been instantly changed.
- You simply drag and drop items around the page, and the page looks exactly as it will appear on the front end without having to mentally visualize any HTML or shortcodes.
- You have an idea for some content that you’d like to add, so you immediately start typing, and your web page gets built as you go, without delays, with no switching tabs, and without having to wait for new web content to republish and reload.
Would this 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 web pages ”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 – Click-To-Edit Drag & Drop Content Building Plugin For WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive WordPress click-to-edit drag and drop content builder.
Thrive Content Builder is a new and exciting way to speed up the process of creating content on.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor and a menu that lets you drag and drop design elements on your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual content builder to WordPress)
The Thrive Landing Pages And Content Builder 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.
Let’s take an in-depth a look at each of the above and how all of this powerful functionality works together to help you easily transform and improve your web presence and create amazing marketing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder – WordPress Click-To-Edit Drag And Drop Content Editing Plugin
Thrive Content Builder lets you easily build complex web page design layouts using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your web page can be built and changed with “drag and drop” and “click-to-edit” ease …
Once you have positioned elements on your page, you can then edit or customize them without going through additional steps or complicated configuration screens …
You can also build stunning landing pages that can also be easily customized …
Thrive 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 easy, that the developers warn that once you start using it, it’ll ruin the experience of using all other content editors forever, and you’ll never look back!
To learn more about the plugin go here: Thrive Content Builder
Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages were created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another great plugin for WordPress that we have written about on this site.
Go here to read more about this plugin:
Benefits Of Using Thrive Content And Page Builder Plugin
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up the process of designing pages and creating content for your WordPress website:
Quick Installation
Thrive Content Builder installs like any WP plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Edit And Add Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is is not only very simple and intuitive to use, it also lets you create and add content right inside your web pages in real-time.
What You See Is Exactly What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “backend” as you work within the content editor – typefaces, elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what you get in the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits and advantages include:
- Add Eye-Catching Web Page Layouts With Drag And Drop Ease: Create any type of layout you can imagine with drag-and-drop ease.
- Add Customizable Elements With No Shortcodes Required: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get an amazing click-to-edit WordPress content editor, but the plugin also includes a collection of customizable web design elements that you can customizable and insert into your layouts without using short codes, for e.g.: content toggle, borderless content, dividers, custom HTML and CSS, etc.
- Distraction-Free Content Creation: Not having to wait for your new content to reload frees up your attention and allows you to be more focused while you work or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you need done.
(Create, edit and customize page elements like testimonials, tabbed content, borderless content, dividers, responsive video embeds, etc.)
Features
Thrive Content Builder provides a number of features to WP users. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- Built-In WordPress Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have access to all of the regular text editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold, centering text, headings and font sizes, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements Menu: The plugin makes a “drag and drop” list of multi-style elements available on your post or page screen when creating or editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin provides you 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, testimonials, and guarantee forms. In addition to customization options, various elements also offer multiple design options.
- Responsive Page Design: Add responsive elements like column layouts, boxes, section dividers, e.g. which will display great on all different kinds of devices.
- Add Animation To Your Web Pages: Thrive Content Builder’s Event Manager feature lets you create animations, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web 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 gives you conversion-optimized web page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money building beautiful landing pages
- 100% conversion-optimized page templates
- No tech skills required
- Works with all themes
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder not only lets you create beautiful content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of professionally designed, conversion optimized web page templates and fully customizable …
(Landing page sets that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are 30+ templates available, with more templates scheduled for future release. In addition to the templates that are currently available, the developers plan to release new page templates for email lead generation, sales pages, training pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Customize Your Landing Page Template
Typically, to be able to have a completely customizable landing page template, you would need to either hire a web developer 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 pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that lets you change and customize any element of your page …
With the landing page templates included with this plugin, you can do the following:
- Change text in all bullet points, buttons, headlines, etc.
- Delete text, images or any other component of your landing page
- Change all background images or background color
- Edit the color of links, text, buttons, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Use your own images
- Edit content area size
- Rearrange the order of web page elements
- Translate everything on the page into different languages
- Add custom content anywhere 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 or edit any aspect of your page)
Thrive Lightbox Plugin – Transform Your Website Into A Powerful Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin combo also includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully editable 2-step opt-in forms and animated elements to your content pages …
(Add opt-in forms and animation to your WordPress website with Thrive Lightbox)
2-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process can increase your conversion rates. When visitors click on a button or image 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 an opt-in form appear when your visitor clicks or hovers 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 attention-getting elements on your page, using a range of animation effects (e.g. zoom out, slide in from left to right, roll in, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your WordPress pages with Thrive Lightbox)
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 just some testimonials users have written 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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“I’m blown away by the plugin. Keep up the incredible, WordPress changing work, guys! Dean Phillips”
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 using the plugin.
You can add WordPress short codes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will display correctly on on your site.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build with Thrive Content Builder.
Thrive Content Builder Support
Thrive Content and Page Builder comes with free updates, new landing pages and upcoming features. The plugin developers are constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive plugins are well-supported, and users get unlimited software updates, plus one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, thirty day, complete money-back guarantee.
This is an exciting product that just keeps getting better.
Plugin 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 use the plugin on one web site only. Price includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License Edition – This license option enables you to activate the plugin on all of your personal domains. Price includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Price = $87.00.
- Agency License – Use on all your sites & on all your client sites. Pricing includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Note: Pricing details of the Thrive Content Builder product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current price when this article was published. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the software seller when you visit the website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing:
Additional Plugin Information
The developers of the Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder 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 the time-saving benefits of ready-made web page elements and conversion-optimized templates that help speed up page design and content creation, and on the other hand, you also have 100% control over the design process and the ability to change everything on your web page, using the plugin’s click-to-edit and drag and drop features, which lets you work unhindered by overly complicated steps.
For a demo video showing how the software works, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer 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, you can see the change happen immediately. If you want to move something, simply drag it and drop it into its new position. There are no unnecessary steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your website and create amazing marketing pages and engaging content, Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For full details, visit the plugin website here:
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