WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application into a tool that can be used to design all types of pages – landing 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 discover the simplest, most intuitive WYSIWYG editor for WordPress sites.
Drag And Drop Content Editors For WordPress
The WordPress Editor – Is There A Better Option For Creating Amazing-Looking Content Layouts In WordPress?
With so many advancements that WordPress has undergone in recent years, many WordPress developers and users believe that using the WordPress WYSIWYG content editor to create or edit more complex web pages can sometimes be quite difficult.
(The built-in WordPress WYSIWYG content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional text and media, but adding complex layouts can be challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the layout shown below …
Creating the above in a page would require adding something like this inside your WordPress editor …
Generally, this is not an issue … unless you choose to change the layout (for example, move part of the content from box 1 into box 2, or replace the button inside a box from bright red to purple. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code inside the editor.
The WordPress editor is supposed to provide non-technical users with an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to create more complex layouts, often what you see on your editor screen is not really what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some instances, users may even be better off working directly inside the html editor tab instead of the WYSIWYG editor when trying to build complex layouts …
Even though WordPress is the most user-friendly CMS platform available, this makes it hard for WordPress site owners without coding skills to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental challenge of having to use shortcodes and HTML to create content in the default WordPress WYSIWYG editor can be summarized as follows:
1) Speed – How long does 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 when working in the editor does not look anything like what you see in the front end. This means that users need to translate mentally what the content will look like when working with complex layouts. Other solutions require multiple steps before you can start configuring your page layout, or endlessly switching tabs and performing tweaks and updates to see how your content is coming along, which interrupts the creative process, as you wait for the page to refresh.
A number of WordPress web developers have come up with various solutions with the objective 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 provide built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make content creation easier!)
Some solutions include so many complex page-building features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these alternative solutions work fine, but they don’t really address the fundamental issue of using shortcodes and HTML 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 start to become quite frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your page builder to work?
Now, imagine this …
- You spot something in the content that needs changing so you, simply click on the content and start typing. Your content has been instantly fixed.
- You can just drag and drop items around the page, and see them exactly as they will appear on the front end without having to mentally visualize any shortcodes or HTML.
- You have an idea for an item of content you would like to create, so you just begin typing, and your page gets built on the fly, without delays, without tab switching, and without waiting for web pages to refresh.
Would that not be the ideal way to build content for your website? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex pages quickly for your web content without 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 Landing Pages And Content Builder
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a unique WordPress plugin that gives you complete control over every aspect of your web page design using true click-to-edit and drag and drop simplicity.
Thrive Content Builder is a new and exciting way to set up conversion-focused pages on any WordPress website.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor and an item menu that lets you drag and drop design elements to your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new content builder to your WordPress site)
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 an in-depth look at each of the above and how these powerful features work seamlessly together to help you transform and improve your web site and create amazing marketing pages and content.
Thrive Content Builder
You can easily build complex web page design layouts using drag and drop elements …
Every aspect of your web page can be built by ”clicking-to-edit” and “dragging and dropping” things around the page …
Once elements have been added to a page, you can then further edit them without going through multiple steps or switching screens …
You can also work inside highly attractive landing pages that can also be easily edited …
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing pages and working on content with the plugin installed is so effortlessly simple, that the developers warn that once you start using it, it’ll ruin the experience of using all other content editors forever, and you will never look back!
More info: Thrive Content Builder
The integrated Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin was created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another terrific plugin that we have recommended on this site.
To learn more about the plugin, go here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up the process of designing pages and creating content for your web site:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
Thrive Content Builder is quite easy to install. Just upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP admin login and activate.
Create And Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is really simple to use and lets you create, edit and add content right inside your pages in real-time.
A Truly Visual Content Builder
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “back end” 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 of the plugin include:
- Stunning Layouts With Drag And Drop Ease: Create any type of layout you can imagine with drag and drop ease.
- Add Design Elements Without Using Shortcodes: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get an exciting and simple-to-use drag and drop content builder, but the plugin also includes a very decent collection of functional and attractive design elements that you can customizable and use on your layouts without using short codes, like tabbed content, borderless content, buttons, Google Map embeds, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff, or wait for the content to reload frees up your attention and allows you to build the pages your business needs, quickly and without having to edit code or click through multiple steps to get what you want done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily add, edit and customize web page elements like testimonials, columns, feature grids, call to action buttons, credit card icons, etc.)
Features
Thrive Content Builder provides many features to WordPress users. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- Regular Content Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have access to all of the built-in text editing options that you are used to (e.g. underline, paragraph centering, headings and font sizes, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements Menu: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” list of elements to your post or page screen for creating and editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin provides you with various eye-catching and customizable elements that will help 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 Element Design: Add responsive elements like columns, guarantee boxes, dividers, e.g. which will display correctly on different-sized screens.
- Add Animation Events To Web Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you add animation in images, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Landing Page Sets
Landing page sets are 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 gives you access to conversion-optimized page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money building and customizing web pages
- 100% conversion-optimized web page templates
- No technical skills needed
- Works with all themes
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages not only lets you create beautiful content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of beautifully designed, conversion optimized page templates and fully customizable …
(Landing page sets that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are currently over thirty templates available, with more templates scheduled for future release. In addition to the existing templates, the developers plan to release new web page templates for email lead generation, sales pages, training pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Customize Your Landing Page Template Sets
Typically, to be able to have a fully customizable landing page template, you would need to either pay a web site developer to do the work, or learn web coding languages like HTML and CSS and figure out how to edit the page code 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 creating conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you beautiful pre-built web pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that lets you change or edit anything on your page templates …
With the landing page template sets included with this plugin, you can:
- Edit text in all headlines, bullet points, buttons, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other element of your landing page
- Change all background images and edit color
- Edit the color of text, links, buttons, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Use your own images
- Modify content area size
- Change the order of web page elements
- Translate pages into different languages
- Add custom content anywhere in any of the pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own landing pages from scratch and save them as new page templates.
(Change and customize anything on the page template)
Transform Your Web Site Into A Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox Plugin
The Thrive plugin combo also includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully configurable two-step opt-in forms and events to your website …
(Add opt-in forms and animated objects to your WordPress web site with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Thrive Lighbox Two-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process can increase your conversion rates. Visitors click on an image or button, and then 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 opt-in forms appear when when visitors click or hover their mouse over a button or an image, or when someone scrolls down to a certain point on the page. You can also use the Event Manager to animate images on your web pages, using various animation effects (e.g. zoom out, slide in from left to right, rotate, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your WordPress web site with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
A lightbox and event is created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over the events, triggers and design.
User Testimonials
Below are just some testimonials plugin users have submitted regarding Thrive Content Builder:
”Wow! This is just getting better & better. This plugin is making my websites look so professional. Keep up the great work and thank you for the new features. Ladonna Ragalin”
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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. Note, however, that you cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content that was not created with the plugin.
You can add WordPress shortcodes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will display correctly when published.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build using Thrive Content Builder.
Thrive Content Builder Support
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder Plugin comes with free updates, new landing templates and upcoming features. The plugin developers are constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive software is very well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades, plus 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 30 day, complete money-back guarantee.
This is an exciting product for WordPress users that just keeps getting better.
Software 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 lets you set up the plugin on one site only. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License – This license option allows you to install the plugin on all of your personal sites. Cost includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency Licensing – Use on all your domains and on client web sites. Price includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $247.00 per year.
Note: Pricing details of Thrive Content Builder depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The pricing shown above was current when this article was written. This may not be the actual price charged by the product author when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Information
The developers of the Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin emphatically 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 the time-saving benefits of ready-made page elements and conversion-optimized templates that help to make designing your content faster, and on the other hand, you have complete control over your design process and the ability to edit 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 plugin usage, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive Content Builder website.
We Highly Recommend This …
If you want to edit something, you click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, do it, and you can see the change happen immediately. If you want to move something, all you need to do is simply drag it and drop it into its new position. There are no unnecessary steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your business online and create awesome sales pages and content, Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
To learn more, check out the plugin here:
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