WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool into a tool that is now being used to create all kinds of web sites.
Whatever you can imagine, someone is probably already building it using WordPress!
In this article you will discover the simplest, most intuitive visual content editor for WordPress.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Does The Default WordPress Content Editor Still Meet All Of Your Web Design Needs?
Using the default WordPress WYSIWYG content editor to create or edit sophisticated website pages can sometimes be quite challenging.
(The WordPress content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” text and media, but adding complex content elements can be challenging!)
For example, if you look at the image below …
To create the above in a page would require adding something that looks like this inside your default WordPress visual editor …
Generally, this is not really an issue … unless you have to edit an element of your layout (for example, move part of the content from box 3 into box 2, or change the background colour inside box 3 from dark green to a different color. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code.
The WordPress content editor is supposed to provide users with an easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to add more complex page elements, what you see may not be the same as what you are getting when the page goes live …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some situations, some people argue that users may even be better off working directly with the html source itself instead of the visual editor when trying to create fancy page elements …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it hard for WordPress site owners with no coding skills to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental issue of using shortcodes and HTML to create content in the default WordPress WYSIWYG editor can be summarized as follows:
1) Speed – How long will it take to build a web page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the ”back end” match the content in the “front end” when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above screenshot, what you see in the back end looks nothing like what you see in the front end. This means that you need to abstract what your content will look like when working with complex layouts. Other solutions require several steps before you can start configuring your page layout, or endlessly going back and forth between browser tabs and performing updates to see how your content is progressing, which interrupts the creative process, as you wait for your new content to refresh.
A number of WordPress developers have come up with different solutions to make content editing easier. Some of these range from standalone plugins you can add to your site that add new functionality to the editor, to 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 require so many page design features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end editors …
Many of these alternative editors work fine, but they don’t really seem to address the fundamental issue of using HTML and shortcodes as described earlier. 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 your content to look ”perfect” quickly, this can become quite frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like to build and edit your web content?
Now that you’ve asked this question, imagine the following …
- You look at your content and if you see something that needs to be fixed, just click on the content and start changing it. Your content has been instantly changed.
- You can 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 shortcodes or HTML.
- You have an idea for an item of content you’d like to add, so you just start typing, and you build your page on the fly, with no delays, with no switching of tab browsers, and without having to wait for new web content to refresh and reload.
Would that not be the ideal way to build content for your WordPress web site? A true visual content editor where all you have to do is click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around the pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex web pages in real-time 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 And Landing Pages – Click-To-Edit Drag And Drop Content Creator And Editor For WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive WordPress click-to-edit drag and drop content building plugin.
Thrive Content Builder provides you with a new and incredibly easy way to set up conversion-focused pages on your WordPress website.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor with a sidebar menu that lets you select, then drag and drop elements to your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new content editing option to WordPress)
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 an in-depth a look at each of the above plugins and how all of this functionality works seamlessly together to help you transform and improve your business online and create awesome marketing pages and content.
Thrive Content Builder For WordPress
With Thrive Content Builder easily add content to your web pages and build complex page layouts using drag and drop elements …
Every aspect of your page can be designed with ”click-to-edit” and “drag and drop” ease …
Once elements have been added to a page, you can then further customize or edit them without having to go through additional steps or complicated configuration windows …
You can also build beautiful landing pages that can just as easily be edited or customized …
Thrive Content and Page Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing web pages with the Thrive Content and Landing Page Builder plugin installed is so amazingly simple, that the developers warn that you will never look at the process of creating content the same way once you start using it
Go here to learn more about the plugin: 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 we’ve previously written about on this site.
To learn more about the plugin, see this post:
Benefits Of Using Thrive Content And Landing Page Builder Plugin
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Easy And Fast To Install
Thrive Content Builder is quite easy to install. Just upload it to your Plugins folder via your WP admin area and activate.
Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is is not only very simple to use, it also lets you build and add content to your web pages in real-time.
A Truly Visual Content Editor
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the editor – fonts, visual elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what you get in the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits and advantages include:
- Design Beautiful Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any layout you can imagine with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality.
- Add Design Elements Without Using Shortcodes: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get an exciting and simple-to-use drag and drop WordPress content builder, but the plugin also includes a collection of customizable web design elements that you can customizable and add to your pages without using shortcodes, such as tabbed content, styled lists, buttons, responsive maps, etc.
- Distraction-Free Content Creation: Not having to deal with technical stuff, or wait for the content to load frees up your attention and allows you to build the content your business needs, quickly and without having to deal with code or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you want done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily insert, edit and customize web page elements like testimonials, flat design elements, styled lists, buttons, responsive Google map embeds, etc.)
Plugin Features
Thrive Content Builder provides WordPress users a number of unique features. Here are just a few of these:
- Regular Content Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have all of the regular WordPress content editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold, paragraph formatting, font sizes, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements Menu: The plugin makes a “drag and drop” table of multi-style elements available on your post or page screen when creating and editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin includes 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 guarantees. In addition to being customizable, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Responsive Design: Add mobile-friendly elements like column layouts, boxes, dividers, e.g. which will display great on different screens.
- Add Animation Events To Your Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you add animations, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Sets
Landing page template sets are web 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 add conversion-optimized pages to your site)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money building beautiful landing pages
- 100% conversion-optimized web pages
- No web coding skills needed
- Works with any theme
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 professionally designed, page templates that are conversion-optimized 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 being worked on. In addition to the templates that are currently available, expect to see new templates in the future for email lead generation, sales pages, lesson pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Completely Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template
Normally, to be able to fully customize a landing page template, you would need to either hire a web developer to do the work, or learn how to code web pages 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 building conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you great-looking pre-designed page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that lets you change or edit any element of your page …
The landing page template sets included with this plugin let you do the following:
- Modify text in all buttons, bullet points, headlines, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other element of your landing page
- Replace any background images or background colour
- Edit the color of buttons, links, text, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Select your own images
- Modify the size of the content area
- Rearrange the order of web page elements
- Translate everything on the page into different languages
- Add custom content anywhere in your pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own pages from scratch and save them as new web page templates.
(Change or customize any element of your page templates)
Thrive Lightbox Plugin – Transform Your Web Site Into A Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin package includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully editable two-step opt-in forms and animated elements to your pages …
(Add opt-in forms and animation to your web pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Thrive Lighbox 2-Step Opt-in Forms
A 2-step opt-in process can increase your conversion rates. When visitors click on an image or button they are presented with your opt-in form …
(When visitors click on the button, they 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 when visitors click or hover their mouse 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 images on your pages, using various animation effects (e.g. zoom out, slide in from right to left, roll out, 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 your events, triggers and design.
Feedback From Users
Here are a few of the testimonials plugin 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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”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”
Useful Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any WordPress theme, not just with the Thrive Landing Pages plugin. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on pages or posts that were not created with the plugin installed.
You can add WordPress shortcodes 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.
Thrive Content Builder Support
Thrive Content 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 plugins are very well-supported, and users get lifetime updates, and one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 30 day, full money-back guarantee.
This is an exciting product for WordPress users that just keeps getting better.
Software Cost
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 license option enables you to activate the plugin on one website only. It includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This edition enables you to set up the plugin on all sites that you own. Price includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency Licensing – This enables you to run the plugin on all of your own domains and any client domains. Cost includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Please Note: The cost to purchase Thrive Content Builder depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the price when this content was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the product developer when you visit the plugin site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing information:
Additional Info
The Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages 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 time-saving features like ready-made page elements and template sets that help speed up the page design and content creation process, and on the other hand, you have complete control over your design process and the ability to change everything on your web page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, which lets you get things done without having to open multiple dialog boxes.
For a demo video of the plugin in action, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive Content Builder website.
Our Recommendation …
If you want to edit something, you 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 extra steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your web site and create amazing sales pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content, Thrive Content and Page Builder delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here:
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