WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool to a tool being used to create all kinds of sites.
Whatever you can imagine, someone is bound to be already building it with WordPress!
This article will help you learn how to create stunning content with drag & drop ease in WordPress sites.
Drag And Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The WordPress WYSIWYG Editor Still Meeting All Of Your Content Creation And Editing Needs?
With all the many developments that the WordPress platform has gone through in recent years, many WordPress users believe that the WordPress content editor is now lagging behind all of the other developments being made to the software.
(The default WordPress WYSIWYG content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional text and media, but adding complex content elements can be quite challenging!)
For example, if you look at the screenshot below …
To create the above layout, you would normally need to add short codes to the content for each of the elements you want to display …
Typically, this is not really an issue … until you choose to change the layout (for example, move some of the content from box 1 into box 2, or replace the button inside a box from dark green to light green. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code.
The WordPress content editor is supposed to give non-technical users an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to add complex layouts, often what you see on your screen may not be what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some cases, users could be better off working directly with the html source itself instead of the WordPress visual editor when trying to create something other than simple layouts …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it difficult for non-technical website owners to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental problem 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 page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the editor resemble the “front end” content when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above image, what you see in the back end looks nothing 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 begin configuring your page layout, or endlessly switching tabs and performing updates to see how your content is coming along, which then impacts how quickly you can create your content, as you wait for the updates to reload.
Many WordPress web developers have tried to come up with various solutions to address this issue. These solutions range from plugins you can install on your site that add new functionality to the editor, to WordPress themes that provide built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make content creation easier!)
Some solutions end up including so many complex page-building features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these editors work fine, but they fail to address the fundamental problem with using HTML and shortcodes as described earlier. Creating and adding 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 your page content to look “just right” quickly, this can become really frustrating after a while.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your page editor to function?
Now that you’ve asked this question, visualize this …
- You look at your content and if you spot something that needs correction, just click on the content and start writing. Your content has been instantly fixed.
- You can just drag and drop elements around the page, and the page looks exactly as it will display on the front end without having to mentally abstract from code.
- You have an idea for an item of content you’d like to create, so you just begin typing, and your page gets built as you go, with no delays, without switching tabs, and without waiting for web pages to refresh.
Would that not be the ideal way to create content for your web site? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around the posts and pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex web page layouts in real-time 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 – The Ultimate Click-To-Edit Front End Visual Editor For WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a unique WordPress plugin that lets anyone easily add content to their posts and pages using true click-to-edit and drag and drop simplicity.
Thrive Content Builder is a new and incredibly easy 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 editing option to your WordPress site)
Thrive Content Builder And Landing Pages 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 will cover all of the above plugins and how these exciting features work together to help you transform and improve your web site and create amazing marketing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder – Click-To-Edit Drag & Drop Content Creator For WordPress
Thrive Content Builder lets you easily add content to your web pages and build complex page layouts using drag and drop elements …
Every element on your page can be created by dragging and dropping things around the page and then clicking to edit them …
Once elements have been positioned on your page, you can then edit them without having to go through multiple steps or opening new option screens …
You can also create highly attractive landing pages and easily edit these …
Thrive Content and Landing 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 Builder and Landing Pages plugin installed is so effortlessly easy, that the developers warn that once you start using it, you’ll never look back!
To learn more about the plugin go here: 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 written about on this site.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up content creation:
Quick And Easy To Install And Configure. Be Up And Running In Very Little Time.
Thrive Content Builder is really easy to install. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugin to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Build And Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is really simple to use and lets you create, edit and add content to your pages in real-time.
What You See Is Exactly What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the editor – typefaces, visual elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see in the front end of your site.
Additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Beautiful Page Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with drag-and-drop ease.
- Design Elements Included: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get a visually exciting drag and drop WordPress content editor, but the plugin also includes a jaw-dropping collection of functional and attractive web design elements that you can add to your web pages without using shortcodes, like columns, guarantee boxes, buttons, code insert boxes, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff for pages to load frees up your attention and allows you to build the content your business needs, quickly and without having to edit code or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you need done.
(Create, edit and customize page elements like testimonial boxes, columns, table of contents builder, buttons, Google Map embeds, etc.)
Plugin Features
Thrive Content Builder provides many unique features to website owners. Here are just some of these:
- Built-In Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have all of the regular content editing options that you are used to (e.g. underlines, centering text, headings, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements Menu: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” table of multi-style elements to your post or page screen when creating or editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin includes various eye-catching and customizable elements that will help you increase your conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonial boxes, and guarantee forms. In addition to customization options, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Responsive Element Design: Add responsive columns, guarantee boxes, content dividers, e.g. which will display great on all different kinds of devices.
- Add Animation Events To Web Pages: The Event Manager feature lets you insert animations, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Landing Page Sets
Landing page 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 gives you access to conversion-optimized page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money building great-looking web pages
- 100% conversion-optimized web page templates
- No web coding skills required
- Works with any theme
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder not only lets you create beautiful-looking 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 …
(Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of templates 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 templates that are currently available, the developers plan to release new page templates for email lead generation, sales pages, course pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Fully Customizable Landing Page Template
Typically, in order to have completely customizable landing page templates, you would need to either hire a web site designer 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 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 beautiful pre-built web page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change and customize anything on your page templates …
With the landing page templates included with this plugin, you can:
- Modify text in any button, headline, bullet point, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other element of your landing page
- Replace the background image or colour
- Edit the color of text, links, buttons, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Use your own images and graphics
- Change the size of the content area
- Rearrange the order of web page elements
- Translate everything on the page into a different language
- Add custom content anywhere inside your pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own from scratch and save them as new page templates.
(Change or customize any aspect of the page)
Transform Your WordPress Site Into A Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox
The Thrive plugin combo includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully configurable 2-step opt-in forms and animated elements to your WordPress site …
(Add lead capture forms and animation to your web pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Thrive Lighbox 2-Step Opt-in Forms
A 2-step opt-in process can help 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 your visitor clicks or hovers 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 effects (e.g. zoom in from the page center, slide in from bottom to top, roll out, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your web pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Lightboxes and events are created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over all events, triggers and design.
User Feedback
Below are a couple of the testimonials that plugin customers have provided for 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”
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 on pages or posts that were not created with the plugin.
You can add WordPress short codes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will display correctly on your website.
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 plugin developers are constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive software is very well-supported, and users get unlimited updates, and 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, thirty day, full 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 option allows you to install the plugin on a single site. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License – This license allows you to set up the plugin on all domains that you own. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $87.00.
- Agency License Edition – This lets you set up the plugin on all of your own web sites and all client websites. Pricing includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $247.00 per year.
Please Note: Current pricing for Thrive Content Builder can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the software is being retailed for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the software author when you visit the plugin website 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 Info
The Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin developers 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, pre-designed templates that help to make designing your pages faster, and on the other hand, you also have 100% control over the design process and the freedom to change anything and everything on your web page, using the plugin’s click-to-edit and drag and drop features, that allows you to work unhindered by overly complicated steps.
For a demo video showing plugin usage, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the plugin website.
Install The Plugin …
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, just drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no complicated steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your site and create awesome sales pages and engaging content, Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
To learn more, visit the plugin website here:
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