WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application to a tool being used to design all types of pages – direct sales pages, product showcase pages, business pages, etc.
Whatever you can think of, somewhere around the world someone is probably already building it using WordPress!
This article will help you learn how to create stunning content and design beautiful layouts with drag & drop ease in WordPress sites.
Drag And Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The Default WordPress Editor Meeting All Of Your Content Creation Needs?
Using the WordPress editor to create or edit complex page layouts can sometimes be quite challenging for non-technical web site owners.
(The default WordPress visual content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” text and images, but adding more complex page elements can be quite challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the content shown below …
To create the above layout, users would normally have to insert short codes into the content for each of the page elements they want to display to visitors …
Generally, this is not an issue … until you decide to edit an element of your layout (for example, move part of the content from box 3 into box 2, or replace the button inside a box from green to yellow. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code.
The WordPress visual editor is supposed to give users an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to edit complex content elements, often what you see in the WordPress visual content editor may not be what you are going to get when your web page goes live …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some situations, users could be better off working inside the html (text) editor tab instead of the visual editor when trying to add something other than simple page elements …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it hard for WordPress site owners without coding skills to have full control of their own content.
The fundamental problem with having to use shortcodes and HTML to create content in the default WordPress editor can be summarized by asking two 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 resemble the “front end” content when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above screenshot, what you see in the back end doesn’t look at all like what you see in the front end. This means that you need to mentally translate what your content will look like when working with complex layouts. Other solutions require taking a number of steps before you can start configuring your page layout, or endlessly going back and forth between browser tabs and performing tweaks and updates to see how your content is progressing, which interrupts the creative process, as you wait for the updates to refresh.
Many WordPress developers have tried to come up with different solutions with the objective of addressing this issue. These solutions range from plugins you can add to your site that add new functionality to the editor, to WP themes that include built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make content creation easier!)
Some solutions combine so many complex page design features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these solutions work fine, but they don’t 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 to create or edit complex layouts quickly, this can become quite frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like to build and edit your pages?
Now that you’ve asked this question, imagine the following scenario …
- You see something in the content that needs changing so you, simply click on the content and start typing. Your content is then instantly changed.
- You can just drag and drop items on the page, and see them exactly as they will display on the front end without having to mentally visualize any shortcodes or HTML.
- You have an idea for an item of content that you’d like to add, so you just begin typing, and your web page gets built on the fly, with no delays, no switching of tab browsers, and without having to wait for new web content to resave and reload.
Would that not be the perfect way to build content for your WordPress site? A true WYSIWYG content builder where all you have to do is click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around the pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex 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 And Landing Pages – Click-To-Edit Drag & Drop Content Editing Plugin For WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a revolutionary WordPress plugin that allows you to quickly add amazing content to WordPress posts and pages with true click-to-edit and drag and drop simplicity.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin is a new and exciting way to speed up the process of adding great content to your WordPress website.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor with a sidebar menu that lets you click, then drag and drop elements on your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new content builder to your WordPress site)
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.
We’ll take a look at all of the above plugins and how all of this exciting functionality works together to help you transform and improve your business online and create amazing sales pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder – Click-To-Edit Drag And Drop Content Builder Plugin For WordPress
Thrive Content Builder lets you easily add content to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your page can be configured, changed and rearranged with “drag and drop” and “click-to-edit” ease …
Once you have placed your elements on a page, you can then edit them without going through additional steps or switching tabs …
The built-in functionality of the plugin also lets you build highly attractive landing pages that can just as easily be edited or customized …
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 and working on content with the Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin installed is so effortlessly easy, that the developers warn that you’ll never look back once you start using it
To learn more about the 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 great plugin for WordPress that we have recommended on this site.
See this article for more information about using the plugin:
Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Ready To Go To Work In Minutes
Thrive Content Builder is quite easy to install. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is is not only simple to use, it also lets you build content in real-time.
A Truly Visual Editor
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “back end” as you work within the content editor – typefaces, visual elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what you get in the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits of the plugin include:
- Eye-Catching 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 an amazing drag and drop WordPress content builder, but the plugin also includes a jaw-dropping collection of professional web design elements that you can add to your pages without using short codes, such as pricing tables, table of contents builder, call to action buttons, custom HTML and CSS, etc.
- Distraction-Free Content Creation: 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 mess with code or click through multiple steps to get what you want done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily create, edit and customize page elements like testimonial boxes, columns, text boxes, call to action buttons, responsive video embeds, etc.)
Plugin Features
Thrive Content Builder provides many powerful features to WP users. Here are just some of these:
- Built-In WordPress Content Functionality Is Still Available: You have access to all of the regular WordPress text editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold, paragraph formatting, font sizes, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Multi-Style Elements Menu: The plugin makes a “drag and drop” list of multi-style elements available on your post or page screen when creating and editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with various attention-grabbing and customizable elements that will help increase the effectiveness of your sales pages, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonials, and guarantees. In addition to customization options, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Responsive Web Page Design: Add mobile-friendly columns, guarantee boxes, content dividers, e.g. which will adjust to display correctly on different device screens.
- Add Animation To Web Pages: The Event Manager feature lets you create animated page elements, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Template Sets
Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language to take your visitors all the way from initial signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages lets you add conversion-optimized pages to your web site)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money creating and customizing landing pages for your web site
- 100% conversion-optimized page templates
- No tech skills required
- Works with all themes
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages not only can be used to create beautiful content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of beautifully designed, conversion optimized web page templates and fully customizable …
(Landing page template sets that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are currently 30+ templates available, with more templates scheduled for future release. In addition to the templates that are currently available, expect to see new templates in the future for email lead generation, sales pages, training pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Fully Customizable Landing Page Template
Normally, to be able to fully customize a landing page template, you would need to either hire a web designer to do the work, or learn how to code web pages 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 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 beautiful pre-built page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change or customize any aspect of your page templates …
The landing page template sets included with this plugin let you do the following:
- Edit text in all bullet points, headlines, buttons, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other component of your landing page
- Change all background images and edit colour
- Change the color of buttons, links, text, etc.
- Use your own fonts
- Use your own images
- Edit the size of the content area
- Rearrange the order of page elements
- Translate everything on the page into different languages
- Add custom content inside the pages
- Start with a blank page and create your own templates, or even build a custom landing page templates library.
(Change or edit anything on the page templates)
Thrive Lightbox – Transform Your Website Into A Marketing Machine
The Thrive package also includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully customizable 2-step opt-in forms and events to your web site …
(Add lead capture forms and events to your pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Thrive Lighbox Two-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process helps to improve your conversion rates. When visitors click on an image or button they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Opt-in forms help to improve your conversion rates.)
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 scrolls down to a certain point on the page. You can also use the Event Manager to animate attention-getting elements on your pages, using a range of effects (e.g. zoom in, slide in from top to bottom, roll out, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your WordPress site with Thrive Lightbox)
Lightboxes and events are created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over the events, triggers and design.
User Testimonials
Below are some of the testimonials that customers have written about 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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”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”
Plugin Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any theme in WordPress, not just with the Thrive Landing Pages plugin. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on existing pages or posts that were not created with the plugin.
You can add 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 and Landing Pages Plugin comes with 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 really well-supported, and users get unlimited software updates, and one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, thirty day, 100% refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product 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 Edition – This enables you to activate the plugin on 1 domain only. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This enables you to configure the plugin on unlimited websites that you personally own. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $87.00.
- Agency Licensing – This edition lets you use the plugin on all of your own web sites and all client websites. It includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $247.00 per year.
Note: Pricing for this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current price at the time this review was published. This may not be the actual pricing set by the software author 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 Information
The developers of the Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages 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 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 complete control over the design process and the ability to change everything on your page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, that allows you to get things done without having to open multiple dialog boxes.
For ”how to” videos showing how the software works, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive website.
Our Recommendation …
If you want to edit something, you just 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, you drag it and drop it into its new position. There are no additional steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your web site and create awesome marketing pages and content, Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For full details, check out the plugin here:
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