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 think of, someone is bound to be already building it using WordPress!
This article will help you discover the simplest, most intuitive WYSIWYG editor for WordPress web sites.
Drag And Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Does The WordPress Visual Content Editor Meet All Of Your Content Creation Needs?
With all the many developments that WordPress has undergone in recent years, many WordPress developers feel that the WordPress content editor is now lagging behind all other improvements made to the software.
(The default WordPress editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” content, but adding more complex layouts can be quite challenging!)
For example, if you look at the image below …
Creating the above page elements in a page would require typing something like this inside your WordPress visual content editor …
Normally, this is not really an issue … unless you want to change some part of your layout (for example, move part of the content from box 3 into box 2, or replace the background colour inside box 3 from green to light blue. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code or html.
The WordPress visual editor is supposed to be an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to edit more complex page elements, often what you see in the WordPress content editor screen may not be what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some instances, some people argue that users could be better off working with the html source itself instead of the WordPress WYSIWYG editor when trying to create complex layouts …
Even though WordPress is very user-friendly, this makes it hard for non-technical website owners to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental issue about using shortcodes and HTML to create content in the default WordPress visual editor can be summarized by asking the following questions:
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, what you see in the content editor looks nothing like what you see in the front end. This means that you need to translate mentally what the content will look like when working with sophisticated layouts. Other solutions require taking multiple steps before you can begin configuring your page layout, or endlessly going back and forth between tabs and performing updates to see how your content is progressing, which can impact how fast you can create your content, as you wait for your updates to refresh.
Many WordPress web developers have tried to come up with different solutions with the goal of addressing this issue. These range from stand alone plugins you can install on your site that add new functionality to the editor, to WordPress themes that offer built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make content creation easier!)
Some solutions require so many page-building features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end editors …
Many of these alternative editors work, but they don’t address the fundamental challenge of using shortcodes and HTML as described earlier. Adding and editing non-linear content 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 web pages to look “just right” quickly, this can become very frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like to build and edit your content?
Now, visualize the following …
- You spot something in the content that needs changing so you, simply click on the content and start editing it. Your content is then instantly edited.
- You can drag and drop items around the page, and see them exactly as they will display on the front end without having to mentally translate HTML or shortcodes.
- You have an idea for a specific item of content that you’d like to create, so you just begin typing, and your web page gets built on the fly, with no delays, no switching of tab browsers, and without waiting for new content to refresh and reload.
Would that not be the ideal way to create content for your WordPress website? A true visual editor where all you have to do is click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around the posts and pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex pages in real-time for your web content without 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 Content Builder For WordPress Websites
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive WordPress click-to-edit drag and drop content builder.
Thrive Content Builder provides WordPress users with a new and incredibly easy way to speed up the process of adding great content to WordPress websites.
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 visual editor to your WordPress site)
The Thrive Content Builder plugin 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.
In this article we’ll take a look at all of the above plugins and how these exciting features work seamlessly together to help you easily transform and improve your web site and create amazing marketing pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder – Click-To-Edit Drag And Drop Content Creation Plugin For WordPress
This plugin lets you easily build complex web page design layouts using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your web page can be built with “drag and drop” and “click-to-edit” ease …
Once you have placed your elements on a page, you can then easily customize or edit them without having to go through additional steps or switching screens …
You can also create highly attractive landing pages and easily edit these …
Thrive Content Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing pages with Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages installed is so effortlessly simple, that the developers guarantee that you’ll never look at creating content the same way once you start using it
More info: Thrive Content Builder
Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages were created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another amazing plugin we’ve written about on this site.
See this article to learn more about the plugin:
Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the many benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up content creation:
Installation Is Easy, Simple And Fast
Thrive Content Builder installs like every WordPress plugin. Just upload it to your Plugins folder via your WP admin login and activate.
Real-Time Content Building & Editing
Thrive Content Builder is is not only really simple to use, it also lets you create and edit content in real-time.
A Truly Visual Content Builder
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the content editor – typefaces, visual elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what you get on the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits of using this plugin include:
- Eye-Catching Web Page Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any layout you can imagine with drag-and-drop ease.
- Design Elements Included: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get an exciting and simple-to-use click-to-edit content builder, but the plugin also includes a very decent collection of functional and eye-catching design elements that you can add to your pages without using short codes, for e.g.: flat design elements, styled lists, section dividers, credit card icons, etc.
- Distraction-Free Content Creation: Not having to deal with technical stuff for your updated content to reload frees up your attention and allows you to build the pages your business needs, quickly and without having to deal with code or click through multiple steps to get what you want done.
(Add, edit and customize page elements like testimonial boxes, columns, star ratings for review pages, page section dividers, credit card icons, etc.)
Features
Thrive Content Builder offers site owners many great features. Below we have listed just some of these features:
- Regular Content Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have access to all of the regular WordPress editing options that you are used to (e.g. underlines, paragraph centering, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Multi-Style Elements Menu: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” list of elements to your post or page screen when editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin provides you with a range of attention-grabbing 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 responsive columns, guarantee boxes, dividers, e.g. which will adjust to display correctly on different device screens.
- Add Animation Events To Pages: Thrive Content Builder’s Event Manager feature lets you create animation in buttons, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Sets
Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language to take your visitors from initial signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages provides you with conversion-optimized web page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money building gorgeous-looking landing pages
- 100% conversion-optimized page templates
- No tech 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 beautifully 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 currently over thirty templates available, with more templates being worked on. In addition to the templates shown above, 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 Sets
Normally, to be able to have a fully customizable landing page template, you would need to either pay 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 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 attractive pre-designed page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that lets you change or customize anything on your page templates …
The landing page template sets included with this plugin let you do the following:
- Edit text in any bullet point, button, headline, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other part of the landing page
- Replace the background image or background colour
- Change the color of text, buttons, links, etc.
- Use your own fonts
- Use your own images
- Edit the size of the content area
- Rearrange the order of web page elements
- Translate everything on the page into different languages
- Add any type of custom content anywhere in any of the pages
- Start with a blank page and create your own templates, or even build a library of custom landing pages.
(Change or edit any element of the page template)
Thrive Lightbox Plugin – Transform Your Site Into A Powerful Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin package includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully editable 2-step opt-in forms and events to your content pages …
(Add lead capture forms and animated objects to your marketing pages with Thrive Lightbox)
2-Step Opt-in Forms
A 2-step opt-in process can help improve your conversion rates. When visitors click on an image or button they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Capture more leads and subscribers with a 2-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 page, using a range of effects (e.g. zoom in from the page center, slide in from left to right, roll out, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your sales pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Lightboxes and events are created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over all events, triggers and design.
Testimonials
Here are just some testimonials and feedback that customers have submitted 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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”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 WordPress theme, not just with Thrive Landing Pages. Note, however, that you cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on existing pages or posts that were not created using the plugin.
You can add short codes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will be displayed correctly when published.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build with Thrive Content Builder.
Thrive Content Builder Support
Thrive Landing Pages and 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 unlimited software updates, and 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, thirty day, 100% refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product that will just keep getting better.
Plugin 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 Licensing – This allows you to use the plugin on one site only. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Price = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This lets you run the plugin on unlimited domains that you own. Price includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $87.00.
- Agency Licensing – Use on all your domains & on all your client sites. Includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Please Note: Price details for this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the product is selling for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the product seller when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing information here:
Additional Information
The Thrive Content and Landing Page Builder 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 the time-saving benefits of ready-made page elements and conversion-optimized templates that help speed up content design, and on the other hand, you have 100% control over your design process and the freedom to change everything on your page, using the plugin’s click-to-edit and drag and drop features, which allows you to get things done without having to keep switching tabs or going through multiple steps.
For demo videos of the plugin in action, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, 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, do it, and you will see the change happen immediately. If you want to move something, you drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no additional steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your web site and create amazing marketing pages and engaging content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For more information, visit the plugin website here:
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