WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool into a tool that can be used to create all kinds of websites.
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 web sites.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The Default WordPress Visual Content Editor Still Meeting All Of Your Content Creation And Editing Needs?
With so many developments that WordPress has undergone in recent years, many WordPress users and developers feel that using the default WordPress content editor to build or edit more complex content elements can sometimes be difficult.
(The built-in WordPress visual content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional content, but adding more complex content elements can be challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the content shown below …
To create the above boxes with text and buttons, users would normally have to add shortcodes to the content for each page element they would like to create …
Typically, this is not really an issue … unless you want to change your layout (for example, move some of the content from box 1 into box 2, or change the button in a box from dark green to light blue. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code.
The WordPress content 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 edit complex page elements, what you see in the visual editor may not be what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some cases, users would probably be better off working inside the html (text) editor tab instead of the WYSIWYG editor when trying to create fancy layouts …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it difficult for users without coding skills to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental problem of having to use HTML and shortcodes to create content with WordPress can be summarized as follows:
1) Speed – How long does it take to create a web page using the editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the ”back end” match the “front end” content when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above, what you see in the editor does not look even remotely similar to what you see in the front end. This means that you need to abstract what your content will look like when working with sophisticated layouts. Other solutions require taking several steps before you can start configuring your page layout, or endlessly switching tabs and performing tweaks and updates to see how your content is progressing, which then affects how quickly you can create your content, as you wait for your content to reload.
A number of WordPress developers have tried to come up with various solutions aiming to make the visual editor easier. Some of these alternative solutions range from WP plugins you can add to 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 end up including so many complex page design features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these solutions work fine, but they still fail to address the fundamental problem with using shortcodes and HTML as described earlier. Creating, 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 to create or edit complex page layouts quickly, this can become very 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, visualize the following scenario …
- You look at your content and if you spot something that needs to be fixed, just click on the content and start editing it. Your content is instantly edited.
- You can just drag and drop items around the page, and the page looks exactly as it will display on the front end without having to mentally translate any code.
- You have an idea for a specific item of content you’d like to add, so you simply begin typing, and you build your page on the fly, without delays, with no switching of tab browsers, and no waiting for new pages to refresh and reload.
Would that not be the perfect way to create content for your WordPress site? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around the posts and pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex web pages quickly 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 And Landing Page Builder – Click-To-Edit Drag & Drop Content Builder Plugin For WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive WordPress click-to-edit drag-and-drop content editor.
Thrive Content Builder is a new and exciting way to speed up the process of creating content on your WordPress website.
Once installed, the plugin adds a visual content editor and an item menu that lets you click, then drag and drop design elements on your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new content editor 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.
In this article we’ll take a look at all of the above and how these exciting features work together to help you easily transform and improve your web site and create amazing sales pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder – WordPress Click-To-Edit Drag & Drop Content Creator
You can easily add complex design layouts to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your page can be built with “drag and drop” and “click-to-edit” ease …
Once elements have been added to a page, you can then continue to edit them without going through additional steps or switching tabs …
You can also build highly attractive landing pages that can also be easily customized …
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, working on content with Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder installed is so effortlessly easy, that the developers warn that you will never look back once you start using it
For more details, visit the plugin site here: Thrive Content Builder
Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages were created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another amazing plugin for WordPress that we have written about on this site.
Go here to read about this plugin:
Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up content creation:
Fast And Easy To Install And Set Up. Ready To Start Using In Minutes.
Thrive Content Builder installs like every WP plugin. Just upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your admin area and activate.
Create & Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is simple and intuitive to use and lets you create and add content to your web pages in real-time.
A Truly Visual Content Builder
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the 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 Page Layouts With Drag And Drop Ease: Create any type of layout you can imagine with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality.
- Customizable Elements Included: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get an exciting and simple-to-use click-to-edit content builder, but the plugin also includes a jaw-dropping collection of web design elements that you can customizable and add to your layouts without using shortcodes, like tabbed content, content reveal feature, testimonials, responsive Google map embeds, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff, or having to wait for pages to load frees up your attention and allows you to be more focused while you build content or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you want done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily add, edit and customize web page elements like testimonials, tabbed content, feature grids, dividers, HTML code insert boxes, etc.)
Plugin Features
Thrive Content Builder offers many great features to WordPress users. Below we have listed just some of those features:
- All WordPress Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have all of the regular text editing options that you are used to (e.g. underline, paragraph centering, heading styles, 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 and editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin provides you with various eye-catching and customizable elements that will help increase your conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonials, and guarantee forms. In addition to customization options, various elements also offer multiple design options.
- Responsive Design: Add mobile-friendly elements like column layouts, boxes, section dividers, e.g. which will adjust to display correctly on different device screens.
- Add Animation Events To Your Pages: Thrive Content Builder’s Event Manager feature lets you add animated page elements, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – 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 from signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages plugin 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 designing beautiful landing pages
- 100% conversion-optimized page templates
- No tech skills needed
- Works with all themes
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages not only can be used to create beautiful-looking 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 template sets that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are over thirty templates available, with more templates being worked on. In addition to the templates shown above, the developers plan to release new templates for email lead generation, sales pages, lesson pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Completely Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template Sets
Typically, to be able to fully customize a landing page template, you would need to either pay a web site 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 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-designed page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change or customize any element of your page templates …
With the landing page templates included with this plugin, you can:
- Edit text in any button, bullet point, headline, etc.
- Delete text, images or any other part of your landing page
- Change all background images and edit color
- Edit the color of links, buttons, text, etc.
- Use your own fonts
- Use your own images and graphics
- Modify the size of the content area
- Rearrange the order of web page elements
- Translate everything on the page into different languages
- Add any kind of custom content inside your pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own from scratch and save them as new web page templates.
(Change or edit any element of the page templates)
Transform Your Site Into A Powerful Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox Plugin
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 lead capture forms and animated elements to your WordPress site with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Thrive Lighbox Two-Step Opt-in Forms
A 2-step opt-in process helps to increase your conversion rates. Visitors click on a button or image, and then they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Capture more leads and subscribers with a 2-step opt-in process)
Event Manager
An “event” consists of a trigger and an action. You can make opt-in forms appear when when visitors click or hover 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 a range of effects (e.g. zoom out, slide in from bottom to top, rotate, 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.
User Testimonials
Below are some of the testimonials plugin users have published about the Thrive Content Builder plugin:
“I have had nothing but the best experience imaginable with this tool since I purchased it. This is by far one of, if not the best plug-in I have purchase to date and it has definitely made working with WordPress a whole new experience. Jim Bond”
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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 Thrive Landing Pages. Note, however, that you cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content that was not created with the plugin installed.
You can add short codes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will display correctly when published.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content built using Thrive Content Builder.
Product Support
Thrive Content Builder provides 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 updates, plus one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, thirty day, full refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product that will just keep 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 License – This license lets you use the plugin on a single domain. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License – This enables you to configure the plugin on all of your personal web sites. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency Licensing – Use on all your sites and on all your client web sites. Pricing includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Note: Pricing details of Thrive Content Builder can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the plugin is being retailed for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the plugin developer when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest price:
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 time-saving features like ready-made page elements and beautiful, pre-designed template sets that help to speed up page design and content creation, and on the other hand, you also have complete control over the design process and the freedom to change everything on your page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, that lets you get things done without having to go through multiple steps.
For a demo video of the plugin in action, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive website.
Download The Plugin …
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 instantly. If you want to move something, you drag it and drop it into its new position. There are no unnecessary steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your web presence and create amazing sales pages and content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For more information, visit the plugin website:
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