WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool into a tool that is now used to design all types of web pages – landing pages, product showcase pages, local business pages, etc.
Whatever you can imagine, someone is probably already building it with WordPress!
In this article you will discover how to create beautiful web page layouts with drag & drop ease in WordPress sites.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Does The WordPress Visual Editor Still Meet All Of Your Content Creation And Editing Needs?
With so many developments that the WordPress platform has undergone in recent years, many WordPress users and developers believe that using the WordPress WYSIWYG editor to create or edit complex web site pages can sometimes be difficult.
(The WordPress WYSIWYG content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional text and images, but adding complex layouts can be quite challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the content shown below …
Creating the above in your content would require inserting something that looks like this inside the WordPress content editor …
Normally, this is not an issue … unless you need to change your layout (for example, move some of the content from box 3 into box 2, or change the background color inside box 2 from green to purple. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code inside the content editor.
The WordPress content editor is supposed to be an easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor, but as you can see, when working with complex content elements, what you see may not be what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some instances, users may even be better off working inside the WordPress text editor tab instead of the WordPress visual editor when trying to build something other than simple page elements …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it difficult for WordPress users with no knowledge of HTML or CSS to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental problem about having to use HTML and shortcodes to create content in WordPress can be summarized by asking the following questions:
1) Speed – How long does it take to build a page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the editor 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 when working in the editor looks nothing like what you see in the front end. This means that users have to translate mentally what the content will look like when working with sophisticated layouts. Other solutions require a number of steps before you can begin 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 pages to refresh.
Many WordPress web developers have tried to come up with a range of solutions aiming to make the visual editor more intuitive. Some of these range from plugins you can add to your site that add new functionality to the editor, to WP themes that come with 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 design features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these alternative solutions work fine, but they don’t really address the fundamental problem with using HTML and shortcodes as described earlier. Creating and adding 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 content quickly, this can become quite frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your web content editor to work?
Now that you’ve asked this question, imagine this …
- You see something in the content that needs fixing so you, just click on the content and start changing it. Your content has been instantly edited.
- You simply drag and drop elements 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 piece of content you’d like to add, so you immediately begin typing, and your web page gets built as you go, without delays, without tab switching, and no waiting for new content to refresh.
Would that not be the ideal way to build content for your WordPress website? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your posts and pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex page layouts ”on the fly” 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
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a unique WordPress plugin that lets website owners easily add amazing content to WordPress 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 web site.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor and a menu that lets you drag and drop elements on your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new editor 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 will discuss all of the above and how all of this functionality works seamlessly together to help you easily transform and improve your site and create amazing marketing pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder Plugin For WordPress
This plugin lets you 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 and changed by ”clicking-to-edit” and “dragging and dropping” things around the page …
Once you have positioned your elements on your page, you can then further customize or edit them without going through multiple steps or opening new option screens …
The built-in functionality of the plugin also lets you work inside stunning landing pages that can also be easily customized …
Thrive Content and Page Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing pages and working on content with the Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin installed is so effortlessly easy, that the developers guarantee that you’ll never look at the process of creating content the same way once you start using it
Go here to learn more: Thrive Content Builder
The integrated Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin was created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another excellent plugin that we have written about on this site.
See this page for more information about using this plugin:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just some of the benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up content creation:
Fast And Easy To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In Very Little Time.
Thrive Content Builder is quite easy to install. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Build And Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is simple and intuitive to use and lets you build and add content right inside your pages in real-time.
What You See Is Really What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the content 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:
- Eye-Catching Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any layout you can imagine with intuitive drag and drop functionality.
- Add Customizable Elements With No Shortcodes Involved: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get an exciting and easy-to-use click-to-edit content builder, but the plugin also includes a very decent collection of functional and attractive design elements that you can customizable and insert into your content layouts without using short codes, such as tabbed content, content boxes, testimonials, responsive maps, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to wait for your page to refresh frees up your attention and allows you to be more focused while you work or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you need done.
(Add, edit and customize page elements like testimonials, flat design elements, content reveal feature, buttons, HTML code insert boxes, etc.)
Plugin Features
Thrive Content Builder offers many features to web site owners. Below we have listed just some:
- Built-In Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have access to all of the regular WordPress editing options that you are used to (e.g. underlines, centering text, headings and font sizes, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements: The plugin makes a “drag and drop” table of multi-style elements available on your post or page screen when editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin includes a range of attention-grabbing and customizable elements that will help increase the effectiveness of your sales pages, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonial boxes, and guarantees. In addition to being customizable, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Responsive Element Design: Add responsive columns, guarantee boxes, content dividers, e.g. which will resize and display great on different device screens.
- Add Animation To Web Pages: Thrive Content Builder’s Event Manager feature lets you add animations, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – 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 provides you with conversion-optimized page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money building and customizing pages
- 100% conversion-optimized web pages
- No coding skills required
- Works with all themes
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder not only lets you 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 …
(Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are currently 30+ templates available, with more templates planned for future release. In addition to the existing templates, 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 And Flexible Landing Page Template Sets
Typically, in order to have a completely customizable landing page template, you would need to either pay a web site developer to do the work, or learn web coding languages like HTML and CSS 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 pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that lets you change or customize any element of the page template …
With the landing page template sets included with this plugin, you are able to:
- Change text in all bullet points, headlines, buttons, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other part of the landing page
- Change the background image or colors
- Change the color of text, links, buttons, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Select your own images and graphics
- Change the size of the content area
- Change the order of web page elements
- Translate pages into different languages
- Add any kind of custom content in any of the pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own web pages from scratch and save them as new web page templates.
(Change and customize any aspect of the page templates)
Transform Your Website Into A Powerful Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox
The Thrive plugin package also includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully customizable 2-step opt-in forms and animated elements to your content pages …
(Add opt-in forms and events to your web pages 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 …
(Opt-in forms can help increase your conversion rates.)
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 images on your page, using a range of animation effects (e.g. fade out, slide in from top to bottom, roll in, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your WordPress web site 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.
User Feedback
Below are a few of the testimonials plugin users 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”
Thrive Content Builder – Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any WordPress theme, not just with the Thrive Landing Pages plugin. 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 WordPress shortcodes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will display correctly on your website.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build with Thrive Content Builder.
Plugin Support
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder provides free updates, new landing templates and upcoming features. The Thrive team is constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive software is well-supported, and users get lifetime software updates, plus 1 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.
Product Price
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 lets you configure the plugin on 1 domain only. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Price = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This allows you to configure the plugin on all of your personal web sites. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency Edition – Use on all your websites and on client domains. Price includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $247.00 per year.
Note: The price of the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the current price when this review was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product 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 the current pricing information:
Additional Information
The Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin developers repeatedly assert 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 template sets that help speed up the 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, that lets you get things done without having to go through multiple steps.
For demo videos showing plugin usage, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive Content Builder website.
Download This Plugin …
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 instantly. 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 business online 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 here:
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