WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool into a tool being used to create all kinds of websites.
Whatever you can think of, someone is most likely already building it using WordPress!
This article will help you discover how to create beautiful web page layouts with drag & drop ease in WordPress sites.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Does The WordPress Editor Still Meet All Of Your Content Creation And Editing Needs?
With all the many improvements that the WordPress platform has gone through in recent years, many WordPress users and developers feel that the WordPress content editor is lagging behind other areas of developments being made to the software.
(The WordPress WYSIWYG editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional content, but adding complex layouts can be challenging!)
For example, if you look at the illustration below …
To create the above boxes with text and buttons, users would normally have to add short codes to the content for every single page element they want to display on the page …
Normally, this is not really an issue … unless you need 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 orange. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code.
The WordPress visual editor is supposed to be an easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to edit more complex page elements, what you see in the WordPress content editor screen is not the same as 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 inside the html (text) editor tab instead of the WordPress WYSIWYG editor when trying to build fancy page elements …
Even though WordPress is very user-friendly, this makes it difficult for non-technical website owners to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental issue about having to use HTML and shortcodes to create content in the default WordPress visual editor can be summarized as follows:
1) Speed – How long does it take to build a page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the ”back end” resemble the “front end” content when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above image, what you see when working in the editor doesn’t look at all like 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 several steps before you can begin 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 page to reload.
A number of WordPress developers have come up with various solutions to try to address this issue. Some of these range from plugins you can add to your site that add new functionality to the editor, to themes that include built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make creating complex layouts easier!)
Some solutions require so many complex page design features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end editors …
Many of these alternative solutions work fine, but they don’t really address the fundamental issue of using shortcodes and HTML as described earlier. 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 content quickly, this can become quite frustrating after a while.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your page editor to behave?
Now that you’ve asked this question, imagine this …
- You spot something in your content that needs to be corrected so you, simply click on the content and start editing it. Your content is then instantly fixed.
- You just drag and drop items around the page, and see them exactly as they will display on the front end without having to mentally translate code.
- You have an idea for a specific item of content that you would like to add, so you immediately begin typing, and your page gets built as you go, without delays, with no switching of tab browsers, and without waiting for new web content to republish and reload.
Would this not be the perfect way to create content for your WordPress web site? A true visual content 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 web page layouts ”on the fly” 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 And Landing Page Builder – Click-To-Edit Drag & Drop Content Editor For WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive WordPress click-to-edit drag and drop content creation plugin.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin 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 with a menu that lets you drag and drop elements to your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual editor to your WordPress site)
The Thrive Content And Landing Page Builder 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.
We’ll examine each of the above plugins and how these powerful features work together to help you transform and improve your website and create awesome sales pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder – WordPress Plugin
With the Thrive Content Builder plugin, you can easily add complex design layouts to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Every element of your web page can be designed by dragging and dropping things around the page and then clicking to edit them …
Once you have placed elements on the page, you can then continue to customize them without going through additional steps or switching screens …
The built-in Thrive Landing Pages also lets you create highly attractive landing pages and easily customize these …
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing pages with Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder installed is so effortlessly simple, that the developers guarantee that once you start using it, you’ll never look back!
More info: 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 that we have previously written about on this site.
See this post to read about this plugin:
Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up the process of designing pages and creating content for your WordPress web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Implement. Ready To Go To Work In Minutes.
Thrive Content Builder installs like any other plugin. Simply upload a zip file that contains the plugin to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is simple to use and lets you build and add content to your pages in real-time.
A Truly Visual Editor
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the content editor – typefaces, visual elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see on the front end of your site.
Additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Beautiful Page Layouts With Drag & 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 a visually exciting click-to-edit WordPress content builder, but the plugin also includes a jaw-dropping collection of functional and attractive web design elements that you can customizable and use on your pages without using short codes, like flat design elements, borderless content, dividers, code insert boxes, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff, or wait for the new content to load 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 want done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily add, edit and customize web page elements like testimonial boxes, content toggle, table of contents builder, page section dividers, responsive Google maps, etc.)
Thrive Content Builder Features
Thrive Content Builder offers many features to WP users. Below we have listed just some:
- Regular Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have all of the built-in WordPress editing options that you are used to (e.g. underline, centering text, headings, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements Menu: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” list of elements to your post or page screen when creating and editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with 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 Web Element Design: Add responsive elements like columns, guarantee boxes, content section 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 insert animated images, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Sets
Landing page template sets are web 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 plugin provides you with conversion-optimized web page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time creating great-looking landing pages for your WordPress web site
- 100% conversion-optimized landing page templates
- No coding skills needed
- Works with any WordPress theme
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder not only can be used to create beautiful-looking content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of professionally designed, conversion optimized landing 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 over thirty templates available, with more templates being worked on. In addition to the templates that are currently available, expect to see new templates in the future for email lead generation, sales pages, lesson pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Fully Customizable Landing Page Template
Normally, to be able to fully customize landing page templates, you would need to either pay a web developer to do the work, or learn web coding languages like HTML and CSS 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 great-looking pre-built pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that lets you change and edit anything on your page …
The landing page templates included with this plugin let you do the following:
- Modify text in any bullet point, button, headline, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other component of the landing page
- Change all background images and background colors
- Edit the color of links, text, buttons, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Select your own images
- Change the size of the content area
- Change the order of web page elements
- Translate pages into a different language
- Add any kind of custom content inside the pages
- Start with a blank web page and create your own page templates, or even build your own library of custom landing pages.
(Change or customize any aspect of your page template)
Thrive Lightbox Plugin – Transform Your Website Into A Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin combo includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully editable 2-step opt-in forms and events to your WordPress site …
(Add opt-in forms and animated objects to your web pages with Thrive Lightbox)
2-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process helps to improve your conversion rates. When visitors click on a button or image they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Visitors click on a button and are presented with an opt-in form)
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 over a button or graphic elements, 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 out, slide in from left to right, roll out, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your WordPress pages with Thrive Lightbox)
A lightbox and event is created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over your events, triggers and design.
User Feedback
Below are just some testimonials and feedback users have submitted for the Thrive Content Builder plugin:
”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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”Great stuff! I am really impressed by all the new additions. You guys have shown a true commitment to making these themes and the Content Builder awesome. Michael Johnson”
Plugin Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any theme in WordPress, not just with Thrive Landing Pages. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content that was not created with 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 built using Thrive Content Builder.
Support
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder 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 upgrades, and one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 30 day, 100% money-back guarantee.
This is an exciting product that will just keep getting better.
Software 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 enables you to set up the plugin on a single domain. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Edition – This option lets you configure the plugin on all of your personal domains. Cost includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency Edition – Use on all your websites and on all your client domains. Includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $247.00 per year.
Note: Current pricing for Thrive Content Builder depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The above reflects the pricing when this content was written. This may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin author when you visit the website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
The Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder 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 page elements and template sets that help speed up content design, and on the other hand, you also have complete control over your design process and the freedom to edit everything on your page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, which allows you to work unhindered by overly complicated options.
For ”how to” videos of the plugin, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive Content Builder website.
Get This 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 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 overly complicated steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your business online and create amazing sales pages and engaging content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
To learn more, visit the plugin website:
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