WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application to a tool that is now used to create all kinds of web sites.
Whatever you can think of, someone is probably already building it using WordPress!
In this article you will discover the ultimate drag and drop front end content builder for WordPress websites.
Drag And Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The Default WordPress Editor Still Meeting All Of Your Content Creation Needs?
Using the WordPress WYSIWYG editor to create or edit complex web pages can be difficult.
(The WordPress WYSIWYG content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional text and media, but adding more complex layouts can be quite challenging!)
For example, if you look at the screenshot below …
Adding the above to a page would require inserting something that looks like this into your WordPress editor …
Normally, this is not an issue … until you want to reconfigure your layout (for example, move part of the content from box 1 into box 2, or change the background colour inside box 2 from bright red to dark red. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code.
The WordPress visual editor is supposed to provide non-technical users with an easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor, but as you can see, if you are creating with complex content elements, often what you see in the WordPress visual editor screen may not be the same as what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some situations, some people argue that you could be better off working directly with the source html itself instead of the WordPress visual editor when trying to build fancy layouts …
Even though WordPress is the most user-friendly CMS platform available, this makes it difficult for non-technical users to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental problem with using shortcodes and HTML to create content in the default WordPress editor can be summarized as follows:
1) Speed – How long will it take to create a page using the editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the ”back end” resemble the content in the “front end” 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 users have to abstract what the content will look like when working with sophisticated layouts. Other solutions require 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 coming along, which interrupts the creative process, as you wait for for your updated content to reload.
Many WordPress web developers have tried to come up with different solutions to try to make content editing more intuitive. Some of these solutions range from standalone WordPress plugins you can add to your site that add new functionality to the editor, to WordPress themes that provide built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make creating complex page layouts easier!)
Some solutions end up requiring so many page-building features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end editors …
Many of these alternative editors work fine, but they fail to address the fundamental problem with 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 really frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your content builder to function?
Now, visualize this …
- You look at your content and if you spot something that needs fixing, just click on the content and start changing it. Your content is instantly fixed.
- You simply drag and drop items on the page, and see them exactly as they will appear on the front end without having to mentally visualize code.
- You have an idea for a specific item of content that you would like to add, so you simply start typing, and your web page gets built as you go, with no delays, no switching of tab browsers, and no waiting for edits to resave and reload.
Would that not be the perfect way to create content for your website? A true visual content editor where all you have to do is click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your posts and pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex web pages quickly 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 And Landing Pages – WordPress Click-To-Edit Drag And Drop Content And Page Editing Plugin
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive click-to-edit drag-and-drop content creator and editor for WordPress.
Thrive Content Builder is a new and incredibly easy way to speed up the process of creating content on 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 to your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new content builder to WordPress)
The Thrive Content Builder And Landing Pages 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.
We will take an in-depth look at all of the above plugins and how these features work together to help you transform and improve your web presence and create awesome sales pages and content.
Thrive Content Builder Plugin
With Thrive Content Builder easily build complex web page design layouts using drag and drop elements …
Every element of your page can be built with ”click-to-edit” and “drag and drop” ease …
Once you have positioned your elements on your page, you can then easily customize these without going through multiple steps or switching tabs …
You can also build highly attractive landing pages that can also be easily edited …
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder 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 easy, that the developers guarantee that once you start using it, you’ll never look back!
Go here to learn more about this plugin: Thrive Content Builder
The integrated Thrive Content Builder plugin was created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another amazing plugin we’ve previously recommended on this site.
Go here to read about the plugin:
Benefits Of Using Thrive Landing Pages And Content Builder
Here are just some of the benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up the process of creating content for your website:
Ready To Start Using In No Time
Thrive Content Builder is very easy to install. Simply upload a zip folder containing the plugin to your Plugins folder via your WordPress administrator area and activate.
Real-Time Content Content Creation
Thrive Content Builder is simple and intuitive to use and lets you create content 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, elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what you get in the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits of this plugin include the following:
- Add Eye-Catching Web Page Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with drag-and-drop ease.
- Add Design Elements With No Short Codes Involved: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get a visually exciting click-to-edit WordPress content builder, but the plugin also includes a very decent collection of functional and eye-catching web design elements that you can add to your web pages without using shortcodes, such as content toggle, feature grids, dividers, custom HTML and CSS, etc.
- Distraction-Free Content Creation: Not having to wait for pages to reload 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 need done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily create, edit and customize web page elements like testimonial boxes, content toggle, table of contents builder, call to action buttons, Google Map embeds, etc.)
Thrive Content Builder Features
Thrive Content Builder offers a number of powerful features to WP users. Here are just a few:
- All Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have all of the built-in text editing options that you are used to (e.g. underlines, centering text, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” table of multi-style elements to your post or page screen for editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin includes various 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, boxes, dividers, e.g. which will adjust to display great on different device screens.
- Add Animation To Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you insert animated content elements, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Templates
Landing page sets are web page 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 plugin provides you with conversion-optimized web page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time building pages
- 100% conversion-optimized page templates
- No web coding skills required
- Works with all themes
Thrive 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 beautifully designed, web page templates that are conversion-optimized and fully customizable …
(Landing page template sets that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are currently over 30 templates available, with more templates scheduled for release. In addition to the available templates, the developers plan to release new web page templates for email lead generation, sales pages, course pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Customize Your Landing Page Template Sets
Normally, in order to fully customize a landing page template, you would need to either hire 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 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 creating conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you great-looking pre-built page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change and edit anything on your page …
With the landing page templates included with this plugin, you can do the following:
- Edit text in any headline, button, bullet point, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other part of the landing page
- Replace all background images or background colour
- Edit the color of text, links, buttons, etc.
- Use your own fonts
- Use your own images
- Modify the size of the content area
- Rearrange the order of 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 pages from scratch and save them as new web page templates.
(Change and edit anything on the page templates)
Thrive Lightbox – Transform Your WordPress Website Into A Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin combo also includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully customizable two-step opt-in forms and events to your pages …
(Add lead capture forms and animated objects to your sales pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Thrive Lighbox 2-Step Opt-in Forms
A 2-step opt-in process can help increase your conversion rates. Visitors click on a button or image, and then they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Opt-in forms help to improve 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 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 attention-getting elements on your pages, using various effects (e.g. zoom out, slide in from top to bottom, roll out, 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.
Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials and feedback 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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”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”
Thrive Content Builder – Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any theme in WordPress, not just with the Thrive Landing Pages plugin. Note, however, that you cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content that was not created with the plugin installed.
You can add WordPress short codes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will be displayed correctly on the front end.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build using Thrive Content Builder.
Thrive Content Builder Support
Thrive Content and Landing Page Builder 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 very well-supported, and users get unlimited upgrades, plus one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 30 day, 100% money-back guarantee.
This is an exciting product that just keeps getting better.
Software 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 Licensing – This license enables you to configure the plugin on a single website. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License – This edition enables you to run the plugin on unlimited sites that you personally own. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency License – Use on all your web sites & on client websites. Includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $247.00 per year.
Please Note: Price details for Thrive Content Builder can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the plugin is selling for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the software developer when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing details:
Additional Information
The developers of the Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin emphatically 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 the time-saving benefits of ready-made page elements and conversion-optimized templates that help to speed up content design, and on the other hand, you also have complete control over the design process and the ability to change anything and everything on your web page, using the plugin’s click-to-edit and drag and drop features, which lets you see how the content you are working on will look after being published.
For ”how to” videos showing how the plugin works, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive plugins website.
Our Recommendation …
If you want to edit something, 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 extra steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your website and create amazing marketing pages and engaging content, Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For more details, check out the plugin here:
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