Any change can be intimidating, which is why when a monumental change in the way we use wordpress was introduced in the form of the Gutenberg editor, a lot of users had their hands up in the air in frustration. I, on the other hand, like to think of myself as pretty comfortable with change, and with a few blog posts on the Gutenberg editor, found myself loving it! Here’s why I love the new wordpress Gutenberg editor.
Thinking in Blocks
First up, let’s look at the stark difference between the classic editor and the new editor, right up front once you fire up a new post.
Whoa wait a second, where did all my icons go?! So you see, the difference is so big you’re almost forgiven for wanting to pick up the phone and go “Hey WordPress, your site is broken.”
But if you give it some time, you’ll find that it’s actually quite intuitive. And you’ll grow into it… trust me! So, you go ahead and type in your title, and you’ll see, below that, you can start writing your content immediately, OR choose a block.
Now, the block is the fundamental change in the editor, and that’s because this editor is named after Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the metal movable type printing press, way back around the 1450s.
Anyway, the core concept around this new editor is for us to think in blocks, that makes it really easy and intuitive for us to move things around, and rich content, and insert items in between. I see each paragraph, heading, video, image as an individual block, and putting them together to create this post.
At the end of each new paragraph of text, you can simply tap ‘ENTER’ to write more copy, or if you bring your mouse to the left of the screen, you will see a + sign. Clicking on this will open up block possibilities for you to choose from.
The block structure also allows for you to easily shift paragraphs and rich content across the post, making it really visual and intuitive. To edit any given block, click on the block, and you can make changes to the formatting of the block on the right hand column.
Re-usable Blocks
One of the things I really like about the new editor is the ability to create re-usable blocks. If you have something that you consistently use over multiple posts, you can save it to a re-usable block, and you can easily reference and use it time and again.
I personally find this useful for adding scripts from adsense, and am sure there will be many more use-cases for this that I will utilise more, over time.
Concluding Thoughts
Overall, there’s definitely a learning curve to it, but it should also prove intuitive enough over 2 or 3 posts, that eventually, it will come across as a lot easier, especially when it comes to adding images, creating galleries, and using custom html blocks.
The new layout is also less distracting, and has ample screen space and generally more conducive to writing.
What’s your experience been with Gutenberg? Let me know!