Into the Future with the New Gutenberg WordPress Editor

Tanja Trkulja
TechBear
Published in
4 min readApr 10, 2018

Learn more about the new Gutenberg WordPress editor, and the promising project as a whole that’s going to change this CMS as we know it.

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It seems that the time for change always comes sooner than expected, and the virtual world is no exception. A change that shook the virtual community and is definitely going to create plenty of impact is Gutenberg WordPress plugin. Essentially, Gutenberg is about to change the way we are all used to using WordPress default editor — or it’s at least trying to. If this Gutenberg project succeeds, the plugin will become a part of WordPress core.

Even though it’s already available in 15 languages, Gutenberg is still in its beta version; and it’s not ready for live websites. However, what it promises to do once ready is truly life-changing and groundbreaking. Basically, the change is about the new post and page WordPress editor. The plan is for the Gutenberg to allow everyone to work easier with this feature, even if they have no prior knowledge of HTML or CSS. This is still necessary with current editor if you want to play with the content layout. All content can be easily organized into blocks, which allows for the top notch customization effect done directly in the editor. What’s more, developers want to make embedding external content a lot simpler compared to now. This is why we are promised to say goodbye to shortcodes or additional plugins.

Gutenberg software is already available for installation and testing just like any other WordPress plugin.

The new beginning

Gutenberg project is a true project — not just a new face of your post editor. The first steps are all about making the posting of new content easier, of course. However, the plan is to transform the WordPress CMS as a whole in years to come, so that it allows complete customization of your website without too much hassle.

Obviously, a change is always hard, and seeing the new writing interface for the first time may come as a shock to quite a few of you. But that doesn’t mean that the new has to be scary. It takes a little time getting used to, but Gutenberg will definitely allow you to improve your website content, with clean writing environment, great typography and plenty of setting options on the right.

Photo from pxhere.com

The block concept

Maybe the biggest change you’ll have to face with Gutenberg is the fact that you’ll be able to bid farewell to HTML files; these were used for pretty much everything in regards to your content and layout. The introduction of a block, although maybe sudden, is still a great improvement for content creators. Instructions are pretty simple to follow and block-building is a skill that can be mastered easily, so there’s no need to worry!

Basically, with Gutenberg WordPress, making content will largely depend on setting different options for each and every new block. You can do anything you want within the block, and customize it however you see fit. In the end, it’s all about how you want those blocks to match each other in order to make up a whole that you imagined. Every single block can get its own layout and settings. That way, you can create something truly unique and representative of your brand without having to delve into the world of codes.

This is not all. One of the best bits about the block concept is the fact that you can have as many reusable blocks as you want. This means that you don’t have to create a new block for something that you continuously repeat on your posts. Just a simple click on “add block” and voila! — You can get your premade blog intro layout or whatever else you need in order to make your website more consistent without the extra work and repetitiveness. What you’re going to use this particular setting for is up to you of course; the blocks are there to make things easier for you!

If you want a really in-depth, step-by-step guide and explanation of Gutenberg WordPress editor, you can watch The Gut Guys on YouTube.

The Gut Guys

Pros and cons of Gutenberg WordPress editor

It seems that the Internet is still divided on the Gutenberg change, but the change is imminent; and with the rise of WordPress popularity and use, it’s also necessary. Of course, with Gutenberg still in its first stages, we all have to wait and see the big picture in the future. But, for now, it’s definitely worth it to download the plugin and play with it yourself. This is a new experience that’s probably going to be the norm soon enough; not to mention that the process of content creation is fun.

Of course, there are still improvements to be made; as promised, developers are working hard on perfecting the Gutenberg editor so that they can move on onto the next stage of this huge and habit-breaking project.

In that respect, Gutenberg WordPress editor still has plenty of bugs and is not ready for live use — yet. However, it streamlines the writing process, making the content easier to visualize with the help of the block concept. Furthermore, it allows for effective layout creation even for those users who have no knowledge of code. The editor also allows quick embedding for many websites. With so many pros, we can only hope that the live version is going to be perfected so that we can welcome one of the biggest WordPress changes bug- and worry-free.

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Tanja Trkulja
TechBear

Content writer at TechBear, nature and written word enthusiast, avid anime watcher, a Hufflepuff, and a Whovian.