Have you heard the term “Gutenberg” and wondered to yourself: “What is Gutenberg?”
Well, first, let me tell you what it is.
Then I’ll tell you why I am not using it…just yet.
“Gutenberg” is the new visual WordPress editor coming in the next big release of WordPress (5.0). Although it is not officially out yet, there is a lot of buzz about it because it will revolutionize how you use WordPress. It is named after Johannes Gutenberg, who introduced printing to Europe with the printing press, and it will give you a whole new WordPress experience. The WordPress developers have been working hard to make this new editor look more visual (close to what it looks like on a live website). And they are now ready to have people test it out first as a plugin for anyone who wants to be an early adopter of this new way of writing.
(if you are a non-techie type, I recommend skipping this whole thing now and waiting.)
NOTE: I do NOT recommend installing the Gutenberg Plugin just yet. WordPress is still working out the kinks before the release of WordPress 5.0, and it’s possible Gutenberg might not work well yet with your theme, plugins, etc. It would be safer to wait it out a bit longer. 🙂 Even when it officially does come out, you can always install the classic editor plugin and continue working the way you always have.
That being said, I still want to share what Gutenberg looks like. If you like to test new software before it’s officially released, read on and find out what I’m talking about…
Watch the video previewing the Gutenberg Editor:
Just click the image below to watch:
When Will Gutenberg Become Available?
Gutenberg will become the default editor with the next WordPress release 5.0. That could be months from now. In the meantime, with the latest WordPress release 4.9.8, they have started allowing WordPress users to try out Gutenberg as a plugin.
What It Will Be Like to Use Gutenberg
After updating to WordPress 4.9.8, you will be greeted with the “Try Gutenberg” callout in the WordPress Dashboard:
Once you install and activate the Gutenberg plugin from the above callout, you will be greeted with a demo post where you can quickly view and try out the new features, which I think is a brilliant way to introduce people to Gutenberg.
Let me show you some things in the Gutenberg demo post. Here is the screen that gets displayed immediately after installing/activating the Gutenberg plugin:
You can also experience it here without installing the plugin on your site.
Gutenberg Components are called “Blocks”:
You’ll see all components are shown as “blocks.” You will see what type of “block” is used by clicking inside any part of the post. The types of blocks currently available include Paragraphs, Images, Headings, Gallery, List, Quote, Audio, Video, and many more.
Under the “Document” tab in the sidebar, you’ll see the familiar settings we currently see in the sidebar in a more compact way.
The “Block” tab in the sidebar lets you control various settings for the selected block. Here is an example of what you would see for a Paragraph block:
Each block also has a few places to let you do various things. By clicking on the settings button on the top-right, you can quickly make some top-level changes to the block:
And the formatting bar makes it easy and fast to format the paragraph:
Moving each block up and down can be done easily with the arrows on the left.
Switching Between the Gutenberg Visual Editor and the Code Editor:
The gear on the top right lets you switch between the Gutenberg Visual Editor and the Code Editor. The editor you’ll use depends on what you need to do in the block.
How Does Gutenberg Work with My Theme’s Visual Editor
Many themes already offer similar features with blocks and more, and you may be wondering how Gutenberg will affect how you’ll work with your theme. For example, I know quite a few people in my community love Elegant Theme’s Divi theme (my affiliate link for them is https://www.ChristinasResources.com/divi), which already offers the features that Gutenberg has.
Many theme companies are making their themes work smoothly with Gutenberg, but it’s good to check with your theme company on that. For example,
Here is how the Divi Theme is Preparing for Gutenberg:
I love that Elegant Themes, the makers of Divi and Divi/Extra (my aff link), are on top of it! So, since I use Divi as my theme, I will wait for their signal on when to use it (or not). But again, there is no need to worry. Just check with your theme company.
Why am I not using Gutenberg Just Yet
The reason why I am not using Gutenberg just yet is that I like to focus on features that are available now for my students. Gutenberg will be amazing, but I’d rather let the developers and coders make all their updates and changes FIRST before I teach it to my community. It will be less frustrating for the non-techie WordPress user if you wait. But if you DO decide to install/activate it to test it out, do so on a test site, not on your actual live site, and know that you can always deactivate the plugin anytime. If you decide to test out the Gutenberg plugin, let me know what you think.
And again, as excited as I am about Gutenberg, I advise waiting it out a bit and letting the dust settle.
Christina. Thanks this answers a lot of my questions. As long as I can make this website work it will be great and I will not really care. One question though? once the Gutenberg does come out in whatever form will you be teaching how to use it or do we ever need to use it?
Yes I will absolutely be teaching how to use Gutenberg! I’ll send out an email once I do, and it will probably be many months before it comes out. So you have lots of time
This is great help in understanding Gutenberg. The video goes way too fast, but your screen shots and explanation really help. You gave us a great tip to try out the editor on a test site first. Thanks, Christina.
Mary, yes the video goes fast, but you can pause it and back up. Yes, do not test this out on a live site, but use a test site. I am personally going to wait a little bit longer before really diving into it.
I’ve tried it out with the Weaver Xtreme themes which is supposed to be Gutenberg compatible and I’m NOT a fan. Iput a video into the post ( in a 2 column block) & it will not resize to save my life at least on the front end- looks fine on the backend.
Maybe they’ll fix it, maybe not. I think I’ll just stick to a page builder like Elementor or Themify which I am a beta tester for.
Kathy,
thanks for letting me know about your experiences. Assume that it will get fixed, and just wait a bit (unless you want to contribute by being a tester and reporting your findings to Weaver) 🙂
I’m a Divi user and staying with Classic Editor for now. I’m really glad that Divi is on top of this change, and Gutenberg looks really interesting, but I am happy to wait until you teach us more about Gutenberg when you’re ready, Christina.