A totally new editing interface comes with WordPress 5 Gutenberg
This winter (2018), the WordPress people will gift us with version 5.0 including a totally reengineered editor. WordPress 5 Gutenberg is the name of the new visual content block editor. Instead of using an interface somewhat similar to Word and other text-processing programs, Gutenberg will make use of content blocks which will allow you to add all the usual elements of a blog post such as paragraphs, headings, and images. This major move marks both an editing paradigm shift to a drag and drop interface similar to WIX and other popular website builders plus a new reliance on JavaScript programming over the older PHP programming language (one reason that some themes and plugins may break). Are you ready?
Johannes Gutenberg introduced the printing press to Europe in the 1400s, and revolutionized publishing. WordPress powers over 30% of the world’s websites, and its developers aim to use Gutenberg as a revolutionary way to develop content. We wanted to give our clients a heads up, plus compare the new user interface to the powerful Divi them with its own content builder, so here you can review a video with Scott Frangos, Chief Optimizer for Webdirexion.
Columns and Content Blocks for Different WordPress Page Elements
Here’s how the WordPress folks describe the Gutenberg interface (and why they did it): “Blocks are a great new tool for building engaging content. With blocks, you can insert, rearrange, and style multimedia content with very little technical knowledge. Instead of using custom code, you can add a block and focus on your content.”
Above, the standard content blocks for the initial release of Gutenberg are shown.
What’s next for Gutenberg and WordPress? According to the lead developers of WordPress, “Phase 2 is about thinking outside the box, namely the post and page box, to allow Gutenberg to handle entire-site layouts. We will replace widgets with blocks, so any block will be able to be used in any registered “sidebar” for legacy themes, and we will upgrade “menus” to a navigation block.” The WordPress people are ambitious… and how lucky are we to get this wonderful program for free?
We wanted our clients and followers to get ready for the WordPress 5 Gutenberg new editing experience plus compare Gutenberg to our theme of choice with its own content builder — Divi — so we’ve prepared an overview video, plus a comparison guide with Frequently Asked Questions. Send for our Guide at right.
Below is a quick GIF animation of the new Gutenberg interface:
