Of The Gutenberg Editor: Review

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gutenberg is coming

The Gutenberg Editor is coming!!!!!!

Gutenberg is coming

WordPress 5.0 is rolling out, soooooon, and the Gutenberg Editor will be the new default editor and here’s why you should be paying attention, about 30% of the internet is powered by WordPress it just might redefine web publishing.

Normally when you create and edit posts it looks like this:

The Classic Editor

The Gutenberg Editor will look like this:

Gutenberg editor

The Gutenberg Editor:

What is Gutenberg, Who is Gutenberg and I’ll even do you one better Why is Gutenberg?

What is Gutenberg?

Gutenberg is an editor that is poised to revolutionise WordPress customizations and the “effortless” laying out and creating media rich content (with or) without the knowledge of complicated coding skills

Who is Gutenberg

Johannes Gutenberg whom the editor is named after was a 15th century printer and publisher who introduced the movable type printing system that allowed for feasible mass production of printed material which ignited the printing revolution in Europe.

Why Gutenberg

Its hoped that the Gutenberg Editor will similarly re-invent the web, creating a digital revolution which puts the power of creativity back into the hands of the creatives without expert code use.

Re-imagine the internet

“The web up until this point has been confined to some sort of rectangular screen. But that is not how it’s going to be. Gutenberg has the potential of moving us into the next time.”

Morten Rand Hendriksen

How it works

You create customizable blocks, for your content which you can manipulate individually to build up your post.

Gutenberg blocks

My Thoughts

I am a firm believer of the ideal that if something works then DON’T FIX IT.

Having really gotten used to the old editor I am comfortable with it I know where everything is and how to create my posts, the editor has updated before but never so drastically.

Just because something works doesnt mean mean it cant be improved

Comfort is an enemy of progress, so in my last couple of posts I have been trying to figure my way around the Gutenberg editor and here’s my journey so far:

First Impressions

I love the idea of the being able to play around with different aspects of a post, its reminiscent of using a Image Editing Software which has layers or groups which you can manipulate individually.

You can change formatting of a particular block; from the background colour to the text colour and resize without affecting the format of whole document, and it even notifies you if the colour scheme you choose might not accommodate everyone.

Colour picker

You can also transform each block into a different type of block transform blocks Gutenberg

The Challenges I Faced

The editor feels like it was mostly designed as a tool to fuse together mixed media content into a post then as an afterthought they remembered about the writer type of people.

Usually I create my posts in a notepad or document application and then I simply copy and paste into the Classic editor (adding images where necessary) than click [publish]

When I do the same thing suddenly every header and every paragraph and every image is on a block of its own and and minor formatting things suddenly become well not harder just you have to do significantly more clicking selecting blocks and navigating around them,

And where is the word count? I can normally see how much I have written easily by a quick glance without breaking a stride in my writing now I have to stop writing and click the content structure button though the document outline feature is a nice touch. Document outline

I also noticed you cannot change colour and size of text selectively inside a block you can only change for all the words in the block

I failed to find the underline function? Shouldnt it be there right beside  Bold and Italics

The image uploader doesnt seem to have that insert via url feature and when resizing photos I had gotten used to seeing the dimensions of the picture superimposed as you resized now looks like you just eyeball it and think yeah looks about right……

Unexpected Good Thing

While scrolling through the default blocks I found one with The Classic Editor and it works almost exactly as it has always been now I can breathe easy, and here’s a tip for all those who have been worried they wont know what to do once Gutenberg becomes the default editor well simply use the classic WordPress editor block.

search for blocks

Classic editor gutenberg

Also even if Gutenberg becomes default the people of WordPress support say you can always switch editors and put back the classic your default, so rest easy

You Are Welcome

~B

The Gutenberg Editor is still work in progress and yet to be launched, giving feedback helps make it better, if you have used it how has your experience been if not would you try it?

For an interactive demo tour  click here: GUTENBERG

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37 Comments

  1. 🙂 My first experience with the Gutenberg editor was a disastrous one.

    Last month, I read everything that I could about it with the intentions of finding my way around it when it is finally launched.

    I am curious to see what the Gutenberg editor is going to look like on the WordPress app.

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  3. New things always annoy me. It’s hard enough to figure out stuff the first time. I’ll give this a chance and I’m sure I’ll figure it out. Unfortunately the moment I become really good at it another new thingy will emerge. Story of my life.

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    1. It has some definitely cool formatting features!!!!! and you can definitely align your text to whatever justification you want with a verse editor that has interesting formatting for poetry
      ~B

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  5. Thanks so much for your lowdown on the Guttenberg editor, Beaton. I’m staying with the classic editor, lol. Maybe they’ll even revert back to it with upgrades if there’s many complaints? 🙂

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  7. I haven’t tried the Gutenberg but I’m looking forward to it. I don’t have time to beta test it, perhaps in December over the holidays. I feel quite ok with widgets and blocks and such thing as I’ve worked in IT for many years, although I’m not a coder I’ve been around them enough to know a thing or two. That said, I’m on the page of having things easy, I don’t want to fight with my editor. Thanks for posting this, it helps me get ready.

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    1. Awesome, you do know by December if all goes to schedule it will be the new default editor so you may be forced to use it even if its to figure out where the option to switch classic can be found hahahaha
      But if you in IT then you wont fight with it too much its easy enough and no coding required too, actually I think the people who are more hands on with their coding are the ones who might have it harder to use
      ~B

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  8. Thanks a bunch, Beaton for the good review.
    I have not paid much attention to the prompt to activate Gutenberg on my blog. I guess I will give it a try.

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    1. I saw the prompt to activate and curiosity had me looking it up ^_^
      I have been using it for some of my posts and yeah one can get used to it…. also I think they have been making improvements I am sure by the time they officially roll it out it should be quite efficient
      ~B

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      2. The blocks are fairly easy to use I think the greatest challenge is just in figuring out where everything is and what blocks you need to use and when hahahaha well I still find a couple of kinks that stop me from entirely absolutely recommending it 100%

        ~B

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    1. I think the power users of WP are the ones who will have problems with it otherwise outside of few teething quirks its quite easy to get a hang for it….
      ~B

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      1. Yea, I could see it being complicated at first if you’re trying to construct advanced posts that feature lots of different types of content. For most of us who just utilize text and the odd photo or video, it shouldn’t take too long to get used to the new editor.

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  13. I, too, have struggled with the new editor. Since I do not mix media in my post, I see more annoyance than ease in the new editor. Since it’s intro, I believe I have published a dozen or more. Like others, I have fallen back to producing outside of wordpress, editing there, and copying back in for refinements. Eventually, I will get the hang of it. Somehow, I think of the old adage, “use the right tool for the specific job!” The new editor seems to a decent tool, but not the right tool, to me. Time will get me there, I know.

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    1. I think I am slowly getting the hang of it, I now know my way around it and it does have a couple of handy features but overally though I will agree with you it does not quite feel like the right tool for content creators of the writing persuasion.
      Thank you for sharing your insights
      ~B

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  14. I strongly believe in crossing a bridge when i get there. My first time using the Gutenberg editor, of course i ran away, haha. Past experience has taught me however not to run from my obstacles, but run to go get more knowledge about it, which of course is what i did. I took my time though and so far, i am back to using the new editor everyday. I would recommend the WordPress 5 Essential Training by Morten Rand-Hendriksen, you can find the course on Linkedin Learning, sign up for a month free trial, it’s more than enough time to learn how Gutenberg works. See https://www.linkedin.com/learning/wordpress-5-essential-training

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    1. Thank you Mary !!!!
      Gutenberg has become more or less my default editor I think I am getting the hang of it I will look up the course and see if I can upgrade my Gutenberg skillset
      ~B

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