Of The Gutenberg Editor: Review

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

Responses to “Of The Gutenberg Editor: Review”

  1. Renard Moreau avatar

    🙂 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.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Beaton avatar

      Indeed so am I…… I dont think its quite mobile friendly but maybe they might have tweaks up their sleeves to make it work
      ~B

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Shuvai Mlilo avatar

    I’ll give it try

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Beaton avatar

      It will be fun he says
      ~B

      Like

  3. Bryan Fagan avatar

    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.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Beaton avatar

      Thats why you never stop learning hahahahaha it does look like it has some functions made easier
      Constant pursuit of new skill sets
      ~B

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Dante avatar

    I hope it’s good.

    I had resorted to using the classic editor because the other one wouldn’t center my text and other things.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Beaton avatar

      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

      Like

      1. Dante avatar

        Oh really? Sounds quite promising

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Beaton avatar

        it could be a really really good thing or they just might break WordPress
        ~B

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Dante avatar

        If experience has taught me any thing, it’s most probably the latter.

        Is there a date for this roll out?

        Liked by 1 person

  5. dgkaye avatar

    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? 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Beaton avatar

      You are welcome ^_^
      who knows though you might be embracing the change and wondering how you used to create posts without it
      ~B

      Liked by 1 person

      1. dgkaye avatar

        I can wait, lol. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Dimples avatar

    I have learnt today! This post will make Gutenberg experience better. Thank you 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Beaton avatar

      You are welcome
      and my blog is in a state of shock my notifications are crushing on you like is it Christmas already ha!
      ~B

      Like

  7. Regina Martins avatar

    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.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Beaton avatar

      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

      Like

  8. Jenom avatar

    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.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Beaton avatar

      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

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Marts avatar

    Thanks for sharing this post, you’ve just about summed up everything I wanted to know about this…

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Beaton avatar

      Hi there!!!
      Glad you found the post of use.
      ~B

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Marts avatar

        Hi B, I tried out the Gutenberg, I think it’s pretty ok, the blocks seem a bit simpler to work with…

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Beaton avatar

        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

        Liked by 1 person

  10. Monaminga avatar

    I haven’t tried and I’m not eager. I came to tell you that I’ve nominated you for the Sunshine Blogger Award 🙂 Check it out here https://monaminga.com/2018/11/27/sunshine-blogger-award-2/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Beaton avatar

      Soon you wont have a choice in using it ha!
      Thanks for the nomination let me head on there
      ~B

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Monaminga avatar

        I’m really curious to read your answers 🙂 Let me know when you do.

        Like

  11. Josh Gross | The Jaguar avatar

    Hmm, I don’t like the fact that actual text seems to be an afterthought in the new editor. I hope WordPress realizes that some of us still like to write.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Beaton avatar

      That is one of my biggest gripes with it !!!!!!!
      ~B

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Josh Gross | The Jaguar avatar

    Okay, so I just played around with the new block editor a little bit. I found it to be quite easy to use, in contrast to my initial hesitation. Maybe this won’t be so bad…

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Beaton avatar

      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

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Josh Gross | The Jaguar avatar

        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.

        Liked by 1 person

  13. ramblingsfromanunpavedmind avatar

    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.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Beaton avatar

      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

      Like

  14. Mary Job avatar

    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

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Beaton avatar

      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

      Liked by 1 person

  15. Of WordCamp Harare 2019 – Becoming The Muse avatar

    […] installing the Classic Editor since Guteberg is “difficult” but I happen to like the Gutenberg Editor, its grown on me; this post was created with the Gutenberg […]

    Like

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