WordPress Block Editor

Hello, dear readers! I am writing on this topic today to provide insights about the WordPress Block editor and to address one of my follower’s questions about the Block Editor. Sorry, Kevin, it was just too much to write in a comment! 😅

As you might tell, WordPress is ongoing a lot of updates lately. Safety reasons are on the top of the list, as we don’t want to leave or website pray to hackers. Apart from that, we get to experience new updates and upgrades along with a new version of WordPress.

WordPress Block Editor

I started writing on WordPress a long time ago, so my first experience was with the WordPress Classic Editor. However, not long ago the Classic Editor got replaced with the new Gutenberg Block editor.

If you are accustomed to writing to the Classic Editor, details may seem confusing and hard to comprehend at the start. I recall my first interaction with the Gutenberg Block editor (the website did let me know that an upgrade was done), needless to say, I went back to the Classic Editor after just a few posts.

I have to recognize that I feel uneasy and not understanding how this latest block editor worked altogether, it was a challenge. In time, using the Gutenberg block editor and going back to the Classic one made me discover the importance of the latest update, and took some time to study it.

Gutenberg Block Editor

Gutenberg and Classic are two separate editors for content development in WordPress. While the Classic Editor was a text editor with formatting buttons identical to Microsoft Word, Gutenberg uses an entirely different method called ‘Blocks’. Blocks are primarily content components that you can apply to the edit screen to create content layouts. Thus, each item attached to your post and page is a block.

This is how the Gutenberg Block Editor looks like (the language displayed is Romanian, my primary language):

Blocks can be added for each paragraph, images, videos, galleries, audio lists, and more. For the WordPress Free and Premium Plans, these blocks are based primarily on the theme used, as we cannot include WordPress Plugins.

What do I love about the Gutenberg Block Editor?

1. Creating a new post anytime I feel like doing it, either by selecting the top bar to write a new post or by going to ‘Posts » Add new’ to my WordPress admin menu. If I am writing a new page, then I can use the ‘Pages » Add New’ menu.
2. As the new Block Editor helps me to write my title and then move on to the first paragraph, I can start writing immediately.
3. Functionality. I love that I can move content elements up and down, edit them as individual blocks and create my posts faster and more efficiently.

Also, each block comes with its own toolbar, which displays at the top of it, and the buttons in the toolbar can change based on what I’m editing.

4. By clicking the ‘add new block’ button present in several sections of the page, I can add any block I want:

5. Key Words. Apart from clicking on the tabs to search the block, I can also use keywords to make my work easier. TIP: To enable the keyboard shortcut, type / to search and add a block:

6. Drag and drop. I love this feature because I can drag and drop any picture I want to insert into my post, and it will instantly create a block for me.

7. Pexels. I can add any free image on ‘Pexels’ by simply selecting an image block and clicking on the ‘Pexels Free Photos’ option. Here I can type any keyword for the preferred image, type on search, and Voila:

I don’t like the Gutenberg Block Editor, can I go back to the Classic one?

You can still change to the Classic Editor via WP Admin if you like. However, the Classic Editor will be supported until 2022, which means that if you don’t have the chance to switch to the Gutenberg Block Editor, there is yet time to learn.

WordPress offers free courses and if you want to learn even more, their Blogging U. offers free courses: https://en.support.wordpress.com/blogging-u and also free webinars: https://wordpress.com/webinars/.

Conclusion

In my view, the update to the Gutenberg Block Editor is a successful one. Not only does it deliver quick and simple handling, but it also offers a fantastic experience as a blogger. Taking time to read and understand this new upgrade is certainly going to benefit you, and it’s a step ahead in the future.