Since its introduction, the WordPress editor didn’t see many changes over the years and for the most part, stayed exactly the same. While this is not a bad thing, there where many that thought it was time for a change and this is WordPress 5.0 also known as Gutenberg.
According to Yost.com
“Gutenberg is the first step for a bright new future for WordPress. It’s something many people often gloss over, but Gutenberg is not just a new editor for WordPress. It’s the start of something much bigger. Gutenberg lays the groundwork for incredibly exciting developments. Gutenberg is stage one of a three-pronged roll-out strategy. First, WordPress will get a redeveloped block editor, after that the project will focus on page templates and in the final stage WordPress will become a full site customizer. You can imagine, this gives us endless possibilities and it is a necessary step to keep WordPress the #1 CMS for years to come.”
Doesn’t it all sound like a really positive change, right? Well yes and no, there are a number of considerations, some good and some not so great. Below is a list of positives according to Kinsta.com
- For publishers that prefer the newer Medium style editing experience, they are most likely going to love the WordPress Gutenberg editor.
- Gutenberg provides a less distracting experience with more screen space.
- Blocks are fun to use and the new alignment options are a step forward for larger resolution screens and full-width templated and responsive sites.
- Already works great on mobile, and going forward we can actually see people utilizing this a lot more. Need to make a quick edit on your phone while on the go? No problem.
- The ability for theme and plugin developers to create their own custom blocks.
- Easier to use for beginners.
But there is also a bad side to Gutenburg, as kinsta.com goes on to mention.
- It is currently missing Markdown support.
- While we also listed it being easier to use for beginners, we can also see this as being harder for some to learn.
- As of October 2017, Gutenberg does now support meta boxes. However, this is only initial support and it will require developers hopping on board. However, it’s a step in the right direction. You can at least tweak your Yoast SEO settings now.
- With so many themes and plugins out there, backwards compatibility is going to be a huge issue going forward. In fact, there will probably be thousands of developers that now have to do a lot of work, such as those that have integrations with TinyMCE. Out of all the WordPress updates, this is probably going to be one that causes the most work for developers. Although there might be a wrapper coming which would enable TinyMCE backwards compatibility.
- Some are worried about the accessibility of Gutenberg. Joost de Valk, the developer of Yoast SEO brought up this concern. Make sure to also check out this post about using Gutenberg with a screen reader.
At the end of the day, Gutenberg is here to stay. We hope that over time any bug’s that might cause an issue now get swatted away leaving us with an easy to use interface and allows more users to create some beautiful looking website and blogs on the worlds most popular CRM. To sum it up we like what Nick Schäferhoff over at torquemag.io had to say.
“The biggest fear on the side of those opposed to Gutenberg is that the editor will break a lot of existing sites, plugins and workflows. Especially people working with or for clients. Aside from that there is a lot of criticism of missing functionality (that may or may not arrive later) and whether Gutenberg isn’t just for bloggers and content creators.
This topic will likely continue to evoke passion. Hopefully, in the end, we will find a way to address the main concerns and find a middle road that will work for most people.”
