Gutenberg – Believe in the Beauty of Your Dreams
Gutenberg heralds a new era for WordPress and its ecosystem. The feature-rich editor makes it easier for people with a non-technical background—e.g. marketers, content creators, and really anyone — to quickly build sleek, high-performing, great-looking websites.
Rather than relying on custom HTML, embed discovery, and shortcodes to add dynamic content, Gutenberg offers a post and page building experience that makes it easy to create rich post layouts. Adding text, images, videos, and a slew of other elements can now be done through the use of content blocks, which are added (with a click or keyboard shortcut) as a post or page is being built.
The earlier way of designing websites involved using full page templates. These templates were helpful but very rigid and you ran the risk that your template matched someone else’s. With Gutenberg’s block approach, you get the convenience of pre-designed layouts, you don’t have to write complicated editor functions from scratch and you have the flexibility of picking and choosing each section as a “click and drop” and you can add the rich media that helps engage today’s digital audiences. With a nearly infinite number of blocks for a page, you can not only have the stunning website of your dreams but it can also be unique.
Gutenberg & Themes
At WP Engine, we’re excited about what this development means for WordPress, the changes it will bring to the theme ecosystem, and how we’ll be able to support both with our platform—with our Genesis Framework and also with an incredible customer success organization of award-winning WordPress experts.
When we announced our acquisition of StudioPress back in June, one of the key areas we said we were going to focus on was how the Genesis Framework would help WordPress users win with Gutenberg.
As we do so, we’ll share content here and on the StudioPress blog, which will offer a deeper dive into some of the following areas:
Backwards-Compatibility
Backwards-compatibility is something that is very much top-of-mind for developers and website owners who are following the evolution of Gutenberg. They’re especially interested in the way Gutenberg might affect existing plugins and themes, particularly if Gutenberg launches before those plugins and themes are backwards-compatible.
Despite concerns that Gutenberg would launch too early, that simply hasn’t been the case, and in recent months a herculean effort has gone into checking a considerable subset of the most-used plugins to make sure they’re Gutenberg-compatible. An equally heavy lift has been undertaken by plugin and theme authors to update their code to be Gutenberg-compatible. Based on these efforts, we are confident that the Gutenberg team is taking backwards-compatibility very seriously and are continually making improvements in this area. Further, we know the community at large is also doing everything it can to help.
Generally speaking, most sites will have very few issues when it comes to backwards-compatibility with Gutenberg, and the Classic Editor plugin (discussed later), makes it easy to keep using the old WordPress editor and take your time adopting Gutenberg.
With regards to Genesis, the good news is that it has no substantial backwards-compatibility issues with Gutenberg. The main focus of updates to the StudioPress themes are focused on adding styles for the new Gutenberg blocks. However, what we’re most excited about are the brand new features we will be adding to Genesis and the StudioPress themes, that Gutenberg helps enable.
Gutenberg-First Themes
Beyond just being “compatible,” Genesis will play a big role in being Gutenberg-First. That means not only supporting the software and ideals of Gutenberg, but using them for new features. In doing so, it’s our intention to light the way for the countless agencies and developers who use WordPress to fuel incredible digital experiences that are made even easier with Gutenberg.
Breakthrough Pro, for example, is the first Genesis-built theme WP Engine has released since our acquisition of StudioPress. The theme was built with today’s creative, digital agencies in mind, and in addition to being optimized for mobile devices, Breakthrough is fully compatible with Gutenberg, it will also be updated after the release of Gutenberg (along with all StudioPress themes) to include additional features which allow users to take full advantage of the power of Gutenberg.
In addition to the work we’re doing with new Genesis themes, we’re also creating ways to make content blocks more efficient, performant, and portable across child themes as part of the core Genesis framework. Part of this effort includes looking at how to leverage the block options that Gutenberg offers (suggesting theme colors, fonts, etc. in the block admin UI) to help content creators stay on brand and fully within their style-guides.
Slow and Steady Approach
Offering Gutenberg-compatible themes is one way we’re helping content creators take advantage of the new editor. Another area we’re exploring is how we can help people get started with Gutenberg, rather than jumping directly into the deep end.
A great way to do this is by using the Gutenberg Ramp plugin, which adds a settings screen where users can enable Gutenberg selectively, for specific post types. Users are also able to use the plugin to specify Gutenberg loading behavior in code, and Ramp works with the plugin version of Gutenberg, as well as the core version.
The Classic Editor plugin is a way to preserve the previous editor experience in your site. This plugin is expected to be maintained for the foreseeable future and will be an essential tool for easing users into full adoption of Gutenberg.
Additionally, your custom post types with custom meta fields will still work after the Gutenberg update, including those using Advanced Custom Fields and the TinyMCE editor, which will be part of core for the foreseeable future. The experiences you built will still work!
Just as with any big change, there is a period of time necessary for adjustment. The same is true with Gutenberg, and we’re standing by to help users find their way towards full Gutenberg adoption during that time, so they can reap the many benefits the new editor has in store.
Keeping WordPress Updated
Keeping WordPress up-to-date with the latest version is a crucial component of keeping the CMS running smoothly and more importantly, keeping it secure. This isn’t just a WordPress-specific issue, it’s a critical reality of technology. Just like with the apps on your mobile phone, it’s important to upgrade WordPress from time to time in order to ensure it always performs at its best.
Gutenberg should not be used as an excuse to refrain from updating to WordPress 5.0 when it’s released. Quite the contrary—our hope is that Gutenberg will be the reason many people update to 5.0 once it’s made available. We hope it will also bring in many new users to WordPress from other solutions because of how it takes the simplicity of building posts, pages, and sites to a new level.
As discussed previously, the backwards-compatibility of Gutenberg is strong and the use of the RAMP and Classic Editor plugins means you can take your time in adopting Gutenberg as a page editor, and still be able to keep up with the most recent version of WordPress!
In an effort to combat some of the misconceptions about Gutenberg and help people feel more comfortable with it before they make the switch, WP Engine will continue to publish content with advice and instructions on how you can deploy WordPress 5.0 in measured, safe, and effective ways.
Gutenberg is the Future
Our overarching mission at WP Engine is to help you win with WordPress, and that means helping you win with Gutenberg. We believe the new editor will be ready for prime time when it launches, and it is already enabling content creators to build beautiful websites with more ease and intuition than the legacy editor.
In the coming weeks and months, we’ll continue to update the WordPress community about the efforts we’re taking to put the Genesis framework as well as our WordPress experts to use, so you can sort through the noise and begin putting Gutenberg to work for your website(s).
We’re looking forward to this opportunity to help you win with Gutenberg, and we’re excited to join you on that journey. Stay tuned!
Want more info about Gutenberg? Check out our on-demand webinar: Embracing the Change: How to Win with Gutenberg.
You should use page design builders like Beaver Builder. Almost everything you mention above is already done by them. You say that ALL pages are build on templates… NO they are not. You are wrong. You really need to work with page builders to understand how incorrect your above article is.
Hey James. We actually use Beaver Builder quite extensively in our landing page building system at WP Engine. You’re right about the power of these types of technologies today, and we’re looking forward to seeing Gutenberg evolve to capture much of those capabilities in WordPress core itself. IMO the flexibility and extensibility of Gutenberg make it such that you can use Gutenberg in many of the same ways that Beaver Builder and other tools do today. There is of course still more progress to make, but we’re excited for the ease of use this brings to WP core itself.
This reads like a sales blurb for Gutenberg and fails to consider its main disadvantage: the UIX is awful for beginners and infrequent users. There are too many visual controls that only appear when a mouse is waved over them, and absolutely no help in showing the block/section hierarchy for the infrequent user.
Have you tested it at all with real users? At least the Classic Editor has a reasonable level of similarity to MS Word, which is the one thing that nearly all users are familiar with!
Hey Peter. These are really good points. I’m not privy to user testing by the Gutenberg core team; however, there have been ~500K sites that have tested the Gutenberg plugin so far. This is well above the testing criteria set by the core team.
I agree that the “Word Doc” like experience of the current TinyMCE editor is easy for many users to understand.
That being said, having personally trained many novice users, when you get beyond creating a page of content (e.g. a blog post) and into building more complex pages (e.g. home pages, landing pages, ecommerce pages, etc.) the use of the TinyMCE editor starts to be too confusing for users and frankly not helpful.
Of course, people build sites with Custom Post Types and Custom Meta fields to deliver better user experiences (these are still supported with the Gutenberg update FYI). I personally think of Gutenberg as an extension to CPTs/CMFs which instead modularizes those experiences and makes them much easier to re-use across pages you build.
Just like CPTs/CMFs made WordPress easier to use, I believe Gutenberg will as well.
Users can also use blocks within the Gutenberg context to write a page of content just like you would in the current version of WordPress (Classic Editor block). If you like the “Word Doc” approach to creating content, you still can even with Gutenberg.
Additionally, you can use the Classic Editor plugin to keep using the classic TinyMCE editor even after Gutenberg is released. The CE plugin basically turns off Gutenberg.
There are a lot of modern site building tools that use a similar block based approach including many within the WordPress ecosystem to great success. IMO, having these capabilities as part of core is important and helpful for WordPress.
Of course, as I mentioned, if you’re not ready to use the Gutenberg editor, you can always use the Classic Editor plugin or Classic Editor block to take your time. The choice is yours 🙂
In the beginning, “Word” like UI/UX was nearly impossible for people to learn. I know because I taught it to them. So, it’s all relative. I think G will be just fine. One cannot be anywhere near anything tech related these days without coming across a 15 minute learning curve here and there. Yeah, they’ bitch and moan about having to actually learn and think for 15 wh0ole minutes, and then it will be a moot issue 🙂
Wix/Squareapsce/shopify, none of these are perfect either. But where would be be without them?
Dave
The real users I train, who are overwhelmingly beginners at WordPress and super busy with other work, love Gutenberg and hated the Classic Editor. Change is tough and frustrating for humans and this change has been presented to the WP world poorly, in my opinion. However, Jason’s take is right. Gutenberg is better than the classic editor. Personally, I think that’s a low bar, but I’m excited by how new users and people who never enjoyed the old editor are reacting.
Peter, have you ever taught a WordPress beginner how to create a home page or an e-commerce page? I teach low-literacy folks frequently (many of them youth creating sites for their raps), and they can do these complicated layouts much easier in Gutenberg. Also, tasks they once struggled with, like adding a MailChimp form, adding a reasonably attractive video archive, inserting an audio file or adding a full-width image/images, they can now accomplish on their own. Gutenberg is already way easier for non-techs (but yes, starting with 5.3 onward). Thank you, WordPress, WP-Engine, StudioPress and Atomic Blocks — you are really empowering non-techs to build amazing sites.
[…] On the latest episode of the newly revived StudioPress.fm podcast, StudioPress founder Brian Gardner said one of the reasons he sold the company was because he needed outside help to take it where it needed to go in the Gutenberg era. The Genesis community has nothing to worry about when the new editor launches in WordPress 5.0, because StudioPress has already made its framework and themes Gutenberg-ready. […]
[…] through investment in new theme capabilities and developer talent, as well as the release of new, Gutenberg-ready StudioPress themes, we’re now expanding that focus to include a refresh of Genesis’ digital […]
[…] and one fifth of the top 200,000 websites, is set to announce one of its biggest breakthroughs, Gutenberg, a component-based approach to building websites and web pages. While speaking at the summit, Jason […]
What we’re seeing about users reactions to Gutenberg is just a sign of the fear of leaving the comfort zone so common among people. Most of Gutenberg’s haters just forget they had to learn to use the TinyMCE editor anyway, in the beginning, and those who’re using theme builders forget the need to learn these, too.
Gutenberg is the future of content editing (not just in WordPress, as we can see), and the future of WordPress in its whole as far as we’re taling about contents layout.
Denying the future is like trying to fight technology and change in general, it’s just a matter of being curious and willing to keep learning new things, forgetting that some things, although ‘free’, require at least an investment in the form of thought and time.
Gutenberg blocks are spreading even more widly and fast than any other kind of plugin before, and it’s a sign of the developers’ passion and faith in WordPress.
The fuure is now, and it’s great. Those who aren’t ready, can do their best to make it so, or deny the present and future of this beautiful CMS and maybe stick to a fork like ClassicPress or get ready for a radical change using another platform… keeping in mind that Drupal itself is embracing Gutenberg blocks, and others may follow.
“Generally speaking, most sites will have very few issues when it comes to backwards-compatibility with Gutenberg”
Any plugin that is compatible with all my other plugins has the thumbs up from me. I like to have options available especially with back end editing. Looking forward to run with this.