The Gutenberg Editor on the way to becoming a Page Builder
In another post about the Gutenberg project , I'll go into the latest layout features that have been added since my last test in November. These new functions show the new Gutenberg Editor on the way to the Page Builder.
In November I reported for the last time about the development of the Gutenberg Editor . In the post at that time I extensively tested and presented the Gutenberg plugin in version 1.7. In the meantime five more major releases followed up to the current version 2.2.0.
So a lot has happened.
Of course, there were again numerous improvements for design, usability, accessibility, mobile experience and extensibility. The editor is already being polished in many places and the list of bug fixes is long. A merge proposal for Gutenberg seems to be getting closer.
But I find the new features that have been added in the last few releases much more interesting. These show more and more clearly that Gutenberg should be more than just a new editor and reveal Gutenberg's potential as a page builder.
Block templates
With version 1.8 of Gutenberg block templates were introduced.
A block template can be imagined as a defined list of blocks that are displayed as a template directly in the editor when creating a post and already contain attributes and placeholders. The blocks then only have to be completed in full.
Example: An event plugin registers a custom post type for events with a block template. When creating a new event, the user is shown blocks for the image, description, date, time and location of the event, which he only needs to add.
At the moment, block templates can only be defined for complete post types, i.e. posts, static pages or custom post types. It is planned, however, that block templates can also be provided as page templates for individual pages from the theme and that the user can also save templates for reuse.
Reusable blocks
In December, version 1.9 came with the implementation of Reusable Blocks, which open up a lot of possibilities. In the German translation, the feature will probably be referred to as reusable or global blocks.
This means that each block can now be converted into a reusable block and saved. The saved blocks can then be reused in other articles and pages. The blocks are global, ie when the block is edited, it is changed wherever it is used.
Author bio, intro texts, newsletter info - the use cases for this are numerous.
Many plugins such as sliders and contact forms currently rely on custom post types, which are then inserted into the actual page with a shortcode. With Reusable Blocks at the latest, you can save yourself such CPTs in the future and simply install a plug-in for a slider or form block.
In the long term, reusable blocks will probably also play an important role if Gutenberg is expanded to other areas after WordPress 5.0 and widgets, menus and even headers and footers are to be based on blocks.
Nested blocks
The next interesting feature is nested blocks. This allows blocks to be nested, ie there are parent and child blocks. This feature is the requirement for a key component in any page builder - multi-column layouts .
Nested blocks are currently still in the making, but a first concept was published a few days ago with version 2.2 by Gutenberg. A new experimental block Columns and an InnerBlocks component have been added. This means that blocks can now be created in several columns.
The experimental status of the new Columns block for creating columns is quite clear. The whole thing still feels very clumsy. Therefore one should not judge this feature prematurely. Certainly the usability will be significantly improved by the next Gutenberg release.
Coming Soon: Drag & Drop
A list with all features and the scope of the new editor was recently published, which should be included with the release of WordPress 5.0:
While most of the features have already been implemented, you can still find the item Drag & Drop functionality for moving and adding blocks under Remaining.
With drag & drop, the blocks can be dragged to a new position with the mouse button pressed and thus arranged and sorted more quickly. Especially in combination with multi-column blocks, this feature is a must-have for a page builder.
Conclusion
The Gutenberg Editor on the way to becoming a Page Builder?
This thesis may sound a little daring and premature. After all, Gutenberg will not even come close to all of the features and options of the Page Builder plugins currently available on the market.
But don't forget the WordPress ecosystem. Numerous developers will publish new plugins for the release of WordPress 5.0 that will add additional blocks and expand the Gutenberg Editor with further options.
With nested & reusable blocks, templates and drag & drop, Gutenberg definitely creates many technical requirements on which developers can build. The potential for Gutenberg as a full-fledged page builder is there.
What do you think?
I still don't really know what to think of the new editor named Gutenberg, because on the one hand it all looks very nice and useful. On the other hand, such an impressive innovation also offers a lot of room for old, well-known overloading of functions. 😉
Also, I am not sure what exactly I should or can think of the anchoring of this new function in the core of WordPress, because in principle I always find it too questionable when users are forced to do something by developers.
Hello Stefan,
I also hope that the new editor won't be overloaded with too many features. As I mentioned in previous articles, I am also not a fan of the font size and color options.
No user is forced, because Gutenberg can be deactivated with the Classic Editor plugin. I think “force” is worded a bit hard. Any software needs to evolve to stay relevant. Of course, it's up to the developers (in the case of WordPress, the community) to decide which direction to take. But nobody is obliged to use WordPress, there are other CMSs 🙂
Many Greetings,
Brian
Thanks for the very informative article!
I think Gutenberg will bring a lot of wind to the page builders. At the moment it's all about compatibility, but that will turn towards competition. I am curious to see how far the page builders will start the race and whether and how they will manage to be one step ahead.
I think the page builders basically have two options:
1) Continue to offer their completely own user interface as an alternative to Gutenberg - at the moment, many page builders are also deactivating the current editor. Elementor, for example, only shows a button instead of the normal editor and the page builder is completely in a kind of customizer with live preview. Actually, even with Gutenberg, there shouldn't necessarily be a lot of changes here.
2) Make your modules accessible as Gutenberg Blocks and thus become compatible with the new WordPress editor. Plugins could practically build on Gutenberg and expand it into a full-fledged page builder. The SiteOrigin Page Builder seems to want to go this route: https://siteorigin.com/gutenberg-compatibility-page-builder/
Probably each plugin will go a slightly different way. Who will emerge as the winner in this phase of upheaval through Gutenberg will probably only show in a few years.
Since WordPress likes to be used as a CMS from time to time, I consider the addition of “page builder features” to the editor as a good idea overall. Thanks for the article!
Thanks for reading 🙂
I also see the need for basic page builder features and am quite optimistic about Gutenberg. A modern CMS should make it possible to simply create two columns even without plugins. Shortcodes are also out of date.
I just hope that the editor doesn't get too cluttered and that the core stays rather lean. Blogging and linear writing of an article should not be neglected with the new blocks.
@Stefan: What is meant is certainly not the politician, but the inventor of the printing press 🙂
@Brian: Again a valuable and interesting article. Thanks for that! Have a nice start to the week!
You are welcome! Thank you very much, have a good week too 🙂
If you look at the code and the large number of open issues on Github, some relating to fundamental functions, the planned release date “in April” seems rather optimistic.
Has anyone here tested Gutenberg with a real website? So someone who uses WordPress as a CMS and not as a simple blog with an event calendar?
Yes, I find April a bit optimistic too.
I think the real test phase will start soon as soon as there is a feature freeze and a merge proposal approaches.
Hello Brian.
I already use the Gutenberg plugin for practicing and thus have some experience.
I like what's new in store for us.
At the Block Gallery it would be nice if you could change pictures. I can only delete it and rebuild it.
Nor can I include a link to click on.
Greetings and thanks from Spain, Andreas.
Hi Andreas,
Thank you for your comment. I'm also very excited about Gutenberg.
The images in the gallery can be edited, not by clicking on the image, but using the edit icon in the toolbar. This opens the media library and the images can be exchanged.
External links for images in galleries will apparently not be included in the core, but will be left to plugins. See https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/5366
Many Greetings,
Brian