You might have noticed this message asking you to try Gutenberg when you logged into your WordPress site recently. It was added with the 4.8.9 update to WordPress. (You are current on your updates, right?!) It’s a notice that the new Gutenberg editor is coming soon, and it gives you the option to try it out now, before it rolls out with the WordPress 5.0 update later this year.
As I watch the reactions to Gutenberg across the WordPress community, I have to chuckle. We humans really are change-averse. The very same folks who’ve griped long and loud about the limitations of the editor in WordPress are now among those most vehemently protesting the advent of the Gutenberg editor.
Let’s pause and think about this for a minute.
If you use a page builder (theme or plugin) like the Divi, Thrive, Elementor, Visual Bakery…think about why you do: So you can overcome the severe limitations of the core editor and create amazing pages and posts without having to be a programmer and write code.
(Maybe the person who built your site made the decision for you, but I guarantee that was the reason.)
Well, the folks who make WordPress have seen the light and said, “Hey…let’s completely revamp the editor and give our folks a built-in page builder that will let them make amazing pages and posts without needing a theme or plugin or custom code to do it!”
But changing such a big part of the core software does not come without a little chaos. And that’s where we find ourselves right now.
Ways to Tame the Chaos
- Understand the why of it all.
Watch this talk: Gutenberg and the WordPress of Tomorrow by Moren Rand-Hendriksen. - Get a feel for what it’s like.
Use the interactive demo they’ve set up for us to get a feel for what Gutenberg is like – and what it can do. Try it! - See it in action.
Watch a tutorial or two. - Get a plan together.
Joe Casabona offers this plan for testing your site to make sure it is ready. - Try it out.
Install the Gutenberg Plugin in your site and create a post or page or both. You can install it from the new editor notice you probably see in your site, or from the WordPress plugin repository.
Join us on the 2nd Thursday of the month at 1pm Eastern, and get answers to your questions about Gutenberg, or any other WordPress feature or function.
