So let's talk about Gootinberg. Er, I mean, Gloot-em-bers? Guten Tag? Gluten Free? Let's talk about Gutenberg! My plan is not to share the pros and cons, but rather to share my experience using this new visual editor, as someone who is a “non-developer.”

Gutenberg is:

Gutenberg is Wordpress’ new editor with a mission to modernize, streamline, and to simplify their content creation experience. My developer friend, Nik, challenged the team to try out this new plugin to see how we liked it. I took him up on the challenge and decided to share the experience.

First, a little bit of history on the name Gutenberg, because if you were like me, you found it to be a pretty exciting name (and fun to say). The name comes from Johannes Gutenberg, the founder of the printing press over 500 years ago. Mr. Gutenberg was a pretty revolutionary guy, to say the least. I can only assume Wordpress is hoping for the same type of revolution with their publishing experience.

Gutenberg is available now as a plug-in and is looking to be fully integrated into Wordpress 5.0 by April of 2018. You can install Gutenberg by searching for it within your Wordpress dashboard under “Add New” plugins.

My Experience

After my first experience here is what I liked. The most significant aspect to note and something I liked is the ”block” feature that Wordpress is utilizing. It simplifies the process of creating a page by making it easier for me as a user to add rich content. I compare the feel of the process to adding widgets within a mobile app. It has a similar “drop and drag” feel. So even for a user who is relatively new to content management, like me, it made entering content very easy, and somewhat fun. When selecting a new block, your options are presented as a drop-down menu making the blocks easy to edit. When you highlight over a block, you see options to delete, move the block up or down, or customize the settings.  

Creating items like headers are made simple. I was able to create a header image with text and an overlay without entering any code. Forming and editing tables are made more accessible and can be inserted using the blocks. The same goes for creating an image or video gallery. Just a simple drag and drop, and boom! A gallery is formed.

I also enjoyed the overall look of the content. It gives you somewhat of a preview of your page and what it will look like without actually hitting “preview.”

So to wrap up my experience, I can say that Wordpress seems to be competing with other page building sites such as Wix, and Squarespace. Wordpress has provided a tool that is more page friendly than their previous methods of content management. Wordpress is making it to where you don’t have to be a developer to build a Wordpress website.

Overall, I give it a thumbs up, and can’t wait for Wordpress to incorporate Gutenberg fully. I'm excited to test out other functionalities within the plugin and see what all I’m able to accomplish being a non-developer. I would encourage you to go try it out! Wordpress is looking users to go and test out Gutenberg and give them feedback.

As always, Red Shark is pushing ourselves to learn about and be aware of all the new updates with these new editing tools. If you have any questions about your Wordpress site or questions about Gutenberg, contact us today to see how we can help. Check out some of our other blogs or check back later for any further updates on Gutenberg!