Gutenberg Gets A Bad Rep – Here’s Why It Doesn’t Deserve It.

This is coming from a user not a developer for the record. Or implementer if you want to put a label on it.

It Doesn’t Deserve It.

It’s not the elephant in the room; the Gutenberg editor gets a majorly lousy rap. Hand on heart? I didn’t like it either.

Who in the brightest of blue f*cks thought it was a good idea? Especially with page builders appearing left right and center. All were addressing a need from a content creation POV.

You’ve got Elementor, Beaver Builder and many more. Why bother building something new for users?

Me just now.

Everyone is used to the TinyMCE editor, hell it’s part and parcel of WordPress. Log in, start writing, click an icon make it bold insert an image (or use keyboard shortcuts for the fancy types) and you’re good to go.

I’m a user. And I don’t mean drug user for the record. I’ve been using WP for ages now, I love it, it’s easy to use, and there are always plugins to add that additional functionality you need. Themes to make it look sexy and whatnot.

Don’t Mess With The Editor.

I liked the old post editor, and I got used to it. It wasn’t perfect, but it was functional. I just got used to it, half of the CMS / eCommerce systems floating around used it, in one form or the other. So you just kind of got used to it.

Was it perfect? No.

Adding images and aligning them could be a pain. From a user perspective, it just hurt sometimes, especially if you had a long-form post, packed with content and images.

The screen would be all over the shop, continually hitting the preview button after saving the post, just because you might have inadvertently added space or something.

I adapted.

I adapted. So Can You.

If you’re happy using page builders and it’s easy for you. More power to you. I’ve used them, and each one has a learning curve.

Gutenberg does as well. It’s not perfect, shit, man, what is? It can be clunky and has its quirks but then what doesn’t? I used to install the classic editor ditching Gutenberg altogether.

Such was my disdain for it.

Guess What?

I played with it. Learned its charms, what works what doesn’t, can I do this, can I do that.

Once you get used to it, it’s SOOOOOOO much more accessible than using the old editor.

Its built for writers, made for those who love the written word. Intersperse it with images, preview it, add some different layouts, content boxes, etc.

You’re good to go.

Using Gutenberg, it made me think more about the flow of post. The layout of the content, what comes where, should I put this here? There?

I use it all the time now, I recently switched to the Classic Editor for a giggle, I couldn’t get on with it.

The Gutenberg Landscape Is Changing

There are a lot of decent plugins for Gutenberg blocks now, Yoast has some for FAQ schema and how-to’s, pricing tables by other developers, page templates, there is so much more you can do with Gutenberg now.

Here’s A Small Selection Of Recommended Blocks

Below are just some of the blocks I’ve used with Gutenberg. All offer different layouts, adding icons, some add animation to your content and much more besides. There’s a load of them on WordPress.org, some fair better than others.

https://wordpress.org/plugins/ultimate-addons-for-gutenberg/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/stackable-ultimate-gutenberg-blocks/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/kadence-blocks/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/ultimate-blocks/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/coblocks/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-options/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-gallery/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/kioken-blocks/

Give it a go

I’d urge you to try it out. Sure it has a learning curve, what doesn’t? Just don’t be blinkered in your opinion of it.

Give it a go, test, and guess what? If it’s not for you, disable it and keep doing what you do.

I guess all I’m saying is don’t be scared to give it a go. Remember you used to use the TinyMCE editor, you got used to that, so why not Gutenberg?

Try it. You might like it. As my dad always used to say about Brussel Sprouts.

My Dad.

I still hate them to this very day, carving out roast potatoes and creating a makeshift hidden cavity to scoop them in. I did try them, though.

P.s this post was made with Gutenberg.