Wasn't it just recently that I wrote about how I hate change?
All the time knowing that WordPress had a big one coming, right?
Unless you've been completely ignoring messages in your WordPress dashboard, forums, blog posts, videos, and every other place that's written about the upcoming Gutenberg change, you know what I'm talking about.
In case you don't, WordPress has been preparing us for a change to how we create posts. They're replacing the current post/page editor screen with a VERY different looking screen and they call this change "Gutenberg".
Despite multiple questions from those on my list, I've ignored it as long as I can but the new version of WordPress (5.0) is out and if you update to it you're getting Gutenberg.
I took the plunge on a test site I have so I could see just what we're dealing with.
First, it does look very different and it is going to throw you for a loop BUT I don't think it will take you too long to adapt to the change. In fact, it's rather handy once you get the hang of it!
At the VERY top of that page (right in the box that says "Say Hello to the New Editor") you can create posts with Gutenberg to see how it works.
Try to create a post like you would normally. It's going to take a little poking around with the different options to make it work but it's not too bad!
I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to do my own HTML in a post but you CAN! Just click in the box where you've written your text and want to add some HTML, click the 3 dots for More Options, and choose to Edit as HTML. You can then insert your HTML, click the 3 dots again and go back to Visual.
It's like having both the Text AND Visual tabs available to you in the old WordPress editor screen.
If you find that you don't like it, there's a link at the top of your WordPress dashboard that says "Learn how to keep using the old editor" that will take you to a screen where you can install the classic editor screens.
I also tested Gutenberg with my AZON Breeze theme and AZON Breeze continues working just fine!
For any AZON Breeze posts , you'll see the exact screen you saw before as it's using the classic post editor screen. You'll see no differences in your custom post types that come with AZON Breeze and yet still have the new Gutenberg editor for any non-custom posts you want to create.
Obviously I can't test everything but I've tested the basics and here's what's important to me:
- There are no negative impacts to AZON Breeze
- Gutenberg can make post creation much easier if you hate HTML but want your posts to look nicer
- It will take a bit of playing around to get comfortable with it but it's not too difficult to understand
- You can revert to the classic post editor if you don't like Gutenberg
- You can add your own HTML to posts just as you would have before
- You get a better view of how your post will look when you actually publish it without having to look at the Preview screen
Keep in mind that I can't possibly know what other plugins you might be using and how those will interact with Gutenberg so back up your site before you install the latest version of WordPress in case you need to revert back.
Check out the test screen I linked to earlier and shove any fears aside. The world is not blowing up, after all!
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Erica Stone
erica@extremereviewer.com
