Can You Solve All Your Content Editing Problems with Gutenberg?

WordPress has come a long way since its first release in 2003. From new themes, security improvements and administration enhancements to a focus on mobile users and the addition of new media widgets — over the years we have all borne witness to the huge progress of the most popular CMS in the world.

Finally, the moment arrived when the WordPress team rolled out a new version of the platform with a cutting-edge content editor Gutenberg. The addition of this tool is one of the most revolutionary modifications the CMS has undergone in recent years. Not only has it introduced an entirely new way of working with content for WordPress users, but it also represents a fresh and completely different approach to website design and building overall.

Questions remain, though. Is Gutenberg a panacea for all your editing woes? Is it a one-stop WordPress editor or do you still need to look elsewhere to solve specific editing issues for your WordPress website?

In this post, we’ll try to answer those questions. First, though, let’s explain what actually brought about the need for a new editing tool and compare it with the previous core WP editor.

WHAT URGED THE WORDPRESS GUYS TO BUILD GUTENBERG?

Present-day CMS users expect a fast and convenient method to edit their content. It should be visual and intuitively easy. Take Squarespace, for example. Dragging-and-dropping content elements has become the order of the day, as well as seeing the changes on the screen in real time.

The classic WordPress content editor TinyMCE was light years behind its counterparts in many modern-era CMSs. Its most conspicuous shortcomings included (and still include) the following:

That spurred the WordPress team to have a round-table meeting and come up with a plan to create a new tool that could overcome the problems the venerable TinyMCE presented to its users. Has Gutenberg left those issues in the past? Yes, it has.

GUTENBERG: A STEP FORWARD IN CONTENT EDITING

The new editor is a real breakthrough compared with what was before it. Here are its main features:

CAN GUTENBERG MEET ALL YOUR EDITING NEEDS?

The new WordPress default content editor is a great tool, no doubt about that. Still, one of our leading WordPress developers Alexey believes that Gutenberg is not up to solving each and every content editing problem. Here is his take on the subject:

“Gutenberg is a perfect tool for pages with a large content area. It enables all users, regardless of their technical expertise, to edit text in any way they desire. They can easily add images and arrange content into columns. The page on the right is where Gutenberg shines:

It’s a different story when you need to create or edit pages with a complicated design like the page on the left above.

This design is unique. Gutenberg provides no out-of-the-box blocks for a solution like this. Yes, you can build custom blocks, but you’ll only be able to apply them to a specific page or even to a specific section on that page.

OK, let’s say you’ve built the page on the left with the Gutenberg standard blocks. You’ll have a hard time trying to reuse them on the other page. They differ in width and design. Using them in columns is out of the question too.

Bottom Line. Gutenberg is a handy editor, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. In certain situations, use the ACF plugin to add separate templates and fields. In others, trust Gutenberg, especially when you need to rearrange blocks on a page. Sometimes, a combination of these tools gives the desired effect.

More often than not, website designers know little about WordPress or the standard blocks it includes. As such, many of their designs are challenging to implement or modify in one specific editor.”

YOUR OPINION

What’s your impression of Gutenberg? Has it lived up to your expectations? Please share your thoughts in the box below.