Trying Out the New Default Gutenberg Editor

WordPress 5.0 was released on December 6, 2018. And with the new version of WordPress came a new default editor – the Gutenberg Editor. So today, we will be testing out the new default editor and see what we can do to make our content attractive and appealing with Gutenberg.

The WordPress 5.0 update had also brought many other interesting changes as well including a brand new default WordPress theme – Twenty Nineteen, which is fully compatible with the new Gutenberg Editor.

The Gutenberg Editor was made default in order to bring some excitement in the editing experience. Also, you will have more flexibility with how your content will be displayed. The new editor is all about the blocks. Each piece of your content will be in its own block and you’ll be able to edit them separately.

Now, without any further ado, let’s dive into today’s article.

First of all, in order to use Gutenberg as your default editor, make sure you’re updated to the latest version of WordPress. And if you want to try it out first, then I suggest you go for the Gutenberg plugin. Set up a testing site first before putting your hands on the new editor. Also, do not forget to create a complete WordPress backup before starting the update.

Now that you’ve updated to the latest version of WordPress, you’ll be provided the Gutenberg editor as your default editor. It is a block-based editor that allows you to create beautiful layouts using content blocks. It comes with blocks to add most commonly used content elements. This includes blocks to add images, audio, video, photo gallery, cover image, lists, quotes, media, text, buttons, and more.

The first screen appears something like this:

Default Gutenberg Editor

Jot down your content and you’ll find that each paragraph will be given their own block to edit them separately.

Each block comes with its own toolbar and setting option. You can change its width, colors, and more.

block settings

In the settings tool, you have multiple options to insert blocks, hide the setting tool in order to have a better focus on the content, create a duplicate copy of a certain block, make a certain block reusable with your custom style to reuse them again in the future, pick your text color and background color, select your font size, and more.

Furthermore, on the left side of the toolbar, you will see a button that lets you transform your block type.

transform your block type

If you want to drag your block or want to move up or down, you can easily do it with the tool available on the left side of the block.

drag and drop option

With the Gutenberg Editor, widgets are also presented to you as blocks. You can easily add shortcodes, recent posts, recent comments, categories, and archives. If you relied on adding shortcodes to your articles, then you can continue using them as a block.

You can also insert blocks in-between any two blocks. Here, I am going to insert a cover image between two blocks.

cover image

For the cover image, you can choose your overlay color, select background opacity, and more in the settings.

cover image settings

The Gutenberg editor also allows you to embed videos, tweets, and more easily. Extend the embeds section under the + button and you’’ see all the supported embed options, which includes, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WordPress, SoundCloud, Spotify, Flickr and many more.

Embeds section

For a smooth and distraction-free writing experience, you can head over to the top right side of your screen and click the show more tools. It will then extend its properties and you can choose different options to get better writing experience.

show more tools button

You can enable the Top Toolbar option in order to access all block and document tools in a single place. The Spotlight Mode will help you focus better on one block at a time and other blocks will look a little faded while you edit a block. Choose the Fullscreen Mode to hide the toolbars and work without any distraction.

One of the many cool features that Gutenberg carries is the reusable blocks. You can simply edit a block you want to make it reusable. Reusable blocks are usually handy when you want to blocks with the same style or content. Click the menu dots on the block toolbar and click on the Add to Reusable Blocks to use the same block in the future.

add to reusable blocks

I have saved the block under the name ‘Style One’. To reuse the block again, you can head over to the Add Blocks (+) button and reuse it in other posts.

reusable blocks

These were only the basic features available with the new editor, with which you can improve your writing experience. There still are a lot of features in the Gutenberg editor and the developers are on their toes to make the editor as easily accessible as possible.

Have you updated to the new version of WordPress with new default editor yet? Do you like the Gutenberg editor? Drop your thoughts in the comment section below. We’d love to hear from you.

 

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