Gutenberg: The new post editor

Nowadays, thousands of businesses all over the UK are using WordPress to power their website. Today, we look at Gutenberg and how it will change the future of WordPress. If you’ve been paying attention to the recent news, then you’ll know there’s a WordPress update coming soon, which sees version 5 take centre stage.

As a business owner, you need to know what’s coming so you can adapt to it without any problems being caused. In this blog, we’ll look at everything that’s changing when WordPress 5 comes out:

Gutenberg: how did we get here

The most significant WordPress overhaul comes in the form of a brand new post editor. It’s called Gutenberg, and it will replace the classic editor that you’ve been using for years on your site. The whole premise of this idea is that you’ll now have a post editor that lets you create pages/posts through ‘blocks’ and visual editing.

What are blocks? This is where things get pretty complicated for the average business owner. Blocks are a term used to describe the different things that make up a page. It’s not something you may have heard of before, and many owners are worried that this will overcomplicate the way they organise their site. As such, it’s becoming increasingly important to have an agency on hand to help you during this massive update.

WordPress claims the reasoning behind blocks is that they let you build a better and more attractive website without needing to code it yourself. You can change the look and layout of a site by taking individual blocks and moving them around to different places.

What difference will Gutenberg make to businesses?

Many people are calling WordPress 5.0 ‘Gutenberg’ purely because it’s the biggest change to the system. Before your business website upgrades to WordPress 5, you need to know what it will change.

For companies with ecommerce sites that sell products online, the good news is that Gutenberg could make it much easier to update your online catalogue and showcase your products. You can take a page and build it using the blocks, meaning you can pick and choose which products get shown on each page. There’s more potential to actually construct a visually impressive site that looks modern and has a clear layout. Furthermore, there’s no need for coding, which holds a lot of business owners back.

On the other hand, the downside of this update is that there will be a steep learning curve. The old WordPress editor had been around for years, and this one is hugely different from the previous iteration. If you’re not careful, this could lead to many website issues as your team gets used to the new way of adding products and maintaining the site.

What else changes with WordPress 5?

While the introduction of Gutenberg is clearly the main thing to concern yourself with, it’s also valuable to know what else is coming in the update. WordPress has unveiled three other changes to the platform which could make life easier for business owners.

First of all, there’s more of an emphasis on mobile optimisation. Almost all of the WordPress films are now going to be responsive. Not only that, but the way you maintain your mobile site is going to be more similar to how you maintain your desktop one, ensuring both remain in peak condition.

Then, there’s a new feature that lets you crop background images before they go live. This can help save time when you’re trying to get the right image for the background of a web page.

Finally, there are going to be new security plugins for WordPress 5 as well. With these, they aim to make your site more secure and protected against any incoming threats.

How should your business prepare for this upgrade?

Needless to say, your company has to start preparing for this massive upgrade. While the features mentioned above aren’t all that significant, the Gutenberg update is potentially life-changing for your business. With it, you will now be dealing with blocks, and the way in which you edit your site and create content is altered forever.

Naturally, it can be hard for a business to adjust in a short space of time, which often means you may see dips in your sales performance due to technical issues with your site. Which is why it’s more important than ever to use an agency if you want to maintain your website after this update.

If you need help looking after your website in the midst of the WordPress 5 update, or just want more help understanding it, then get in touch with us today. We’ll handle all your issues and ensure your website gets the most out of Gutenberg and WordPress 5.

Published with StoryChief