If you work with WordPress, you’ve probably heard of or tried the “new” Gutenberg editor, which was launched in December 2018. But is it better than the classic editor? This is the question many users have when they start working with WordPress and haven’t had the chance to try the previous editor. That’s why we bring you the main advantages and features of this new editor.
If you are just starting out, we’ll show you how to activate the new WordPress editor so you can try it and draw your own conclusions.
How to Activate Gutenberg in WordPress?
The first step is to deactivate the classic editor so you can enable the new editor by following these steps:
Go to the WordPress sidebar and click on “Settings” and then on “Writing”.
In the section labeled “Default editor for all users”, you’ll see two options: “Classic Editor” and “Block Editor”. Select the block editor.
If you go to a page in the previous editor and it still shows the classic editor, select the menu with three dots on the right, click the dropdown, and then choose “Convert to blocks”.
Now, let’s talk about the advantages, pros, and cons of this powerful editor.
Advantages of Gutenberg Compared to Common Alternatives
After three years since its launch, we have fully tested the block editor and have a good understanding of its pros and cons. Here’s what we found.
Basically, Gutenberg is an adaptation of the classic editor into a more enhanced backend, better suited to the needs of modern users and WordPress features. The block editor uses a modular approach for all parts of your website: each piece of content, from a paragraph to an image gallery or a heading, is its own block. Like physical blocks, WordPress blocks can be added, arranged, and reorganized, allowing users to create rich media content intuitively without relying on shortcodes or custom HTML.
Gutenberg Pros WordPress
It evolves the editor into a page builder, enabling the creation of complex layout structures, which is especially useful for page editing.
It allows you to hide or display elements of the boxes with a single click, without the need for additional plugins.
Unlike the classic editor, where editing HTML often modified tags or added spaces, Gutenberg displays the HTML content exactly as entered.
Blocks are automatically created when pressing enter. While initially this may feel disruptive, it ultimately makes working more dynamic. You can also create new blocks by clicking the + icon.
Visually, the new Gutenberg editor is very clean, though slightly confusing at first since everything is hidden until needed. There is no TinyMCE toolbar in Gutenberg, and the real content occupies most of the screen.
Custom block reuse: Like many block editors but unlike the classic editor, Gutenberg allows you to save custom blocks and use them in different sections of your site.
Cons
It does not allow flexible columns. Blocks can only be added above or below another block, never side by side. This makes it more of a hybrid between an editor and a page builder rather than a full page builder.
Another limitation is that Gutenberg does not support drag-and-drop of blocks. If you want to move a block, for example an image block, you must recreate it.
Conclusions
The new WordPress Gutenberg editor is now part of the core and will continue to evolve toward a powerful page builder, breaking the barriers of the classic text-focused editor. If the block concept extends beyond posts, future releases will be very interesting. But before that happens, Gutenberg still needs to grow and establish itself as a true WordPress editor.
If you are one of the users who stuck with the classic editor, we encourage you to give the new block editor a second chance—it’s designed to compete with any page builder.
We look forward to future updates and improvements in Gutenberg. Do you have any thoughts on the new editor that we haven’t covered?
If you need more information or help with your web pages, remember that at Dos Setenta we have a team of web developers capable of achieving every one of your goals. If so… don’t hesitate to contact us!
