What does the WordPress Gutenberg editor do?

WordPress is the most widely used content man­age­ment system globally and is con­tin­u­ous­ly being developed further. One of the biggest changes in the history of WordPress was the in­tro­duc­tion of the block editor as part of the Gutenberg project (hence also partially referred to as Gutenberg editor). The block editor replaced the classic TinyMCE editor and brought a new way of content creation with it.

What is WordPress Gutenberg?

The Gutenberg Project is an ini­tia­tive to modernize WordPress. It includes several phases and aims to improve the entire WordPress ex­pe­ri­ence—from creating posts to full website design. The Block Editor is the first major milestone of this project. It was in­tro­duced with WordPress 5.0 in December 2018 and replaced the previous classic editor. Unlike the old text pro­cess­ing, which used HTML and short­codes, the new editor is based on a modular system of blocks. Each content type—whether a paragraph, an image, or a table—is its own block that can be in­di­vid­u­al­ly cus­tomized. This not only makes creating posts and pages easier, but also enables complex layouts without ad­di­tion­al CSS or page builder plugins.

History of the WordPress Block Editor

The de­vel­op­ment of the WYSIWYG editor began with the goal of making WordPress more user-friendly and com­pet­i­tive with modern website builders. In 2017, the first an­nounce­ments about the Gutenberg project were published. De­vel­op­ers and users had mixed reactions; some praised the in­no­va­tion, while others feared com­pat­i­bil­i­ty issues. In 2018, the block editor was made available as a beta version in the form of a plugin. By the end of that year, WordPress 5.0 was released with the Gutenberg block editor as the default editor.

Since then, numerous updates have improved func­tion­al­i­ty and user-friend­li­ness, notably the in­tro­duc­tion of Full Site Editing in WordPress 5.8 and 5.9. In the current WordPress version 6.1, the Block Editor is an integral part, offering more design pos­si­bil­i­ties with new features like Block Patterns, Reusable Blocks, and Theme Blocks.

How does the WordPress Gutenberg Block Editor work?

The WordPress Block Editor is based on a modular system. Each post and page are made up of blocks that can contain a variety of content. It has several features that dis­tin­guish it from the previous TinyMCE editor.

1. Blocks as the basis of content creation: There are blocks for text, images, videos, lists, tables, and much more. Each block can be in­di­vid­u­al­ly edited, moved, or cus­tomized.
2. Pre-made block templates: WordPress offers Block Patterns that allow users to quickly create pro­fes­sion­al layouts. This WordPress-Gutenberg feature sig­nif­i­cant­ly enhances user-friend­li­ness, as even complex layouts can be achieved without in-depth technical know-how.
3. Custom styles and layouts: Colors, fonts, and spacing can be adjusted for each block without requiring CSS knowledge.
4. Reusable blocks: Users can save their custom blocks and reuse them in multiple posts.
5. Full site editing: Since WordPress 5.8, the Block Editor also allows editing of headers, footers, and other template parts directly in the editor.

Pros and cons of the block editor

Like any major change, the block editor brings both positive and negative aspects. A key advantage of the Gutenberg Editor is its user-friendly operation. Thanks to drag-and-drop func­tion­al­i­ty, content creation is intuitive. The editor’s block structure allows for flexible design options and custom layouts without ad­di­tion­al page builders. Users are also less dependent on short­codes, as many features pre­vi­ous­ly added via short­codes are now available as blocks. With Full Site Editing, entire web pages can be directly cus­tomized in the editor.

Although the block editor offers many features, spe­cial­ized page builders are still superior in some areas. Another dis­ad­van­tage of the Gutenberg editor is its low com­pat­i­bil­i­ty with older WordPress versions and plugins.

Plugins to enhance the block editor

The block editor can also be extended with numerous plugins, as is typical for the CMS, which add ad­di­tion­al blocks, design options, and func­tion­al­i­ties. Some of the best WordPress plugins for expanding the Gutenberg editor can be found here:

• Spectra: Adds numerous ad­di­tion­al blocks, including advanced call-to-action buttons, infoboxes, and tes­ti­mo­ni­als.
• Kadence Blocks: Offers cus­tomiz­able grid systems, advanced forms, and AI-assisted in­ter­ac­tive elements.
• Stackable: Includes more than 40 blocks and layouts, perfect for pro­fes­sion­al designs.
• CoBlocks: Focuses on layout and design elements with ad­di­tion­al column, gallery, and hero header blocks.