New WordPress 5.0 update is now available and brings news

The new update WordPress 5.0 (Gutenberg) is finally available, and the platform introduces a series of changes that should make life easier for users and developers. Gutenberg offers a makeover to the WordPress editor, a new interface for adding, editing and manipulating content.

Basically, the update seeks to make it easier and easier for anyone to create layers of content, through a block-based user interface. All types of page components are represented by building blocks, which means they can be accessed through a unified menu, placed anywhere on the page and edited directly to create the custom presentation the user wants.

But while some were excited about the update, many people are concerned (some even terrified) that this could be a huge shift in how we use WordPress today. So, in this post, we decided to bring out what we think is the most important thing about WordPress 5.0.

So what's the difference in WordPress 5.0?

If you are a regular WordPress user (and by that I mean “not a developer”), the only difference is the new UI for writing articles. Yes, at the moment it's just a new editing experience for pretty much the same functions as previous versions. 

Instead from the previous version 4.9 text editor (Tipton), you now get a specific field for each element you are adding to your content. With this new layout, each element is called a block. So the whole system for writing articles is now focused on adding multiple block elements, which can be aligned and combined via a drag and drop gesture to be as close as possible to what you get on the front end of the website. . 

Is this new block system better than the previous editor?

In terms of what you can achieve for your site with the previous version, there isn't much difference. All these functions are still common HTML elements like headers, paragraphs, images, galleries, blockquotes, lists, etc. It is also worth mentioning, some of the new elements introduced, such as new sizes for paragraph text and two sizes for blockquotes. But these are just small changes. 

However, when it comes to the UI itself, it's definitely a whole new, modern (and probably easier) way to add and organize content. And also with some cool features like automatic recognition and tile transformation when you copy/paste from various external sources. Well, we must all admit that the old classic editor used to be buggy, and I assume we'll adapt with the new block editor quickly due to this new functionality.

The WordPress 5.0 Block Editor

The whole point of transitioning to this whole new system can be seen from a developer's perspective. The purpose of WordPress is to provide an easy way for users to have a real “what you see is what you get” experience when creating/editing a website. Technically speaking, with the old editor system, WordPress was stuck in a ten year old tech era and is now able to do really cool things with this new approach. 

The block system provides an interesting way for developers to create multiple sets of new elements, as an addition to the standard blocks. Basically very similar to what you had previously with shortcodes, but now you are finally able to use it in a native way in WordPress. Also, you will get a clear idea of ​​what a website frontend will look like when editing in the backend.

I don't need to worry then, right?

It is worth remembering that all well-coded WordPress themes or a plugin must be 99% compatible with WordPress 5.0. Even if some themes and plugins need a little “polishing” for specific features, it will likely happen sooner or later at the same pace as WordPress users adopt these changes.

What if I want the old editor back for some reason?

No problems. WordPress intends to keep the old editor for the next two years. So if an existing plugin, theme or piece of content on your site is not compatible with the new editor for whatever reason, you still have plenty of time to adopt this new change. There are currently two ways to use the old visual editor in WP 5.0, using the Classic Editor Plugin WordPress and the Classic Editor Block of the platform.

Using the Classic Editor WordPress Plugin

The simplest way to go back to the old editor is using the classic WordPress editor. After installing and activating it, it will remove the new block editor and get exactly the same WordPress as it was in version 4.9.

However, our advice is to change the plugin settings and make both editors available. Then you can selectively use the old or new editor for each post depending on your needs and website setup.

Using the classic editor block

After upgrading to WordPress 5.0, you will see that all your existing posts and pages are added to a single block called “classic”. So when writing new posts, you can still just add one block and use it in the same way as you did in the past.

#PROTIP: Backup existing content before converting to blocks.

This is really useful advice for anyone who is unsure whether previously entered content will be compatible with the new editor. Before converting to blocks, simply copy the content of the post to a .txt file on your computer. If the conversion goes well, great! If not, just switch to the old editor (or use the classic block) and then paste the content back in. 

Because of the way it is structured, a whole new world is open to developers in terms of “block development”. Remember, everything with Gutenberg comes down to blocks. Because of this, you will probably hear this term a lot.

Comment what you think of the new changes in WordPress?