Easing into Gutenberg: Trubox & OpenETC updates to WordPress 5.x

When you hear the name Gutenberg do you think of this guy?

Johannes Gutenberg

Or this book?

Gutenberg Bible (facsimile)

Or this website?

It’s certainly understandable if you do. What I’m going to look at here though is a WordPress-related thing introduced in the latest versions of WordPress. Gutenberg in the WordPress sense refers to a new text editor that has a ton of great features.

‘Really?’ I hear you say, you are pestering me about a text editor? Yes I am, that’s just the way I roll. Besides, once you get used to it I think you are going to love it. Even better, if you don’t have the time or bandwidth for it right now you can carry on as usual and check it out at your own pace. Here’s a link to WordPress’s announcement about gutenberg: https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/.

So, what about my Trubox or OpenETC site?

If you do nothing, you will probably notice no change and can carry on as you have been. If you want to start easing into Gutenberg you can do so as quickly or as slowly as you like. You can use one editor for one post, the other for another or even switch between them at will (although I personally think that this latter approach is a recipe for confusion.)

What follows here are some screen captures with some steps/notes on how to enable Gutenberg (referred to as the ‘Block Editor’ inside of WordPress) for your Trubox site, how to begin editing with it and how to move between the two editors if you wish. After that are some links to a couple of great Gutenberg introductory tutorials and a link to an excellent Gutenberg resources.

Turn on Gutenberg

In your site Dashboard (1), in the Settings Menu (2) in the Writing settings (3) you have two sets of options. You can decide which editor your new posts and pages will use by default (existing posts and pages will be linked to the classic editor). You can also decide whether users (including you) should be able to switch editors or not.

Okay, so where is this damn Gutenberg anyway?

Each post or page is clearly labelled with the editor it was last edited with: Block Editor (Gutenberg) (1) or the Classic Editor (2). Also, you can decide which editor you want to edit it with this time. (3)

What if I find myself in the wrong editor, or I just want to go to the other one?

Switch from the classic editor to the block editor (Gutenberg)

Check your sidebar for the Editor widget (1). Note: you may have different widgets displayed in a different order than they are here. If for some reason the Editor widget is not there you will have to return to the All Posts listing and select an editor from there. (Note: some plugins, such as Site Origins Page Builder may interfere with this.)

From the block editor (Gutenberg) to the classic editor

Drop down the menu under the vertical 3 dots in the upper right (1). Use the Switch to Classic Editor menu (2). (3) The Visual Editor/Code Editor pairing is to switch between writing HTML yourself or using a visual editor instead.

So how do I use the Block Editor?

Rather than writing it up myself there are a couple of excellent introductions out there in internet land that I’ll point you to.

Further resources

I’ll also direct you to the Gutenberg Hub for curated links and resources for all user levels. Stick to the Get Starting menu if you are just getting started.

https://gutenberghub.com/

Help!

If you get stuck, or just want to offer feedback, leave a comment or drop me an email: twelch@tru.ca

Good Gutenbergging!