What is Gutenberg?#

Gutenberg is WordPress's current content editor. Instead of one big text box, every piece of the page is a "block": paragraph, heading, image, table, button, video and more. You can move blocks around, duplicate them or adjust their color and size.

Example#

To build a "Services" page, you add a heading block, a columns block with three service cards, an image block and finally a contact button. All of this happens in the same simple editor.

Why does it matter?#

  • It reduces the need for a page builder plugin for simple jobs
  • It is lightweight and produces cleaner code
  • It has ready-made patterns, and blocks can be reused many times
  • It is the foundation of Full Site Editing

Custom blocks#

Developers can build their own blocks with JavaScript and React and add them to the editor. Many plugins also ship their own blocks.

Common mistake#

Thinking Gutenberg is a separate plugin. Gutenberg is a core part of WordPress. If you want the old editor, you need to install the Classic Editor plugin.

Getting started#

To learn, create a test page and try out different blocks. Typing a slash followed by a block name quickly adds that block.