As a MVP-Minimum Viable Product the Gutenberg Editor is in continual beta to keep up with tough competition and changing requirements of “No Coding Required”, WordPress Visual Design and Editing
. But this is a common condition for the top tools such as Elementor [over a year of beta versions with move to Flexbox layout, etc] or the long time between updates for Beaver Builder and the many changes to the Thrive ThemeBuilder , just to cite major ongoing changes among popular PageBuilders So keeping up with the features of developer tools is an endemic endeavour.
However, there are three areas where Gutenberg Editor lags significantly behind the top PageBuilders. First the 41 Core Blocks that come with latest WordPress download have a pittance of styling options in comparison to what is available with every PageBuilder component. Yes such Gutenberg Blocks vendors as Kadence, Stackable, or Editor Plus manage to add styling to their own plus Gutenberg Core Blocks but not the same variety of styling options available with most popular PageBuilders. This is a significant gap that the meetup’s enhancements will address.
The second problem is that WYSIWYG layout goes awry in the Gutenberg editor as block edits are not always seen in the context of overall page layouts. So what you see and get at page preview is not what you saw during editing.. Also Gutenberg blocks “wiggle” as many blocks are “fitted together” on publishing. Finally, point and click operations on columns , margins, padding are just emerging in the Gutenberg editor while PageBuilders feature these capabilities. Now use of point and click Flexbox design options, already available in Bricks Builder and Oxygen Builder, is now coming to Elementor.
Finally, as a Designer I know I can go to one developer tool, be it Beaver Builder, Divi, or Elementor, for all my design and styling needs . And for dynamic layout, site wide style settings, plus advanced templating the PageBuilders have made the transition to ThemeBuilding ahead of the Gutenberg FSE-Full Site Editing endeavour. So for these reasons we present a series of Gutenberg Editor Enhancements.
The Gutenberg Editor Enhancements
The enhancements come in four categories:
1 – Don’t await the full release of WordPress 6.0 and FSE. rather usse style rich ,3rd party Gutenberg blocks and themes;
2 – When styling and design options on a page are important immediately use Gutenberg’s PageBuilder options like to takeover all or most of the pge layout and styling tasks. Beaver Builder, Divi, and Elementor can act as very capable substitute Gutenberg Blocks.
3 – Use standalone CSS Style Editos that bring point and click styling, animation and parallax/crolling to yourWordPres page. Checkout CSSHero, Micothemer, and Yellow Pencil which arebroad styling finesse to your WordPress websites.
This Gutenberg Enhancements Meetup is on May 4t at 6PM. If you find it valuable pass the word on , provide a link here, or send a Paypal donation to jbsurv@theopensourcery.com.