In this weeks Block News, the new Gutenberg Grid Layout Block, why Block Themes are faster than Classic Themes, the interactive API, two new native Ai Content Writers, the free plugin that fixes a big issue with Block Themes, and Alan Rickman reads the latest Gutenberg plugin review.
Links
Interactive API Proposal – https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/03/30/proposal-the-interactivity-api-a-better-developer-experience-in-building-interactive-blocks/
Block Visibility Plugin – https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-visibility/
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Why so many negatives? Other plugins clashing with it. I found this recently with Smart Slider 3, but the dev team there were amazing and fixed it overnight and gave us a beta version that fixed the issue….but stuff like that gets blamed on Gutenberg itself, when I think it's more other stuff clashing.
Stray cat hair floating around at 6:34
You're getting negative reviews about the blocks, I think because a) some people are just resistant to change and b) because a LOT of people on the internet are marketing products based on classic WordPress, and some of them would be quite capable of launching negative robot reviews.
Good question about the 1 star reviews. I always think that you will get a broad range of reaction to a tool, based on the range of skills possessed by those who are reviewing it. For anyone new to WordPress or web design, WP, its editors and dashboard might be a very intimidating place to be. At the other end of the spectrum you might have a developer that is very proficient and immersed in full stack development. You might find that for these users WordPress may not cut the mustard.
My own view as WordPress user is that it is not perfect but it’s good enough to mould to most use cases, with some workarounds.
I really like using the block editor for news posts with free form content, any way you want it; not so much for certain custom post types where I just want a pure data entry UI of custom fields where a template is used on the front end.
I see the block editor picking up some of the features I would like to see in the future as other area of the WP backend get updated. UI/UX design and coding is complex and takes time to mature.
Thank you Jamie for making such wonderful, useful videos. You gave me the confidence to build one , my first website. I will launch it shortly. I hope you continue this and reach out to many like me. Thank you once again
Truly good video!
Any thoughts or examples on a "blog" based site with a FSE theme? My efforts look kind of 1990s (and not in a good way!)
AI Writer his great!
Thanks for the "Block News video. Your video has really good information. I love Gutenberg blocks. I think if I didn't follow your YouTube channel, I would not be able to see its potential. You still have to have some HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript knowledge to use Gutenberg effectively. That could be the reason for one-star reviews.
My non-techie friends say Gutenberg is too difficult to learn. As a teacher myself, I think it's because WordPress does a poor job of teaching with its videos and scattered information. You, on the other hand, do a terrific job with your Beginner's Video. It is important to have a visual layout while learning and to learn what is important about each section of that layout BEFORE trying to learn all the tools or blocks. EX: The area applies to content; this area applies to each individual block, etc. Begin here and proceed: 1, 2, 3, 4. Many people attempting to learn this are not "techies." I found this difficult until your Gutenberg Beginner's video, which I will recommend to my friends who are confused, and they are many of them.
I've explored a lot of UI, page builders, gutenberg + block addons, I've used dreamweaver, webflow in the past… if you're an experienced web designer/developer that makes anything but basic blogs or image and text brochure websites, then gutenberg is simply not a viable tool to build with unless you consider Cwicly or pro themes and addons.
To put it more bluntly, the block builder is like a colouring book for kids. When you need the full set of web design tools, they're not there.
I watched your "build the Nike website in 30 mins" video which was interesting, but really it was a cheat; the Nike website (on the surface) is a very basic site in layout terms. I'd like to see the same done with another more challenging site that's not built with a few squares and rectangles. I think a billion 1* reviews speaks for itself.
(this is not aimed at you, I enjoy your channel and content 😉)
I really gave Gutenberg a go about a year ago. The query loop was new. Most blocks seemed unfinished, moving blocks around was clucky, what you see in the editor, is not what you see on the frontend, there was no convenient way to add CSS (which you absolutely need to)
Trying it again for the past week to build a simple blog. Not one of these issues has been solved! Really disappointed and confused. I don't miss any of your videos. I was expecting something revolutionary
I will have to go back, update my review, and give it one star. Elementor has improved more in a year than Gutenberg has
Lots of good news, thanks!
I've done the complete circuit of page builders – from Visual Composer, through Divi, Beaver Builder and Elementor. I've used them all. And yet I am now absolutely set on continuing into the future with Gutenberg. It does everything you need to do without any of the fluff. Sure there are a few areas where it isn't as "wizzy" as Elementor – but that's where you make up the shortfall with proper, targeted coding – hooks and actions – not more and more fancy widgets!
As you well know, the block editor is awesome. My theory about the one star reviews is they are trying to get on your show. 😉
thanks J!
What do you consider the best WP block themes for an affiliate site?
We really like the way you create these videos, well done.
I love your content. Thanks mate.
Gutenberg es lo mejor. Desde hace un año lo vengo usando y ya aprendi a hacer mis propios bloques. Los reviews negativos se dan a que las personas no son capaces de reaprender y cuando la herramienta cambia solo se quejan y lo que deben hacer es invertir tiempo para aprender a usarla. Yo he tenido que invertir muchas horas de mi tiempo libre para aprender a usarlo. Pero ahora gasto menos tiempo trabajando lo que se traduce en más dinero para mi porque ahora soy mas rapido haciendo sitio web
All the energy has been going to Gutenberg in the WordPress space and fanboys of the various page builder communities are resisting that change having invested heavily in money and time in them. Change is always difficult, but that’s a big part of technology.
Which new ai write do you use? What plug-in is it?
Grid block appears interesting. Looking forward to your review of it! And the AI!
Thank you for gathering the news and presenting them. They are much appreciated. When you ask about people's attitude towards Gutenberg, it is partly from the introduction, where people were unprepared for the changes.
And partly, it's a UI issue. Different page builders work in the front end, while Gutenberg works in the back end. Pagebuidlers are close to the outcome. In Gutenberg, it's not WYSIWYG, as the layout changes depending on which menus you open. As the width changes, you have to view the page in a smaller zoom setting in the browser to maintain the impression of the layout. I think people experiences it as challenging. The WP developers have discussed floating the sidebar and other menus, like the Toggle Block Inserter and the Document Overview above the page content. If that comes, it will be hard to argue for using page builders.
I like the look of the Interactive API. That looks super exciting.