So, we wrote of the “next big thing” in webpage development, the Gutenberg visual editor, a couple weeks ago. We’re pretty excited about this WordPress-led project that will greatly increase the capabilities of WordPress’s backend. We were so excited, in fact, we forgot to talk to each other (literally).
It turns out that our Designer & Developer, David, has been quite excited, too. Plus, he knows the ins and outs. Even further, the Gutenberg visual editor was in the news last week for some unfortunate reasons. So, now is as good a time as any to revisit the Gutenberg visual editor and what it brings to the world of webpage development.
Borrowing David’s knowledge, we are able to showcase additional benefits of Gutenberg. The facets of the Gutenberg visual editor we previously wrote of are definitely respectable, but there’s even more there. On top the ease of adding rich content and the block-style page builder, Gutenberg represents the first “by WordPress, for WordPress” visual editor. Currently, any type of visual editing is driven by third party plugins. The Gutenberg visual editor should benefit users by alleviating some of the headaches these plugins cause, such as limited customization options or a disconnected user experience. Not to mention the negative effects it can have on the overall performance of your website.
David is also more connected in that world, too. So, we are able to bring you more things that potential users are concerned about. For example, Gutenberg is very much still a work in progress. Though there is great promise surrounding it, there is still some discussion on what the exact, final parameters of the Gutenberg visual editor will be. Additionally, Gutenberg uses a different scripting language (essentially, the process that builds webpages) than has been used previously.
The new project has moved away from PHP – WordPress’s primary scripting language for the last 15 years – into the niche realm of a new Javascript library called React; React being created by a tiny American company known as Facebook.
This brings us to the news that dropped last week. It appears that in addition to the raised eyebrows caused by WordPress’ choice to use React, there were some ruffled feathers. To summarize a blog post on this topic by WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, Facebook reenacted their patent clause on the language. This, then, impacts Gutenberg as it will need to be rewritten, delaying the release of the Gutenberg visual editor.
We are definitely still excited about Gutenberg and what it means for webpage development. Sure, there have been some concerns and, more recently, hiccups. David has been playing around with the beta version and submitting constructive criticism. (Side note: How great is Open Source!) Still, the Gutenberg visual editor represents a noticeable upgrade. After all, good things come to those who wait.