In January 2017, Matt Mullenweg announced the Gutenberg project. A project that would change the way people created websites and content in WordPress. After nearly two years, Gutenberg has been merged with core in WordPress 5.0.
A long time coming
The WISIWYG editor hasn’t had a massive update in over 15 years. Gutenberg introduces a block-based editing system. Developers can make custom blocks which will save time when creating posts.
Designers can customize their sites even more than ever before. The idea is to make it easier for first-time users to get a handle on WordPress, and create beautiful sites quickly and affordably.
WordPress has changed a lot in the last 15 years and the editor has been left behind. Though it’s a big change, it’s a necessary one.
Democratizing Publishing
WordPress has always existed to “Democratize publishing.” Gutenberg will take us even closer to that goal and to conquering the remaining 30 percent of the web.
As Mullenweg said in a blog post from 2017, “WordPress has always been about websites, but it’s not just about websites. It’s about freedom, about possibility, and about carving out your own livelihood, whether it’s by making a living through your site or by working in the WordPress ecosystem itself. We’re democratizing publishing — and democratizing work — for everyone, regardless of language, ability, or economic wherewithal.”
Change can be scary
Though the idea of such a massive change can be scary, every user should try out Gutenberg in a staging environment. Until you feel comfortable with the project, you can enable the Classic Editor plugin to go back to the original editor.
The future of WordPress
5.0 has been a long time coming, and we are excited to see where it takes WordPress. Gutenberg is a huge step forward for the CMS. It carries us on our mission to bring WordPress to everyone.
We want to thank the hundreds of developers who spent their time making sure 5.0 was ready to go live, and the countless others who tested Gutenberg and gave feedback.
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