Technologies are constantly changing, and innovators are always trying to make life easier for users. In a computer-reliant culture, an easy-to-navigate webpage is an essential for all businesses. Without this, your product or service will likely fall behind other competition. WordPress is a platform that many utilize to create their webpages.  It is the software or CMS that we have built websites with since 2009.   It provides a relatively user-friendly system that even those with little to no web coding experience can understand.

Those who utilize WordPress to manage their company webpages and blogs are likely aware of the new innovation to the technology. The recently released, Gutenberg, is a new editor option for WordPress!

Get ready to make your words, pictures, and layout look as good on screen as they do in your imagination, without any code.

The system gets its name from printing press inventor Johannes Gutenburg, and requires users to use short codes as well as HTML when navigating the system. If you are a WordPress user, there are a few important things to know about this system so that you can best navigate it and utilize it in the most efficient way possible.

How to Install Gutenberg

The program is still relatively new, and it only actively installed on a percentage of WordPress sites. At this time, Gutenberg has to be manually installed as a plugin and is only available on the latest version of WordPress (version 4.8). If you’re interested in trying out the new editor, let us know and we’ll help you get set up!  If you're on a Care Plan, we'll set up Gutenberg as part of your monthly support!  Just sent us a request.

What's So Great About Gutenberg?

Check out this video of the great new features of Gutenberg from WordPress.tv

Watch the Gutenberg Demo

Once the application is downloaded and installed it can get a little complicated to navigate. You will likely see new buttons and options that you do not recognize. While many will jump right into navigating the system, it is recommended that you first watch the demo. This can be found in your WordPress dashboard as a new menu. The visual editor will likely look very different than the previous editor that you are likely more familiar with. Because of this, it is easy to get turned around when navigating through the new editor. The demo will go through and guide you through this new navigation so that the program, and WordPress itself can run much smoother for you.

How Does it Compare?

As mentioned before, this new application can vary incredibly from the current editor that many are familiar with. When comparing the two editors, the first thing that many users will recognize is Guttenberg has significantly more writing space than the previous editor offered. This is especially beneficial for those who are working with smaller screens and are seeking ways to remain organized.

Why Change WordPress?

Change is good! But it takes time to adjust, learn and ensure all parts of a website work together. The move to the new Gutenberg editor is exciting for us as designers and developers, and should be equally exciting for website owners and content managers. Hear what Yoast has to say about the new Gutenberg:

Gutenberg is the first step for a bright new future for WordPress

It’s something many people often gloss over, but Gutenberg is not just a new editor for WordPress. It’s the start of something much bigger. Gutenberg lays the groundwork for incredibly exciting developments. Gutenberg is stage one of a three-pronged roll-out strategy. First, WordPress will get a redeveloped editor, after that the project will focus on page templates and in the final stage WordPress will become a full site customizer. You can imagine, this gives us endless possibilities and it is a necessary step to keep WordPress the #1 CMS for years to come.
Read More at Yoast.com

Website management can be overwhelming, and at times these innovations can throw many for a loop. Many prefer to let professionals handle these complicated features of web marketing for them. If you are ready to trust your company’s web marketing needs to the hands of professionals, contact us Redwood Valley Technical Solutions and get a free quote today.