Gutenberg Times Live Q&A
Carrie Dillis * Matt Medeiros (Pagely) * Joe Casobona
MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS
- Setting the foundation.
- Do not take responsibility for WP core.
- Don’t promise to make sites backwards-compatible.
- Have a contract so that everything is crystal clear.
- Have a sane development workflow.
- Make a note of the value you bring to a project.
CHECKLIST FOR GUTENBERG COMPATIBILITY
- Have a staging site
- Backup site
- Update to WP 5.0
- Start changing things
- Install Classic Editor just in case you need it
HOW TO TEST A THEME FOR GUTENBERG COMPATIBILITY
- Backup site
- Update to WP 5.0
- Test on mobile
- Gutenberg cover block: you can add video into it.
PLUGINS
- Atomic Blocks – https://atomicblocks.com/ (looks great!)
- ACF is in beta, testing a block-based mode
- Caxton is similar to Atomic Blocks
- Any conflicts when using more than 1 block libraries/plugins?
Q&A – GENERAL CONCERNS – BIZ OPPORTUNITIES
- Site Speed: Page-builders add a lot of excess HTML code, whereas Gutenberg adds comments. Speed on the back-end is probably affected, but perhaps not on the front-end. Divi > Elementor > Beaver-Builder (slowest to fastest).
- A lot of the page-builders make the site into a “closed system”, where you can’t migrate into a new theme without manual cut and paste.
- It’s expensive to build a theme. Gutenberg may generate an explosion of new themes.
- Building new themes – think about sticking with one block system (I would choose Gutenberg), then what kinds of features to add in to achieve good SEO, lead generation, appealing landing page, great typography, selling products, marketing
- Genesis has a couple of recent updates that make it easier to create themes.
- Get your tools and process ready. Streamline so that your production time is effective.