Gutenberg, the new editor for WordPress, gets a callout in WordPress 4.9.8. Users are asked if they want to install it as a plugin. When WordPress 5.0 launches, Gutenberg will be the default, with an option to use the Classic Editor. At that point, WordPress core code will be updated.
Things may get a bit bumpy for a bit. Old themes and plugins may have issues or stop working. Most developers are working hard to get their plugins and themes ready for Gutenberg. I’ve already had to uninstall cranky plugins that didn’t play well with changes in WordPress core code that are already happening.
I’ve been using Gutenberg since May on this blog. It’s like the Medium editor, however, IMO, better. It’s a new paradigm. In Gutenberg, everything is a block, which are reusable templates. A block can be a paragraph, image, heading, gallery, video, etc. Choose a block and insert it. It takes a little getting used to, however is more powerful and intuitive than the Classic editor.
Gutenberg Plugins are already appearing. Drop It gives the ability to insert free photos from Unsplash and Giphy directly into a post. Atomic Blocks adds several new blocks. There will be many more as Gutenberg rolls out.
Gutenberg is the soon to be released editor interface for creating content with WordPress, and many developers have already started building Gutenberg Blocks. The goal of the Gutenberg project is to unify the many ways content is currently created in WordPress and combine them into a consistent experience for the user. The Gutenberg editor puts the focus back on content and takes a drastically different approach to it than the traditional Rich-Text editor that ships currently with WordPress.
The concept behind Gutenberg is not new, it draws its inspiration from how old printing presses used a galley and chase to create reusable templates that could consistently reproduce the same layout. With its introduction comes the concept of composing content with blocks. Gutenberg Blocks function similar to the way most page-builder plugins currently work–by providing a way for users to visualize the layout and appearance of their content.