WordPress 5.9, code-named Josephine, has been released. The significant news about 5.9 is that Gutenberg now has full site editing capabilities, making it ready for use in a live publishing environment.
Gutenberg is the future of content management, and with the release of WordPress 5.9, that future is now. It’s time to explore what Gutenberg has to offer. You may find that sites load faster, are easier to design, and provide a better user experience, which may help you exceed your business goals.
### Should You Wait Before Trying WordPress Gutenberg?
Some may feel safer waiting a few months or longer before downloading and using Gutenberg. That’s a reasonable approach to adopting new technologies.
However, Gutenberg is not a new technology. It has been in development since November 2017 and has been continuously refined.
So there is no reason to worry about Gutenberg being new because it’s not. The new site editor is a fully mature product.
Sections of the full site editor have been released and tested over the intervening years, culminating in the release of WordPress 5.9.
Gutenberg has finally reached full site editing status and is ready for live production sites.
In fact, sites are already being built with Gutenberg, and many templates are available for it now.
If you’ve used page builders like Divi or Elementor, you’ll feel comfortable using the new Gutenberg full site editor.
The idea behind Gutenberg is to make building sites easier. There is a lot of incentive to adopt Gutenberg and get ahead of the curve.
Perhaps the most prudent step is to create a staging area for familiarizing yourself with Gutenberg, either online or on your computer with a desktop development environment that simulates a web server.
### Gutenberg Navigation Block Editor
The old way of customizing a WordPress page was to open the Customizer on a different web page in the administrator section.
For those who choose to use Gutenberg, the old Customizer is replaced by the site editor.
The site editor can be used to style the entire website or a single template.
Those who have used a page builder will understand blocks immediately.
The block paradigm divides a web page template into sections called blocks. A web page template is simply a group of blocks organized to form the design and styled with fonts, colors, and images. Every block has styling options for fonts, layout, and colors.
### WordPress Default Block Theme
With the release of WordPress 5.9 comes a new default block-based theme named Twenty Twenty-Two (2022!). It’s a good place to start getting accustomed to the new block-based full site editor.
WordPress announced that version 5.9 improves the publishing flow:
“WordPress 5.9 features new typography tools, flexible layout controls, and finer control of details like spacing, borders, and more—to help you get not just the look, but the polish that says you care about details.”
It also features a Pattern Directory to help publishers swap in premade blocks that can be customized. WordPress 5.9 contains drag-and-drop functionality that makes it easy to place page elements where you want them.
“In 5.9, the List View lets you drag and drop your content exactly where you want it. Style every image in your gallery differently, or make them all the same, except for one or two. Or change the layout with drag-and-drop.”
There are many other free and paid Gutenberg-compatible templates available.
### Learn How to Build Sites with Gutenberg
WordPress has published a web course titled “Simple Site Design with Full Site Editing” to teach publishers how to build sites with Gutenberg.
Some may feel hesitant about trying out the latest and newest version of anything, which is understandable.
Gutenberg may be the latest and newest, but it’s been around for years and is ready for action.
Considering that this is the future of WordPress, it makes sense to explore its capabilities and understand how it can benefit your business.
### Citations
#### Read the Official Announcement
WordPress 5.9 Josephine
#### Learn How to Build with Gutenberg
Simple Site Design with Full Site Editing
#### Read About the Gutenberg Site Editor
Site Editor
