WordPress has announced the release of the latest version of Gutenberg, now at 11.2. This update is incremental, meaning it’s not a major upgrade. However, it includes slight performance improvements to the editor, along with numerous bug fixes and new features that make version 11.2 a noteworthy update.
Gutenberg WordPress Editor
Gutenberg provides an official WordPress editing experience, offering an updated method for creating websites through a visual drag-and-drop interface. The primary aim of Gutenberg is to make website creation easier for all publishers.
One significant advantage of using Gutenberg over third-party website building plugins is that the code is embedded directly into the WordPress core. Many publishers have found that this integration can result in faster websites.
Gutenberg operates on a design paradigm of “blocks,” akin to building blocks. There are blocks for paragraphs, headings, columns, quotes, and so on. Each block can be customized to meet the publisher’s needs through an intuitive interface, making custom website design accessible even to non-coders.
WordPress describes the purpose of Gutenberg as follows:
“With blocks, you can insert, rearrange, and style multimedia content with very little technical knowledge. Instead of using custom code, you can add a block and focus on your content. Without being an expert developer, you can build your own custom posts and pages.”
To simplify the process, each section of a site—from the search box to the widget area—is created using blocks. All blocks available for building a web page are contained in a Block Library.
Changes to Gutenberg 11.2
One notable change in this version is an update to the search block. The search block, which allows site visitors to search the website, now offers more design customization options. Specifically, the search button now has additional color options for the button itself and the search box border.
Screenshot of Search Block Design Examples
More Pullquote Design Options
Similar to the search box update, Gutenberg 11.2 adds more color and border options to the pullquote box. A pullquote is a design element featuring a quote, often in larger font, to highlight important text. This feature is reminiscent of design elements from print media.
According to WordPress:
“The pullquote block’s color options have also expanded. There are now more distinct options for setting background, text and link colors. Border support has been expanded to allow selection of a border style, color and width.”
Updated Gutenberg Pullquote User Interface (UI)
Additional Improvements
Gutenberg 11.2 includes several bug fixes, such as:
- Allowing authors to select images uploaded by other authors
- Fixing code to prevent layout shift
- Addressing theme and plugin incompatibility issues in the Widget Editor
- Removing an outdated reference to Instagram from an embed block
- Improving code quality
Performance Improvement
While this update is incremental, the performance improvement for site visitors is modest. Gutenberg 11.1 had a loading time of 8.54 seconds, whereas Gutenberg 11.2 has improved slightly to 8.48 seconds. The keypress event metric, which measures how long before a keypress registers, also saw improvement, from 38.17ms in Gutenberg 11.1 to 37.89ms in 11.2. These are modest gains but are improvements nonetheless.
Should You Update to Gutenberg 11.2?
Publishers currently using the Gutenberg editor should back up their websites before updating to the newest version. Although the chances of compatibility issues are slim, it is always wise to have a backup to ensure compatibility with installed themes and plugins.
Publishers not currently using Gutenberg might wish to export their site to a desktop or online staging area to familiarize themselves with the Gutenberg editing experience.
Citations
Official WordPress Gutenberg 11.2 Announcement
- What’s new in Gutenberg 11.2.0?
- Search Block: Add color support to the search button
- Search Block: Add border color support
- Editor Performance: Drag and Drop
- Set passive listener option for use popover scroll to avoid affecting scrolling performance
- Drag items via transform property to avoid layout and re-paint
- Pullquote: add block support
- Widgets Editor: Fix plugin/theme incompatibility, call onChangeSectionExpanded conditionally
- I18n: Fix broken loop in WP_Theme_JSON_Resolver
