Anja is an experienced front-end developer and Fabian is a former agency owner, who recently switched back to the fabulous world of front-end engineering. Both are using Gutenberg on a daily basis and are ready to share their tips and tricks.
What was your motivation to become a speaker at WordCamp Prague 2020?
We have learned so much from others sharing their knowledge on the topic and wanted to return that favor. Because we have been treated very kindly by the WordPress community we want to give back something.
What can attendees learn at your workshop?
Building Blocks for the new WordPress Editor, using a modern set of tools that make it approachable to do so.
Who can benefit the most from your session?
Mainly developers but also everyone who is interested in learning how blocks are built. Whether you’ve been building Themes and Plugins in PHP for years or are new to WordPress development.
What are a few takeaways that attendees will get from your talk?
They will gain an overview of what components a block can contain and how it can be enriched with styles, format and color options to name only a few. So they will hopefully end up with an idea for their first own custom block in their next WordPress project.
Do you remember where you have tried Gutenberg for the first time and what was the very first block you ever made?
Fabian: The first time I used Gutenberg was when it was still only an experimental plugin in v1 and I decided to give it a try because I was frustrated with Page Builders and the classical editor just always felt restraining to me personally.
And the first block I wrote was a conversion of a shortcode that rendered a list of posts via PHP. The initial user interface for the block was only a box that said: „This renders a list of Block“ with two settings in the sidebar. But for the client, it was still much easier to use that block than having to remember the syntax of a shortcode.
Anja: In my “JavaScript for WordPress” bootcamp – where I, by the way, also met Fabian.
Most developers were bit shy and skeptical of the new editor. When did you get to love it?
Fabian: I started falling in love with it the moment I saw the difference between having to use shortcodes to achieve something in the old editor and having the visual companion to it.
Anja: The first time I heard of it. It took a little bit of time to understand what it is and what it will eventually get. But I was sold to it at the point I realized I will have the opportunity to get my hands dirty in JS development.
Do you use Gutenberg for every website with a tailor-made theme?
Fabian: Most of the Gutenberg work I have done, has been in the context of tailor-made themes. So the two were always very connected for me.
Anja: I am working most of the time with premium themes that are compatible with Gutenberg. My rule is all posts can be edited in Gutenberg. And I encourage all my clients and their editor team to use the new editor. I have only heard positive feedback from them.
Do you take advantage of any Gutenberg block libraries or do you mostly build your blocks and customize the core ones?
Fabian: I have been using single blocks from the official plugin repo from time to time but I’d say about 80-90% of what I use are custom blocks or customized core ones.
Anja: I have not used any Gutenberg block library plugin so far. But if it would save me time in the development process I would always pick one 😉
How do you keep track of what’s new in Gutenberg? It’s changing pretty quickly. Is there a channel one should subscribe to?
Fabian: The ways I stay up to date are:
- Subscribing to Releases on the Gutenberg GitHub Repo.
- Listening to the Gutenberg Changelog Podcast.
- Following these people on Twitter: @karmatosed, @zgordon, @riadbenguella, @mkaz, @gziolo, @ellatrx, @richard_tabor, @melchoyce, @bph, @Mapk, @gutenbergtimes
Anja: I regularly meet with Gutenberg developers (of course Fabian is one of them) in an online learning group. And that’s where I pick up most of the hot new features of Gutenberg. 🙂
What is your background? What should our attendees know about you?
Fabian: I have been running my own Agency from 2014 till 2019. In January 2020 I transitioned to working as a Front-End Engineer at 10up.
Anja: I worked a long time as a freelance designer and developer. For about six years I am a senior front end developer at RaySono in Munich and had the opportunity to build WordPress sites for big companies. In my free time, I still develop small WordPress sites for friends. I have a huge passion for WordPress — and Gutenberg makes it even more exciting to work with.
What are you looking forward to WordCamp Prague 2020? Why is that?
Fabian: It is my first WordCamp and so I’m just super excited to connect with interesting people from all over 🙂
Anja: I have been to WordCamp Europe twice but only as a visitor and contributor. I am excited to help with my first active role in this workshop and look forward to meeting the WordCamp Prague community.
What would you like to see in the future for WordPress?
Fabian: I’m very excited to see where things like the expansion of Gutenberg to entire site editing or translation build into core will bring us. Currently, I love exploring block-based themes: https://github.com/WordPress/theme-experiments
Anja: And I am very excitedly waiting for the multi-editing feature in Gutenberg. It is a feature that can help me promote the new editor to the clients.
Have you adopted Gutenberg, the Blocks editor? If yes, do you have a favorite use case for it? If not, why?
Fabian: I have been using it in production since before the launch of 5.0 and would never want to go back.
Anja: Every new project of my management is Gutenberg-compatible. Sometimes it is a CMS site with static sites that are using a premium site builder. But the post area always supports Gutenberg. Because I want my site’s future proof and easily maintainable. I presently update a big news portal which will be my future favorite use case.
For how long have you been using WordPress? And why you’ve chosen WordPress?
Fabian: I’ve been using WordPress since about 2012 and at the time chose it because a friend introduced me to it. And I stayed because of the amount of resources due to the size of the community.
Anja: I use WordPress for more than 10 years. As a freelancer, it always was the best base to build cost-effective sites your customer can easily maintain. Now with Gutenberg, the learning curve is even lower for the client. In the agency, the quick development process of a WordPress site is also the number one selling reason.
How do you feel about the WordPress community? Did you get involved in it?
Fabian: It sometimes is hard not to feel imposter syndrome and actually believe in the fact that you can contribute. But you just have to jump in and you will love it. At least that’s how it has been for me.
Anja: Every time at WordCamp and online I am amazed how friendly and helpful the WordPress community is. How consequent inclusion is second nature to them and how everyone is treated as a valuable person that can contribute to the community.