If your healthcare organization has a blog, chances are good that you use WordPress as a content management system. After all, it is the most popular CMS in the world. The internet juggernaut recently redesigned its content editor, and the new one– Gutenberg — can take a bit of getting used to. Not sure what you’re looking at? Here’s what you need to know about Gutenberg:
- Blocks are your friends. All of your content is now divided into blocks. The blog title, paragraphs, photo galleries … they all reside in their own little block within the editor. Just select the block you want – paragraph, image, etc. – to add content to your post.
- The familiar tool bar is gone. The TinyMCE toolbar that contained all sorts of formatting options has disappeared. Instead, it’s been replaced by drop down menus divided into different categories like Heading, List, Text and more. In a way, it’s a little more organized – the clean look is nice — but we miss having everything in front of our faces all at once; after a while, though, the menus become second nature.
- Creating tables and other content types is easier now. Simple tables were anything but simple to make in WordPress. Now, all you need to do is pick their corresponding blocks. Other content types like pull quotes and buttons are also much easier to incorporate due to the new drag-and-drop functionality of the editor.
- Be careful with your plug-ins. Since Gutenberg just came out, plug-ins have some catching up to do. If you have the option of putting off the update, you may want to wait until the plug-ins you use are compatible with this latest WordPress update. Worst case scenario: You may need to find new ones.
- The Classic Editor hasn’t gone anywhere. While Gutenberg is the default content editor (and will be for a very long time), the Classic Editor is still available as a plug-in. Simply install it and activate it, and WordPress will give you the option of using either editor for your posts. In even better news, the plug-in will be supported until at least 2022.
This is just the iceberg of Gutenberg changes. You can find more information from the official WordPress.org site.
Need help managing your content? The marketing experts at Wax Custom Communication can help. Contact us today at 305-350-5700 or visit waxcom.com.
