The new WordPress version 6 has been available since yesterday (5.0 December). The most important thing about this update is the new editor Gutenberg.
Gutenberg has been available as a plugin for a while, but is now the default editor in WordPress.
Gutenberg is an editor that allows you to divide content into blocks.
It is most comparable to Avada's Fusion Builder or Visual Composer.
The update has some snags. So the question is: update after already, or wait a while?

Benefits of Gutenberg

  • The advantages of this editor are mainly for people who use a website without such a page builder. Unlike the classic editor, the user can create blocks with a property. This includes a text block, a block with an image, an HTML block, quotes, galleries, buttons and more.
  • Developers can also add their own block using a plugin or template.
  • Gutenberg is a logical way to build a website, especially for users who come from platforms like Wix.

Disadvantages of Gutenberg

  • With a template like Avada with its own page builder, Gutenberg feels quite redundant. On the other hand, the classic editor was no longer in the picture.
  • Although organizing with blocks sounds simple at first glance, it can actually be difficult.
  • Creating a blog post will take a little longer with Gutenberg.
  • You can no longer add shortcodes or images to a paragraph.
  • Compared to page builders like Fusion Builder and Visual Composer, Gutenberg still has a way to go in terms of features. But this will eventually be corrected, partly because Gutenberg becomes the standard.

Wto take into account?

  • The plugins and template used on the website must be suitable for WordPress 5.0 / Gutenberg. In particular, plugins that use functions of the classic editor should be tested for. This can be a significant problem, especially with poorly maintained or abandoned plugins and templates. Check whether the creator has tested the plugin or template with WordPress 5.0, or ask them to do so.
  • After updating, pay attention to cache. It may seem like a plugin is working fine on WordPress 5.0, but after flushing the cache, things can be very different.
  • Are you using a different editor now? Please note that the code of these editors and Gutenberg are not interchangeable.

Precautions/solutions

  • Use the plugin Classic Editor to keep the classic editor as default. You can choose at user level which editor is default, but you can also not give this choice. This can be very useful for websites with less well-maintained plugins and templates.
  • As with any major update: make a backup of the website, both files and database, beforehand.

To update or not to update?
Whether updating is a good idea at this point depends very much on the plugin and template used. The well-known, well-maintained plugins (including Yoast, The Event Calendar) and template (ThemeFusion's Avada, many well-known free templates such as Twenty Nineteen and others) indicate that they are suitable for WordPress 5.0. But this is usually only part of the plugins used on a website.
Since there are no other important features included in this update, we recommend waiting until January to update.

Do you have any questions about this piece or would you rather outsource the updating? Contact us at info@milcraft.nl or 0172-897789