[West LA] WordPress Maximize Gutenberg

On April 22, 2021 the [West LA] WordPress meetup covered Gutenberg. The below content may look odd, but it represents what we learned to build in our two hour session. We tried many things for the first time only using the Gutenberg editor. We also covered some extension plugins and tools. Please enjoy the recorded session.

Developer Resources (React and PHP)

WordPress Gutenberg Handbook – React Development, the hardest way to build a block. Requires knowledge of NPM and react javascript library. Tutorial is slightly out of date but probably manageable if you have experience with NPM.

ACF Blocks – PHP block development. Very well documented paid plugin. You will need to learn about child or parent theme development.

Lazy Block – PHP block development, free plugin with PHP . You will need to learn about child or parent theme development.

Extension Plugins

Woocommerce – adds custom blocks for Woocommerce product pages and checkout. Does not accept all payment gateways. Has a very nice table building feature.

Ghost Kit – Gutenberg blocks and templates.

Block Layouts & Spacing

Headings and header go in order up or down by number. This will help google read your information and importance.

There is a spacer block below this sentence.

Spacer blocks are preferred to empty paragraph tags for code semantic reasons. Although small, empty paragraphs are considered code bloat. Empty elements are of no use for google and have the potential to lower your SEO ranking.

Saving & Reusing Block Content

You can add multiple save blocks. However, you must follow the manage reusable blocks link in the Reusable tab menu. You cannot add a new block by changing the title.

Use cases for reusable content.

• Employee Bios
• Author Bio on posts
• Reuse a testimonials block
• Reusable Call to action blocks