How Freelance Writers Can Easily Learn to Love the WordPress Block Editor

The Gutenberg block editor was intended to make it easier for content creators to produce “media rich pages and posts” in WordPress.

Now that it’s been part of WordPress core for about 18 months, it’s living up to that promise.

In Part 1 of this two-part series WCS Returns, we looked at what the Gutenberg block editor is, and what it can do for WordPress sites in general terms.

Now let’s get down and dirty about how freelance web writers can use the block editor to best advantage.

When you’re focused on creating great content, you don’t want to spend a lot of time learning a complicated new interface. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to master the block editor basics.

It’s Easy to Get Started

The big difference between the block editor and the Classic Editor you’re used to is the idea that each element is a block.

A single paragraph is a block. A heading is a block. An image is a block… you get the idea.

When you first add a new post or page, you’ll see a big, beautiful blank screen with a space for the title, and the words, “Start writing or type / to choose a block.”

To start writing, simply add a title in the designated space (you can change and refine it later), hit the return key, and start typing. Hit return again to add a new paragraph block automatically.

Adding text is that simple.

Before we get into details of working with other blocks, let’s take a look at the new editing interface.