Gutenberg | How a WordPress studio adapted

GutenbergHow a WordPress studio adapted
By David Darke
Gutenberg | How a WordPress studio adapted - David Darke | atomicsmash.co.uk 1

How we started

When we began, we used...

... a custom CMS
!"#$%&

How about... WordPress?

WordPress delivered:
— Simple and reliable content delivery
— Clear page hierarchy / URL structure
— Simple menu system
— Basic media library

There were limitations

ACF allowed us
— Easily create robust ﬁeldsets
— Build post to post relationships
— Fashion basic event system / queries
— Build a block / page building system

Next challenge:
Build a more ﬂexible
content editor

This was great, but keeping
ﬁelds in sync between
development and production
was PAINFUL!

Then ACF Pro added JSON support

Why is that feature so important?

This was the foundation of our
internal development framework

Then...
Gutenberg was announced

— Initial commit 3rd Feb 2017.
— Months rolled past.
— Beta versions and release candidates appeared.
— Sounded great, but we were worried about the impact
on our day-to-day.

The pitch
Gutenberg looks at the editor as more than a content
ﬁeld, revisiting a layout that has been largely unchanged
for almost a decade. This allows us to holistically design
a modern editing experience and build a foundation for
things to come.
!!!!!!!!!!!!

The reception...
!!!!!!!!!!!!

But why?

Initial problems and some loss of conﬁdence
— Releases were buggy
— A sense of this change being forced on a community
— No real clarity around the classic editor plugin and
even how reliable it would be
— The negative voices outweighed positive

Deeper reasons

Technical changes
Widely used frameworks
would be affected

Another reason, Client relationships
— How to discuss this big change to their precious
website?
— Some clients will like the update, some won't.
— Will there be problems?
— How long will it take to sort?
Clients want a solid plan.

First steps for Atomic Smash
— Composer helped us... A LOT
— It allowed us to ﬁx the core version and pre-load
the classic editor
— Pre Xmas 2018 we updated a couple of sites to 5.0
(with classic editor installed)
— Released December 6th, 2018 (Atomic Smash
holiday started on the 19th)

Studio is closed for two weeks at Xmas...
!
atomicsmash.co.uk/jobs

What we did at Atomic Smash
— Composer helped us... ALOT
— Pre Xmas 2018 we updated a couple of sites
— Post Xmas 2018 we updated the rest

Next, future planning
- Review on a case by case basis whether the client
needs/wants the update
- All new project will use Gutenberg

Next, future planning
- Review on a case by case basis whether the client
needs/wants the update
- All new project will use Gutenberg
Our next new project... our own
site!
!

Know what Gutenberg blocks
can and can't do in its current
state

Coping with data structure
changes

<figure />

Content in one place

Prepping for a new testing
process

Block Unit Test for Gutenberg
https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-unit-test/

ACF is helping again, in the form of ACF blocks

In Summary
— We entirely believe Gutenberg is the future of
WordPress
— But for right now, that doesn't mean it's for
everyone
— The ecosystem around it is growing
— Stay ﬂexible

THANKS!
Follow me:
@david_darke
Follow the studio:
@atomicsmash

Any questions?

Gutenberg | How a WordPress studio adapted

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (16)

Similar to Gutenberg | How a WordPress studio adapted

Similar to Gutenberg | How a WordPress studio adapted (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Gutenberg | How a WordPress studio adapted