Social Icons Block Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience.
This new block lets users link to social media and other popular websites by using those sites’ logos. Initially called Social Links, Social Icons were an experimental feature in Gutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ 6.5 but held out of WordPress 5.3. Since then, the Block Variations API An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. has progressed to the point that Social Icons in Gutenberg 7.5 are much simpler and more stable – and ready for merge in WordPress 5.4.
This reimplementation is a breaking change in the way Social Icons are saved (see details). Only sites that have run the Gutenberg plugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party since September are potentially concerned.
In WordPress 5.4, the core Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. block editor will not recognize any Social Icons blocks built before Gutenberg 7.5.
There are two ways to deal with this:
- (Recommended method) Manually migrate any content with old Social Icons. Here’s how: load a post in the block editor (Gutenberg 7.5 or higher) and save it. The block editor will automatically update its contents.
- Keep the Gutenberg plugin installed after upgrading to WordPress 5.4. The plugin will give you manual backwards compatibility for the old Social Icons.
Buttons Block
This new block is a collection of buttons, because authors often need to use several at a time (for instance: download and read more buttons).
The buttons block shows each button as an individual button-block child of the Buttons block. You won’t be able to insert a button block outside Buttons, but your existing button blocks will work the way they always have.
In case you were using the button block as part of a template or a system that automatically inserted a button block, you’ll want to use the Buttons block with a nested button instead.
Plus, here’s some good news: you won’t need to migrate your existing button blocks. They’ll just work — again, as they always have.
#5-4, #block-editor, #dev-notes
