Tag Archives: core-editor-improvement

annezazu 3:14 pm on November 2, 2021
Tags: , core-editor-improvement,   

Core Editor Improvement: Introducing template part focus mode

These “CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Editor Improvement…” posts (labelled with the #core-editor-improvement tagtag A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses tags to store a single snapshot of a version (3.6, 3.6.1, etc.), the common convention of tags in version control systems. (Not to be confused with post tags.)) are a series dedicated to highlighting various new features, improvements, and more from Core Editor related projects. 

With more tools to edit your entire site, this new view was created to allow folks to have a space to focus specifically on editing a single template part, like a headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. or footer. At a high level, this focused mode helps eliminate distractions when editing template parts, provide a pathway for backwards compatibility, and opens up new possibilities around permissions.

You will be able to access this mode in a few ways once GutenbergGutenberg 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/ 11.9 is released and, if all goes well, in WordPress 5.9: 

  • Select the template part in the Site editor > Click on the three dot menu > Select “Edit Header” or the respective template part name. 
  • Select the template part in List View > Click on the three dot menu > Select “Edit Header” or the respective template part name. 
  • From the Browsing sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. > Navigate to Template Parts > Select the template part you want to customize.
  • From the Top Toolbar > Click on the three dot menu under “Areas” next to the template part you want to customize.

Keep in mind that some of these flows may change as the site editing flows get prepared for 5.9!

As you explore this mode, you’ll notice a few extra touches too, including the visual background similar to the template editor mode to indicate that you’re in a new editing environment and the ability to resize the editing field horizontally with drag handles. There’s always more to be done though, particularly around clarifying when different edits are global vs local.

Looking forward, this work will ultimately pave the path for a smooth transition into blockBlock 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. themes by turning existing widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. areas into block template parts. It also creates the ability to have only folks with certain permissions the ability to edit a template part directly, building on the work around template locking. The UXUX User experience lessons learned from this effort will inevitably benefit future projects like the Navigation Editor too!

For a deep dive of all that went into this project, check out this overview issue. To be on the cutting edge, use Gutenberg 11.9 when it’s released or check out the current version today to get a sense of what it can do without the latest and greatest PRs. If you’re game to wait a bit longer, expect to see it in WordPress 5.9 coming in December. 

Thank you to @jameskoster for the video and @priethor @bph @kevin940726 for reviewing the content.

#core-editor, #gutenberg

annezazu 2:04 pm on October 6, 2021
Tags: , core-editor-improvement,   

Core Editor Improvement: Continued progress on accessibility

Improving accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) requires ongoing effort and this post seeks to highlight some of the ways in which the project continues to make strides in this area. If you’re interested in helping with this work, please join the #accessibility channel in Make SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. and check out how you can get involved. There’s plenty of important work to be done including testing, giving accessibility feedback, and creating PRs to address feedback. 

Ensuring accessibility from the start with the Navigation blockBlock 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. [planned for 5.9]

The Navigation Block is a key milestone for the full site editing project that focuses on the experience of editing a site’s navigation menuNavigation Menu A theme feature introduced with Version 3.0. WordPress includes an easy to use mechanism for giving various control options to get users to click from one place to another on a site., both in terms of structure and design. This is a big effort that includes how to make it easy to add submenu items, how to create a responsive navigation experience, how to support multiple different inner blocks, and more. While work is underway to simplify the experience for all (ex: reducing the number of steps to add a page link), this section covers three big pieces of the work, thus far, that have had a particularly strong impact on accessibility:

  1. The first is that when implementing submenus it was intentional that they would open on explicit click rather than focus, when navigating with a keyboard and/or screen reader. The changes made ensure that screen reader users are better informed when tabbing submenus, and can choose whether to enter them or not. Previously it was necessary to tab through every submenu item to get to the next parent item. For a deeper look into the behaviors of the navigation block and submenu items, check out these visualizations that provide more context but have not yet been fully implemented. 
  1. When building the responsive navigation feature in the navigation block, work was done to ensure the hamburger menu was built using proper modal behavior from the start. This means that when you open the responsive burger menu, the tab is kept inside the responsive menu experience until you press Escape. A quick demonstration is shown in the video displayed in this section.
  1. Finally, the markup for the front end was changed to ensure that the Navigation block contains fully semantic markup, no matter what its contents are.

Accessibility benefits with the Gallery Block Refactor [planned for 5.9]

Ahead of WordPress 5.9, an update to the Gallery Block was shipped that essentially allows you to have all of the tools you’re used to with an Image Block for each image in the Gallery Block. Thanks to this change, the Gallery Block now benefits from improved keyboard navigation and the ability to add alt text right within the block sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.. This will make it easier to both produce accessibility friendly content and for those navigating what you create when viewing your site. To learn more about the Gallery Block Refactor, you can check out this WordPress News post dedicated to it. 

The new gallery block with an alt text field for each image within the gallery block itself.

Other noteworthy updates/fixes [in the GutenbergGutenberg 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/ pluginPlugin 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 today]

There’s a lot of high-impact changes that can be overlooked when not shown altogether. To help capture additional accessibility improvements, here are high impact changes in the editing experience: 

Thank you to @joen who helped provide wonderful insights about the navigation block, including the featured video. Thank you to @kellychoffman @priethor @daisyo for the content review. Thank you to @javiarce for the lovely Gallery Block refactor screenshot.

#core-editor-improvement, #gutenberg

annezazu 12:33 am on September 22, 2021
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Core Editor Improvement: Introducing the Widget Group Block

While the Block Widgets Editor was released with WordPress 5.8, the work to improve the experience hasn’t stopped to help even more folks use blocks to build out widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. areas in an endless number of ways. The latest in a series of improvements comes with the launch of Gutenberg 11.5 that introduces a Widget Group block. This new blockBlock 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. replicates the familiar experience of being able to add a title to a group of blocks and allows you to group any block, making it easier to move and layout content however you’d like. This both helps with compatibility for older themes when migrating over to the new editor and enables a more cohesive experience for building out widget areas.

For example, before this update, it was tricky to get the spacing right for adding a headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. above another set of blocks. Now, you can do that with ease:

Video showing how to use the Widget Group Block.

This also makes it a breeze to move collections of blocks into new widget areas: 

Video showing how you can drag and drop a collection of blocks within the Widget Group Block.

As always, you can also make these changes in the CustomizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings.! For more general information about the Block Widgets Editor, check out the Dev note and the user documentation. To get involved in this work, head to #feature-widgets-block-editor and explore the GitHub tracking project to see what’s next. 

Props to @critterverse for the lovely videos! #core-editor, #core-editor-improvement, #feature-widgets-block-editor
annezazu 2:56 am on September 9, 2021
Tags: , core-editor-improvement   

Core Editor Improvement: Cascading impact of improvements to featured images

When a new feature is added, it’s easy to see what the feature does right now rather than the many things it allows you to do, particularly when combined with other tools. This is especially true as design tools continue to evolve! This post offers a quick dive into how improvements to the Featured ImageFeatured image A featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts. blockBlock 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. lead to more possibilities for content creation. 

Greater control of posts layout

Thanks to some recent changes to the Featured Image block, the Query LoopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop. block just got even more powerful. As a reminder, the Query Loop block is an advanced block that allows you to display posts based on various parameters and was released in WordPress 5.8. Within the Query Loop block, different blocks, like the Featured Image block, can be placed within it to show the Featured Images for each post listed. While you’ve been able to control the general placement of the Featured Image, until GutenbergGutenberg 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/ 11.3, you couldn’t control the basics of the resulting image. This came up a few times during testing with the FSE Outreach Program as a pain point with folks wanting deeper customization options. Now, you can control the sizing and scale of the image to your liking opening up the beginnings of a new world of layout options!

Video showing the new Featured Image Block options within the Query Loop block.

More options when creating templates

This change also impacts anyone using the Template Editor as you can now customize how the Featured Image shows up in a template you created. This is just a start too with more size tooling planned for the Featured Image block. Most recently too, the ability to add duotone filters to spruce up your images with endless color options was included in Gutenberg 11.4. Just like with the Query Loop block example above, this allows you to add a Featured Image block with a duotone filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. added and then apply that to any post or page you’d like so all posts have the same duotone shading:

Video showing the new Featured Image Block options within the Template Editor.

Thank you @shaunandrews for the design assist & @kellychoffman for help with the copy.

#core-editor, #core-editor-improvement

annezazu 8:57 pm on June 9, 2021
Tags: core-editor-improvement,   

Core Editor Improvement: Improve your workflow with List View

As blocks increase, patterns emerge, and content creation gets easier, new solutions are needed to make complex content easy to navigate. List View is the latest and greatest to add to your toolbox when it comes to jumping between layers of content and nested blocks. It’s currently visible in the Top Toolbar and will remain open as you navigate through your content. This makes it easy to bounce between the exact pieces of content you want to alter, whether that’s an individual Paragraph blockBlock 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. at the very end of a post or a Columns block that contains a beautiful selection of products to choose from. Think of it as the ultimate tool to navigate block complexity, select exactly what you need, and easily view all of the blocks that make up your content at once. Better yet, you can toggle it on/off as you need. Check out how it works in action in the video below: 

Video showing someone selecting various blocks with the List View and making changes.

Going a step further, if a block has an ID/anchor set, it’s displayed in List View so it’s easier to distinguish between other blocks and reference as you want. Here’s an example with a portfolio anchor:

While it was originally imagined for the Site Editor where you’re dealing with even more layers of content, it quickly became apparent that the Post Editor would benefit from this tool too and it was incorporated into GutenbergGutenberg 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/ 10.7. Keep in mind that more improvements are planned and you’ll have access to this feature in WordPress 5.8, so stay tuned and get excited!

Thank you to @shaunandrews and @cbringmann for helping with this post!

#core-editor-improvement, #gutenberg

annezazu 7:09 pm on May 20, 2021
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Core Editor Improvement: Contextual patterns for easier creation

We’ve all been there. Staring at a blank page sometimes with an idea of what you want to create and sometimes with a mind as blank as the page. To make the creation process easier and to leap into the pattern filled future, work is underway to suggest blockBlock 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. patterns based on the block one is working with. Tied to this, when using the block inserter, block patterns will be suggested where possible. In the long run as this work continues and spreads to more blocks, it will be easier to create content and get inspired without leaving the editor. 

Exploring integrated patterns

For now with GutenbergGutenberg 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/ 10.6.2, you can see how this flow works with a few blocks including the Heading Block, Query Block, Social Icon Block, Buttons Block, and Paragraph Block. In particular, lots of work has been done around the Query Block to make it easier to create beautiful layouts in a few clicks with this powerful block. Here’s a quick visual showing this experience with the Quote Block: 

Video showing how the block patterns can be found in the transforms options

You can begin to explore these patterns in three ways:

  • Browse through them in the Patterns tab of the Block Inserter.
  • Select directly from the Quick Inserter. 
  • Navigate to them in the transform menu of individual blocks. 

Integrate your custom block patterns

On the flip side, if you’re creating your own custom block patterns, there’s a new experimental blockTypes property being worked on that will allow your patterns to show up in the transform menu. Here’s an example of how this works currently. This is still in the early stages though as it’s utilizing experimental components and might need changes down the road so stay tuned! If you do try this out and run into any bugs/feature requests, feel free to share them in the Gutenberg repo. 

Help with these efforts

Expect this work to continue expanding both in terms of integrating patterns in intuitive places and in terms of the number of unique patterns. To get a sense of where this work is headed in the future, check out this early PR. If you’re interested in helping in this area, make sure to join #core-editor, check out the current focuses, and attend the Core Editor weekly meeting Wednesday @ 14:00 UTC. Finally, if you’re wanting to dive into custom block patterns, check out the Learn WordPress course along with the documentation to get started. 

#core-editor, #core-editor-improvement, #gutenberg

annezazu 8:41 pm on April 23, 2021
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Core Editor Improvement: Refining the Block Toolbar

With a growing amount of customization features being unlocked, the toolbar for each coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. blockBlock 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. is being transformed one at a time to make it more intuitive and predictable to use. Since the block toolbar contains the most important block tools, this could help improve your workflow as you’re creating content.

In the same way you might organize tools in a toolbox so you can quickly grab and go, the toolbar is on that same path: grouping related tools based on which level of a block an option impacts. To get a sense of what this actually means, and how it’ll improve your workflows here’s a before and after photo showing the changes in the Image Block:

Before:

Image showing the block toolbar on an Image Block with the tooling before the update occurred.

After:

Image showing the block toolbar on an Image Block with the tooling after the update occurred.

Keep in mind that not all blocks have been revamped just yet, but you can follow this issue to keep track. For now, if you’re using the 10.4.1 release of the GutenbergGutenberg 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/ pluginPlugin 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, you can expect to see this update in the following blocks, with more on the way: 

  • Image 
  • Cover
  • Button
  • Buttons
  • List
  • Heading
  • Paragraph
  • Quote
  • Audio
  • File
  • List
  • Video
  • Media & Text
  • Site Logo
  • Post Featured ImageFeatured image A featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts.

The goal of the effort is to simplify the hierarchy of the block, to make it more predictable what goes where. Here’s a visual outlining the groupings:

The visual is taken from recently updated documentation: 

  • Block surfaces properties of the block itsef..
  • Tools surfaces tools that affect the whole content of the block, such as alignments or positition.
  • Inline formatting refers mostly to in-text transformations such as bold or italic on a text selection. 
  • Other contains any additional features that do not fit in the other groups.

As each core block gets updated, there will hopefully be a cascading effect, making it predictable to adjust any block how you need to, whether that’s changing block alignment or bolding a specific piece of text.  

Thank you to @joen for helping edit this post (including providing the visuals) and for the excellent guidance throughout.

#core-editor, #core-editor-improvement, #gutenberg

annezazu 7:58 pm on March 31, 2021
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Core Editor Improvement: Easier than ever to find the blocks you need

There’s something magical about finding the exact blockBlock 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. you want exactly when you need it. When the Block Directory came to WordPress in 5.5, the aim was to allow a seamless way to add individual block plugins so you can create what you want when you want without ever leaving the editor. In GutenbergGutenberg 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/’s 10.2 release, to build on that foundation, you will now still get results from the Block Directory even if you have a block already available that might do the trick. This helps surface even more options so you can find the perfect fit. Inspired by having more time to read books, check out the example below to see how the experience has changed!

Before

Image of the Block Inserter showing someone searching for the term book with one result showing up and none from the Block Directory.

After

Image of the Block Inserter showing someone searching for the term book with multiple results showing up including a new heading titled "Available to Install".

If you find yourself searching and still unable to find the block you’re looking for, consider creating and submitting your very own block pluginPlugin 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 to the directory to be found and used by anyone using WordPress 5.5+! Be sure to check out the guidelines and the block tutorial to get started.

If you’re a block plugin pro, join in on efforts to improve the Block Creation documentation to make it easier for everyone to contribute to the Block Directory.

#block-directory, #core-editor, #core-editor-improvement, #gutenberg

annezazu 10:17 pm on March 23, 2021
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Core Editor Improvement: Performance Matters

Thank you to @aristath @youknowriad and @priethor who helped with this post.

In case you missed the first post on post/page performance, I’d recommend checking it out first before digging into this post, as it helps give greater context into the breadth of work around performance improvements. This post builds on the discussion by talking specifically about the approach Core ContributorsCore Contributors Core contributors are those who have worked on a release of WordPress, by creating the functions or finding and patching bugs. These contributions are done through Trac. https://core.trac.wordpress.org. take to managing the performance of the CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Editor itself!

Think of Core Editor Performance as impacting the user experience when creating content. It’s the difference between a jarring experience, with the editor barely keeping up as you type, and a creative one — where adding dynamic content is a breeze with performance hardly being noticeable. 

With each release of GutenbergGutenberg 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/, a performance benchmark is run against the last few releases that compares different response times for a large post (~36,000 words, ~1,000 blocks). You can find this benchmark at the bottom of each “What’s New in Gutenberg” post. While this approach doesn’t cover every scenario, and absolute numbers are not intrinsically meaningful, it has helped identify variations in performance for different releases. Generally speaking, while the loading time of the editor is important, pay special attention to typing speed (also known as KeyPress Event speed). This is a far more important measure when it comes to user experience as this is what allows for the smooth experience when working in the editor. 

Beyond an overview of neat numbers, what does focusing on Core Editor Performance entail? Pulling from the documentation, the following overall metrics are tracked:

  • Loading Time: The time it takes to load an editor page.
  • Typing Time: The time it takes for the browser to respond while typing on the editor.
  • BlockBlock 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. Selection Time: The time it takes for the browser to respond after a user selects a block. (Inserting a block is also equivalent to selecting a block. Monitoring the selection is sufficient to cover both metrics).

Specifically, this work includes everything from improving how performance benchmarks are measured for PRs to smoothing out the experience of using the Block Inserter to continually tweaking block interactions to improving consistency in performance benchmarks. At the end of the day, Core developers take a comprehensive approach when working to meet or exceed these performance benchmarks while improving the user experience for all WordPress users. You can read more about the journey towards a performant web editor in this very informative post from WordPress Contributor, @youknowriad. 

The work on performance is never done though (just check this PR out) so, if you’re interested in helping in this area, make sure to join #core-editor, check out the current focuses, and attend the Core Editor weekly meeting Wednesday @ 14:00 UTC.

#core-editor, #core-editor-improvement, #gutenberg, #performance

annezazu 8:51 pm on March 4, 2021
Tags: , core-editor-improvement   

Core Editor Improvement: Need for (page/post) Speed

Thank you to @aristath who helped with this post.

In today’s world, speed matters whether you’re trying to write a post in the editor or load a page as a visitor. Over the last couple of months, a lot has changed around performance to improve both of these aspects, but the changes might have happened so fast you missed them! This post will focus solely on front end performance with a future post in the works that covers performance-related changes to the editor itself. For now, read on to learn just how speedy the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. editor makes your site and get excited because what’s discussed here is currently available in Gutenberg 10.1!

Updates to front end performance

As most developers know, you can think of front end performance as the type of performance that impacts SEO and the experience visitors have when they check out your site. Lots of things contribute to the performance of your site including various CSSCSS Cascading Style Sheets. styles, JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/. files, and more. While your theme and plugins contribute to what needs to be loaded to create the magic of viewing a page or post, the core editor does as well! 

With the merging of this PR, CSS styles are only loaded for blocks used on a page, which cuts down the amount of CSS needed and increases performance dramatically. For context, in previous GutenbergGutenberg 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/ releases, all styles for all blocks were enqueued in a single file causing extra page load. This means that now only what’s necessary is loaded when you’re viewing content! 

After the work was done to separate out block styles, an additional PR was merged for Gutenberg 10.1 to improve the performance of these blockBlock 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. styles. Since most blocks have fairly small stylesheets, it didn’t make sense to send requests to the server for these bite-sized styles. To resolve this, the tiny stylesheets were inlined, further improving the performance by including everything the browser needs in a single request. Think of this as sending one text message covering a few topics, rather than writing a bunch of individual messages one after the other. 

Right now, both of the above changes are the default behavior in FSE, but they are opt-in for non-FSE templates to avoid backward-compatibility issues with CSS overrides in older themes. When FSE gets merged into Core, these improvements will be more widely available and make a big difference for all. 

Stay tuned for more

As with many performance enhancements, it’s easier to notice when things break compared to when they are running smoothly. Hopefully, this post gave you a behind-the-scenes look into the work that goes into keeping your sites speedy while using the Core Editor. While a lot of work is put into democratizing publishing in the WordPress project, this kind of work helps democratize delivery, allowing people to get the content they want to consume easier and faster. With changes coming to Google Search related to the speed of webpages, performance improvements for both the front end and in the editor have never been more timely. 

The work here is never done though so, if you’re interested in working on improving performance, make sure to join #core-editor, check out the current focuses, and attend the Core Editor weekly meeting Wednesday @ 14:00 UTC.

#core-editor, #core-editor-improvement