Another day, another WordPress update. As a business owner with a WordPress website, you know how it feels when yet another update comes out. Unless you’re a WordPress expert, it can be concerning and overwhelming. What is this new update? How do I know if I need it? If I don’t take action, will my website crash? So many questions. I know that you don’t have the time to worry about this, so I’m sharing everything you need to know about the latest update – it’s called Gutenberg, and it’s kind of a BIG one!
No need to worry. We’ve got you covered.
What is Gutenberg?
It’s a take on a new visual editor for WordPress. Named after Johannes Gutenberg (he invented a printing press with movable type over 500 years ago), this new editor aims to make things easier – especially for those of you who are new to WordPress. Think less coding and more “content blocks.”
This editor was built to be user-friendly, flexible and ideal for media-rich pages and posts.
According to WordPress,
“Gutenberg is more than an editor. It’s also the foundation that’ll revolutionize customization and site-building in WordPress.”
Do I Need to Do Anything?
Before you take any action, there are a few things you should know.
- If you’re a do-it-yourself’r, be sure to back up your website before you update!
- Happy with WordPress and not ready to try a new editor? We recommend installing the classic editor plugin OR asking NGNG for help (we love this stuff!).
- If you’re an NGNG client on our old Velocity theme, there is a potential conflict with the PHP 7.2 upgrade. I know, I’m getting techy here. If this applies to you, then please let us know so that Shannon can step in. She’s our amazing Website Security Manager & Senior Developer and will help ensure a smooth and safe transition.
What if My Website Breaks?
If you attempt this update on your own and run into trouble, roll your website back to the previous version and disable Gutenberg. Don’t know how? Let us take the fear and risk off your plate and manage this for you! We offer an amazing Monthly WP Updates service, and this type of thing is automatically covered. That’s right. With our service, you never again have to worry about the security of your website (or “breaking” it by trying to make updates yourself).
Every single day, we log into your website and make a complete backup (most hosting services don’t even offer this service!). In addition, we log in every week and run a comprehensive security scan on all of your core WordPress files, plug-ins and themes. We also make any core software release updates and offer above-and-beyond assistance to give you peace of mind. You can learn more about it here.
What if I’m already a Monthly WordPress Updates Client?
You’re in luck! We’ll be taking care of the PHP upgrade for your website this week. For the WordPress 5.0 upgrade (with Gutenberg), I believe it’s actually best to hold off for a week. The National WordPress Conference is taking place this weekend, and I know that there will be bug fixes released almost immediately afterward for WP 5.0.1.
As soon as the 5.0.1 release is stable, we’ll be managing those updates for your websites!
Did you find these tips helpful? Click here and let me know your thoughts about the Gutenberg update and how NGNG can help you!
