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Web Strategy Documentation Library

Getting started with the Block Editor

As of version 3.7, the UW WordPress Theme supports the WordPress Block Editor. This feature must be enabled and is a BETA feature. This page includes all the information you need to get started building content with the Block Editor.

Requirements:

Enabling the Block Editor

  1. Make sure your site is using at least version 3.7 of the UW WordPress Theme. Not sure? In the Admin interface, go to Appearance > Themes. You should see Active: UW WordPress Theme. Click on Theme Details. You will then see the theme version.
  2. Go to Settings > Writing. Set “Allow users to switch editors” to Yes. Click the Save Changes button. We encourage leaving “Default editor for all users” set to Classic editor.
  3. Go to UW Theme Settings. Check the box for “Enable UW WP Blocks (Experimental, use at your own risk)”. Click the Save Changes button.

You’re now ready to go!

What to expect

We have added our brand fonts and colors to the Block Editor, as well as applied general theme styling to spacing (margins, paddings), lists, tables, and headings. You will see brand fonts anywhere in the Block Editor you can choose a font in the typography settings. The brand colors are available anywhere in the Block Editor you can choose a background or text color. The Pull Quote block has our Blockquote styling (both variations) in the editor and front-end display. We have also applied brand styling to the style variations for the Button (only solid buttons are available currently).

We have added minor customization to the Cover and Video blocks.

Please keep in mind best practices when creating content. The Block Editor is very powerful and with that power comes great responsibility. Just because you can choose pink text on a purple background does not mean you should. That combination is neither on brand, nor accessible (and you will even get a message in the editor telling you not to proceed). The color contrast table with all our brand colors is an excellent resource to bookmark.

Learning resources for the Block Editor

Learning a new system takes time. If you’ve been using the Classic Editor for a while, learning the Block Editor can feel like a steep learning curve. The best way to get comfortable with it is to get in and try it. Play, have fun, be patient with yourself (and others), and enjoy! We can’t wait to see what you create!

We have gathered a few Block Editor learning resources to introduce the new editor.

Recommended settings for the Block Editor

There are many preferences you can customize to make your Block Editor experience yours. These are the settings we recommend you start with.

  1. Turn off Fullscreen mode. By default, Fullscreen mode is enabled. To turn it off, open a page in the Block Editor, go to the 3 dots at the top right of the page, under View, toggle Fullscreen mode off. This presents a more familiar view of the editor experience.
  2. Turn on Top toolbar. This locks the block toolbar to the top of the page. If you do not enable this, the toolbar floats above the selected block. Note: if you like to drag & drop blocks to reorder or reposition blocks, leave this turned off.

Other Block Editor settings are available under the 3 dots in the top right corner of the page, then Preferences.

Known issues

We will keep a running list of known issues here.

  • Sometimes the Embed block doesn’t render properly in the editor. Depending on the embed, it may work on the front end even if it doesn’t display properly in the editor. For example, YouTube videos automatically embed. If your embed doesn’t work, try the embed shortcode, which works as expected.
  • The Gallery block does not yet have options for carousels or caption variations. Additionally, the attachment page option for images in galleries is not working in all scenarios. All other options (including the built-in lightbox) appear to be working. If you would like to add a carousel, we recommend using the Classic Editor to get it set up or building it with the [gallery] shortcode.

Getting help

Running into problems you can’t find solutions to? Find a bug in the theme? Maybe you have an idea for a new feature you’d like us to consider implementing? Please reach out to us! We’d also love to see what you build with the block editor – please share with us!