It’s not a classic romance but a love that has grown over time.
Some might even say it grew block by block.
That is how our team at WebDevStudios came to fall in love with the WordPress Block Editor. Experts in website development, the story of how our enterprise agency became an advocate of the Block Editor is worth being told.
In December 2018, six years ago, Gutenberg was introduced to the WordPress community. It was not accepted easily. At first, there was much resistance because, as many said, it changed the WordPress way.
However, through the hands of many devoted builders, the WordPress Block Editor evolved. It became something worth trying, something worth contributing to, and something worth using. Slowly, it gained favor.
Falling in love with the WordPress Block Editor
Still, it was untested in the enterprise world to a large degree and we already had a great solution. WebDevStudios created wd_s, a theme that worked well for many agencies and was used internally. As the theme was tried and true, WebDevStudios preferred to save blocks and Gutenberg as an editor for content and hadn’t embraced it fully. However, as our Director of PMO Deb Hudson acknowledged, “its ease of use opens up other possibilities.”
Our team began exploring ways the Block Editor could be used with larger, more complex websites in the enterprise world. “The Block Editor makes content creation more intuitive and user-friendly,” explained WebDevStudios Principal Technical Manager JC Palmes. “I love how it brings creative control into the hands of editors while giving engineers the ability to build unique and powerful custom blocks and themes. I love how it simplifies content creation. With blocks, you can build pages visually, seeing how things look as you go. It’s an intuitive approach that allows you to focus on crafting great content, not wrestling with the interface.”
Building with the Block Editor
That love inspired WebDevStudios to incorporate the block theme in website builds, and on January 16, 2024, WDS BT was released. More than a theme, we call WDS BT is a design system as it transformed projects where it was used. Small yet noteworthy websites such as Felicia.Day and JewelStaite.net were built using the new design system and were well received. “The Block Editor offers a visually intuitive way for users to build out page content,” Delivery Manager Autry Reeves observed. “Clients enjoy the ability to ‘drag and drop’ content, to build out their pages.”
Several enterprise-level projects came next, including Freeman.com and HealthySimulation.com. Here the theme was praised for its high performance and level of flexibility. The Block Editor shined bright, explained Engineering Lead Rami Abraham, as it provided a “highly customizable UI and custom block creation APIs.”
Successful projects led to the introduction of WDS BT on GitHub as “a starter block theme from WebDevStudios” on August 26, 2024.
Why the WebDevStudios Team Loves the Block Editor
What’s to love about the WordPress Block Editor? Well, according to WebDevStudios team members, a lot! “It’s easy to handle and allows you to create content within minutes,” said Project Manager Leo Torres.
WebDevStudios Director of Engineering Mitch Canter agreed, “I love how ‘turn-key’ the Block Editor has become. It takes a bit of setup at the beginning, but once everything’s set up and the site is ready, it’s so easy to log in, write content, and publish. A properly done site needs no ‘front end coding’ or anything like that; it allows users to really focus on what’s important – the content!”
Choosing to love blocks
WebDevStudios CEO Brad Williams added that he loved “how easy it is to make really amazing looking content and landing pages” using the Block Editor. He also praised WordPress for “its endless flexibility.” This sentiment was shared by Senior Front End Developer Alfredo Navas, who appreciates the flexibility of the Block Editor. “I can easily change layouts, create patterns, and build templates, giving me full control over how a page looks. I can also generate dynamic patterns and set up a design system with theme.json, which makes styling and updates for editors super easy.”
Lead Engineer Lindsey Bell loves “that the Block Editor gives users the ability to create custom & dynamic websites,” and looks forward to broadening that user base. If you’re seeking empowering website solutions, let’s meet to explore Block Editor options for your company website or intranet.
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