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Thoughts on the Gutenberg Editor

By |2019-05-21T15:15:32+01:00August 14th, 2018|Categories: News|Tags: , , , , , |

The Gutenberg logo

Gutenberg is on its way! I am, of course, talking about the new block editor that is due for release with WordPress 5.0 estimated to arrive later this year. At the moment it’s a plugin to try out, but at some point soon it will become THE editor you use in WordPress to create posts and pages. It replacing the classic editor that has served WordPress for many years. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been using the new Gutenberg editor on this website and others, so I thought it was about time that I posted some thoughts about what the new editor has to offer for WordPress users and my thoughts on Gutenberg so far.

At the time of writing, I’m using v3.5 of the Gutenberg plugin with the updates and improvements to the plugin coming in at a very brisk pace. The plugin installs easily enough and provides users with the ability to create or edit posts and pages. It also comes with an option for editing with the classic editor if required. Out of the box, the plugin integrates pretty well with no theme or plugin conflicts. Several posts have been created using Gutenberg (including this one) but so far only a couple of pages have been edited with Gutenberg. Gutenberg provides a clean, modern-looking user interface with the functionality to quickly put together posts or pages. Having used WordPress for nearly ten years, I have to say that changes to the editor have been long overdue. A good article explaining what to expect in Gutenberg can be found HERE.

Gutenberg is a block editor which replaces the open text window of the old classic editor in WordPress. It’s the biggest change in WordPress’ fifteen-year history and just the first stage in a series of changes coming to WordPress. Text, images, layout elements and more are contained within multiple blocks that can be dynamically moved about. Blocks can also be added by other plugins providing a simple way to add a Woocommerce store or an Instagram feed to a post or page without the need for shortcodes. Blocks are still evolving but the potential for page editing and layouts looks to be huge, once developers start implementing block functionality into their themes and plugins. The text and images on the pages of this website, for example, will probably need converting over, at some point, to blocks to get to best out of WordPress in the new Gutenberg era.

Gutenberg and the WordPress of Tomorrow – a great presentation of what blocks can do

Gutenberg has not been universally welcomed with open arms. In fact, it appears to be loved and loathed in equal measure, depending on where you look on the internet. At the time of writing, the Gutenberg plugin and the Classic Editor plugin (which ‘restores the previous WordPress editor and the Edit Post screen and makes it possible to use the plugins that extend it, add old-style meta boxes, or otherwise depend on the previous editor‘) have 100,000+ active installations each. While Gutenberg may be due to replace the classic editor this year, it will probably take another year or two (maybe even longer!) for Gutenberg to become firmly established with users. Only time will tell. Compatibility will be a factor in the take-up numbers, which will likely be influenced by how quickly developers update themes and plugins to integrate with Gutenberg fully.

So with WordPress moving over to the new block editor, what does Gutenberg offer the photographer? Well, the block editor makes adding images and video a much quicker and intuitive process. WordPress galleries can be added equally as fast. Even embedding video from YouTube or Vimeo is as simple as selecting the specific embed block, adding the link and clicking the embed button. Plugins developers will also be able to add blocks i.e the Instagram gallery above was added using a new block created by the developer Elfsight in a recent update to their excellent Instagram plugin. So far only two plugins on this website, Woocommerce and Elfsight Instagram feed, have block support but more will follow in the coming weeks and months.

It’s still early days but Gutenberg is looking encouraging. How the editor will be received when it is finally added to WordPress core is still subject to question, but the fact remains that the new editor is here to stay. Blocks are the future.

If you’d like to have a look at the new Gutenberg editor without using the plugin, an interactive demo of the editor can be found at the official Gutenberg information site at https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/

If you’d like to try the Gutenberg plugin then that can be found in the plugins depository at https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/

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From the Archive: Walking the Dog

By |2018-07-19T11:27:36+01:00July 17th, 2018|Categories: The Test Strip Photoblog|Tags: , , , , , , |

A couple walking their dog on the beach near Burnham Overy Staithe, Norfolk, UK

This is an image from 2016 but only just been recently added to the Norfolk gallery. Just viewing this photograph puts me back in a year that i’d rather forget, though that feeling is starting to fade with the passage of time.

Nearly two years ago, I ended up going on an unplanned trip to Norfolk for a week. My mother, who’d been diagnosed with terminal cancer just a few months before, had wanted one last final family holiday even though her own health was failing at a terrifying pace. We all needed a break after the months of bad news stacked on bad news. No silver lining had appeared. No miracle was going to occur. Emotionally we were all exhausted. Burnt out.

With hindsight we should have made the decision to holiday a lot earlier, but the chemotherapy and other hospital visits had made the possibility of getting away impossible. With the chemotherapy cancelled due to my mother’s weak health, the opportunity arose to take that holiday at the end of September 2016. Very quickly we made the decision to go to Norfolk and, as it happened, we made it just in the nick of time. Within a week or two of our return my mother would be incapable of travelling anywhere.

The ‘holiday’ took place in September 2016 and went better than I could have imagined. The change of scene did us all good even though my mother didn’t have the physical strength to get about that much. Norfolk had been an old family holiday favourite so it was a friendly and familiar place. Best of all, the travel distances involved were not huge. It was an escape, if only just a partial one, that enabled us all to relax us a little bit.

Sand blowing over the beach near Burnham Overy Staithe, Norfolk

I’d visited the beach near Burnham Overy Staithe on numerous occasions and taken one or two good images there including the photo of the man walking along the beach (carrying his boots) in a thick sea fret. Happy memories. To get there you have to walk along a winding path, probably about a couple of miles from the harbour car park at Burnham Overy Staithe. On a calm late summer evening, it’s a great way to enjoy the view, listen to the sounds of the Norfolk coast and soak up some fresh sea air. Peace. Bliss. Escape.

A strong but warm wind blew across the beach which seemed to blow all the worries away. The strong wind didn’t deter other visitors from enjoying the beach and it was those people that i concentrated the camera on. Photography is a great therapy. It can provide a purpose and an mental distraction just when you most need it. The instinctive mental process of looking for photos blocked out any other thoughts. I see a shot. One couple were particularly enjoying the vast expanse of space, their dog energetically chasing a thrown bright red ball again and again across the sand.

Chasing the red ball - a dog runs after a thrown red ball on a beach near Burnham Overy Staither, Norfolk, UK
Chasing the red ball – Norfolk Beach

The wind was incredibly strong and did cause some problems keeping the camera steady, but the light was bright so i did have a wide variety of shutter speeds to choose from. One thing i did want to capture was the movement of the fast moving sand so i tended to keep the shutter speed as low as i dare – around 1/80s @ f/22 for the top dog walking image, moving up to 1/250s @ f/11 for the lower red ball image.

The dog walkers were among the last pictures taken on the beach before i walked the couple of miles back to the car park.

The camera was a Nikon D3 using a 80-200mm Nikon f2.8 lens.

More images from the Norfolk project can be found HERE

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From the Archive: The Sunbather

By |2018-06-14T16:07:32+01:00June 15th, 2018|Categories: The Test Strip Photoblog|Tags: , , , , , , |

No matter how many times i look at this photo, i still can’t believe that the man was comfortable lying on that pebble beach. He did seem to be enjoying soaking up some rays.

This image was taken on the sea front at Sheringham in Norfolk around 2008. Walking along the sea front, i could see this chap sunbathing from quite a way off and I just hoped that he would stay there until i could get there… AND get the photograph. Fortunately he didn’t move even though he was literally just a couple of yards from the sea front path with people walking by. No one paid him the slightest bit of notice.

As luck would have it, a bench was located directly across from where my sunbather lay that provided a place to sit and a lower viewpoint for the photography. The resulting image is one of my favourites from the Norfolk Project combining a surreal moment with some humour. On the return journey, after visiting the lifeboat station at the end of Sheringham’s sea front, i noticed that he’d gone. I suspect he was waiting for his wife to return from town.

The 6×6 format was used a lot in the Norfolk Project, mostly in a landscape role, but I also found it good for street images like this one. I would often remove the prism finder and look as though i was cleaning the camera – then focus and get the image. I imagine most people thought i couldn’t take a photo with a piece of the camera missing!

The camera was a Bronica SQAi using a 80mm lens. Film stock was Ilford FP4. Sadly i haven’t shot much 6×6 in recent years. I think it’s time to revisit the 6×6 format again sometime soon.

More images from the Norfolk Project can be found HERE.

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From the Archive: Mountain Rain

By |2018-05-19T13:41:35+01:00May 18th, 2018|Categories: Blog, The Test Strip Photoblog|Tags: , , , , , , |

Rain over highlands mountains near Bridge of Orchy, Scotland

Photographs are sometimes be a bit elusive. I’d seen this wonderful range of mountains near Bridge of Orchy on previous journeys up to the Highlands of Scotland but the dilemma faced was always the same – where to park! The sheer numbers of people who would stop at the Loch Tulla viewpoint, combined with the size of a car and even the time of day would foil any photography plans on more than one occasion.

One year, arriving at the location the light was just gorgeous. The mountains were bathed in a warm, golden glow with shadows gliding over the mountainside as clouds passed over. Had i been on a motorbike then i’d have probably been able to pull off safely, but in a car there was just no room to get off the road. You win some, and you lose some.

This photograph was taken around mid morning during very changeable weather. The early arrival (stayed locally for the night) helped with finding a car park space, probably also empty due to the rain and wind blowing across the mountains, and just waited for the right moment. The photograph was taken just as another squall of rain crossed the mountain side, lit by a break in the cloud.  The volatile nature of the mountain weather comes across nicely with the light and dark tones of the photo.

This is one of my favourite photographs, a larger print is just above my desk. I love the tone and feel of the picture. I love the mountains too.

The camera was a NIkon D300S fitted with a Nikkor 55mm lens.

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