Ask any developer what they think of Gutenberg, and you’ll usually get a groan, a pause, or a long list of “workarounds.” The block editor has been controversial from day one. But here’s what no one seems to say loud enough:
Clients love Gutenberg.
Not all of them, of course. But when implemented well — with thought, structure, and boundaries — clients light up when they see how much they can control without breaking anything.
And that matters.
The Old WordPress: Power in the Developer’s Hands
Before Gutenberg, WordPress development was a game of templates, shortcodes, and back-and-forth emails.
“Can you move this text above the image?”
“Can I have three columns here instead of two?”
“Where do I edit this button again?”
Clients had to ask. Developers had to act. Fast for us, frustrating for them.
That old world gave us total control. But it didn’t empower the people who actually use the site every day.
Gutenberg: Freedom With Guardrails
Gutenberg changed the game by giving users control over layout, content, and even design. But with great power came… chaos.
At first, developers saw Gutenberg as messy, hard to style, and prone to client error. And to be fair, the early days were rough.
But now? When done right, Gutenberg lets developers build smart, reusable components. Block patterns, locked templates, block permissions, style variations — these are the tools that allow us to offer freedom without fear.
Clients get to:
- Add sections
- Rearrange content
- Choose layouts
- Update branding
And they don’t have to call us for every tiny change.
That’s not a threat to our jobs. That’s what good software looks like.
The Developer’s New Role
In the age of Gutenberg, developers aren’t just coders. We’re experience designers.
We don’t just ask “How can I build this?” — we ask, “How can I make this flexible and foolproof?”
We craft systems: design tokens, layout logic, style rules. We build with intention, knowing that someone else — someone non-technical — will be using what we made.
When we embrace that shift, we become more than developers. We become architects.
Gutenberg: Freedom With Guardrails
Gutenberg changed the game by giving users control over layout, content, and even design. But with great power came… chaos.
At first, developers saw Gutenberg as messy, hard to style, and prone to client error. And to be fair, the early days were rough.
But now? When done right, Gutenberg lets developers build smart, reusable components. Block patterns, locked templates, block permissions, style variations — these are the tools that allow us to offer freedom without fear.
Clients get to:
- Add sections
- Rearrange content
- Choose layouts
- Update branding
And they don’t have to call us for every tiny change.
That’s not a threat to our jobs. That’s what good software looks like.
The Developer’s New Role
In the age of Gutenberg, developers aren’t just coders. We’re experience designers.
We don’t just ask “How can I build this?” — we ask, “How can I make this flexible and foolproof?”
We craft systems: design tokens, layout logic, style rules. We build with intention, knowing that someone else — someone non-technical — will be using what we made.
When we embrace that shift, we become more than developers. We become architects.