Boise State has completed three rounds of user acceptance testing for our new WordPress Gutenberg theme editor, and is just about to begin round four.
User acceptance testing is taking longer than anticipated, but we believe we’re still on track for a late-spring (or early-summer) rollout.
What does this mean?
We are working with Modern Tribe, our current Boise State WordPress theme’s original author, to modernize our theme and take advantage of current WordPress features and functionality.
Creating content in a modern WordPress environment has changed. In the new Gutenberg theme editor, “blocks” are used to arrange and edit each web page element. Think of it like building a web page with Legos, where each heading, paragraph, photo, and list are separate blocks you add and configure to create a page or post.
Panels in our current theme function similarly to blocks. You add a panel to a page, configure the panel with content, and then drag-and-drop that panel to move it up or down on the page. In fact, our panels will mostly stay the same (with a few improvements) in the new theme editor, but we’ll start referring to them as “custom blocks” instead of panels.
Is this a new WordPress theme?
No, it’s the same theme regarding look and feel but with more options (collapsing text, control of space between blocks, a third level of navigation, etc.).
But using it is very different, and will come with a learning curve. All of our documentation must be updated, new training content created, demonstration and learning sessions prepared…there’s still much left to do.
When will we learn more?
As soon as we have a stable environment available to demonstrate our new theme editor, we’ll schedule some open forums and show you what it looks like. Feel free to send us any questions (email helpdesk@boisestate.edu) you have and we’ll be happy to provide answers.
Learn more about the Gutenberg block editor on WPBeginner’s website.