Gutenberg 16.9 Introduces Block Renaming Feature and Experimental Form Building
Delivering on a highly-requested feature, Gutenberg contributors have made it possible to rename almost any block in the List View. Version 16.9 was released this week with the new feature, which builds on Gutenberg 16.7’s introduction of the ability to rename Group blocks.
Renaming Blocks in the List View
The new block renaming feature works similarly to naming Photoshop layers. Users can now open the list view, click on the ellipsis menu, select “Rename,” and enter a custom name. This feature is particularly useful as the scope of the Site Editor grows, allowing users to distinguish between blocks more easily.
Automattic-sponsored contributor Dave Smith explained the importance of this feature, stating that it can be difficult to distinguish between blocks when they are all labeled by the block name. This is especially crucial when Groups represent distinct sections of a page or template.
Exceptions to Block Renaming
While almost every block can be renamed, there are four exceptions to this feature. The core/block, core/template-part, core/pattern, and core/navigation blocks cannot be renamed.
Additional Renaming Capabilities
In addition to block renaming, Gutenberg 16.9 introduces more renaming capabilities. Users can now duplicate and rename patterns, as well as pattern categories. This allows for more customization and organization within the Gutenberg editor.
Experimental Form Building
One surprising addition in this release is the introduction of new experimental form and input blocks. This feature allows users to build basic forms directly within WordPress core. While this addition has taken many by surprise, some developers have questioned why there was no proactive outreach to existing WordPress form solutions.
Gravity Forms co-founder Carl Hancock expressed his concerns about the lack of outreach to developers of longstanding WordPress form solutions. He suggested that reaching out to experts in this space could have helped drive adoption and prevent further fragmentation.
It’s important to note that the forms feature is still in the early stages of experimentation. More information may be published in the November edition of “What’s New For Developers?”
Other Notable Highlights
Gutenberg 16.9 includes several other notable highlights:
1. New media categories: Audio and Video have been added for organizing patterns by media type.
2. Pages can now be sorted by date in the Site Editor’s page management screen.
3. The Command Palette now shows block-specific commands as contextual suggestions.
4. The experiments section has added a featured image field to the page list.
For a full changelog and more details on bug fixes and enhancements to performance, tooling, documentation, code quality, and accessibility, check out the release post for Gutenberg 16.9.
In conclusion, Gutenberg 16.9 brings exciting new features to the WordPress editor. The block renaming feature allows users to easily distinguish between blocks in the List View, enhancing the editing experience. Additionally, the experimental form building feature opens up new possibilities for creating forms directly within WordPress core. With ongoing improvements and additions, Gutenberg continues to evolve and provide users with a more powerful and customizable editing experience.
