UPDATE: On January 28, we announced an updated timeline for this deprecation. Due to a core bug, Deprecation has been delayed to February 22, and all outstanding Pull Requests will be merged on February 17.
Since its official release as part of WordPress 5.0 in December of 2018, the Gutenberg project has transformed what it’s like to create content and manage pages and sections.
While the Gutenberg Ramp plugin was initially created to allow WordPress VIP customers to have precise control over their editor experience, WordPress Core includes simple filters which provide this same control and allow for a more streamlined codebase. As a result, we will be removing the Gutenberg Ramp plugin from the mu (must-use) plugins set on February 3, 2021.
What does that mean for me?
The current Gutenberg Ramp experience requires site owners to opt in to use the Block Editor. Using the WordPress Core filters will move the Block Editor to on-by-default, while still allowing customers to easily opt out if they choose.
Starting today, any Administrators on your WordPress VIP site will begin to see a deprecation notice alerting them of the upcoming change. No action is required at this time, but if you’d like to preemptively address the change, see below for specific instructions.
What do I need to do?
You need to test:
While we’ll be proactively creating these Pull Requests in your repos, we highly recommend testing the changes prior to merging, especially when using the use_block_editor_for_post_type filter for a custom implementation.
If you’re already using the Gutenberg Block Editor:
Starting November 23, VIP will create Pull Requests on each environment branch of your GitHub repo. These Pull Requests will be customized depending on your current implementation, to ensure that your application continues to work as expected after the Gutenberg Ramp plugin is deprecated.
For customers who are using the Block Editor site-wide, the Gutenberg Ramp implementation will be replaced with the below snippet:
add_filter( 'use_block_editor_for_post', '__return_true' );
For customers with custom implementations of Gutenberg Ramp (e.g. limited to certain post types), the Pull Request will be configured to meet each specific use case, using a custom function along with the use_block_editor_for_post_type filter:
function maybe_load_gutenberg_for_post_type( $can_edit, $post_type ) {
$enable_for_post_types = [ 'post', 'page' ];
if ( in_array( $post_type, $enable_for_post_types, true ) ) {
return true;
}
return $can_edit;
}
add_filter( 'use_block_editor_for_post_type', 'maybe_load_gutenberg_for_post_type', 20, 2 );
If you’re not using the Gutenberg Block Editor:
Starting November 23, VIP will create Pull Requests on the environment branches of your GitHub repo, implementing the below snippet in your client-mu-plugins folder:
add_filter( 'use_block_editor_for_post', '__return_false' );
This filter will allow you to continue opting out of using the Block Editor, once the Gutenberg Ramp plugin is deprecated.
FAQ
Q: What if I don’t have a development team to support this change?
A: The VIP Team will be creating custom Pull Requests for each customer, based on their current implementations, and will also be merging these on customers’ behalf on February 3 where needed. If you have specific questions or concerns about the changes needed for your site, or how to test, please feel free to open a support ticket.
Q: What if we have a planned code freeze?
A: We have planned the below timeline to consider common code freeze periods, such as the upcoming Holidays. If you have specific questions or concerns about the timeframe, please feel free to open a support ticket.
Q: What’s wrong with the Gutenberg Ramp plugin? Why do we have to change?
A: The Gutenberg Ramp plugin has served as a consistent and reliable way for VIP customers to opt in to the Block Editor experience. As we have seen widespread adoption of and success with the Block Editor, we are taking this opportunity to fully endorse a Gutenberg-first experience in the Enterprise WordPress space. The bonus side-effect of this change is helping our customers clean up their code base, while removing some future technical debt.
Timeline
November 23, 2020
Starting today, November 23, the VIP team will create Pull Requests on develop, preprod, and master branches for all customer repos, with the necessary changes for their specific implementation. These Pull Requests will allow you to test on each environment of your application, and merge with confidence that the change has been reviewed by the VIP Team.
February 3, 2021
On February 3, any outstanding Pull Requests will be merged to remove dependencies on the Gutenberg Ramp plugin, and the plugin will be officially deprecated from VIP’s mu-plugins.
Further information
Gutenberg has offered a new approach to matching a team’s existing workflow, and allows editorial teams to work in the context of what their site and pages actually look like. And it has made a flexible, granular reusability of individual elements across projects and even across the community much more directly available.
With Gutenberg, we were able to publish a breaking news story in two minutes versus five minutes in Classic [WordPress]. The main reason for this is the reusable blocks which have been renamed ‘The Game Changer’.
— Joel Davies, Head of Editorial Operations with News UK
If you’d like to learn more about Gutenberg, you can review our documentation or our case study with News UK.
Questions?
If you have testing feedback or questions related to this release, please open a support ticket, and we will be happy to assist.
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