Gutenberg is the default content editor in WordPress, introduced in version 5.0 (December 2018). It replaced the Classic Editor (TinyMCE) with a block-based editing experience where every piece of content — paragraphs, images, headings, buttons — is a distinct block.
How Gutenberg Works
Instead of writing content in a single rich-text field, you build pages by stacking and arranging blocks:
- Content blocks — Paragraph, Heading, List, Quote, Table, Code.
- Media blocks — Image, Gallery, Video, Audio, Cover.
- Design blocks — Columns, Group, Separator, Spacer, Buttons.
- Widget blocks — Latest Posts, Categories, Search, Archives.
- Embed blocks — YouTube, Twitter, Spotify, and more.
Full Site Editing (FSE)
Gutenberg has expanded beyond post content to full site editing, allowing you to customize headers, footers, sidebars, and page templates using the same block system — without writing code.
Performance Considerations
Gutenberg adds block-specific CSS and JavaScript to the frontend. Sites with many different block types may load additional stylesheets. Some performance-focused users prefer the Classic Editor for simpler output.
What InspectWP Checks
InspectWP detects whether your WordPress site uses the Gutenberg editor by looking for block-specific HTML comments (like <!-- wp:paragraph -->) and Gutenberg-related CSS/JS in the page source.