So, the Gutenberg vs Page Builder topic again…
I’m looking for a solution for corporate internal multisite setups. We’re currently still working on old non-Gutenberg themes, but we need to make a change one way or the other.
Some of my thoughts on this discussion so far:
* Gutenberg is terrible for untrained site maintainers, and it’s far too easy for novice site maintainers to break blocks.
* We’ve also had problems where we have used Gutenberg when maintainers of Gutenberg block sets have deprecated code and broken sites as a result.
* On the flip side, I’m concerned about a page builder also deprecating code, but even more concerned with a page builder being abandoned in a few years.
So.. anyone have experience either way in large multisite instances?
If we do stay with Gutenberg, I need to find ONE block addon to provide some more options.
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Gutenberg/block editor is objectively less mature than other builders. I’ll cede that point. But, I’ve found every builder has tradeoffs and present their own maintenance issues. Any one isn’t more or less problematic than the others, it’s a matter of which problems you find acceptable and which you don’t. If you choose the block editor, you accept limited flexibility in design for increased maintainability and portability. If you use something like Elementor, you increase design opportunity at the cost of maintainability. If you go to a complete control system like Bricks or Breakdance, you maximize design freedom at the expense of future portability.
To put a finer point on it, define your development values and you’ll have a good framework for evaluating software decisions.
How many sites are you expecting the multi-site instance to house? If it’s 5, the answers might be different than if it’s 400.
Personally I really like building themes around Gutenberg, however most custom functionality is still written theme and builder independent, or utilize a really well supported 3rd party functionality particularly for multi site integrations.
Multi-sites, at large scale are considerably easier to support when kept simple, in my opinion. If it can be built around the core builder, adequate knowledge and support are available, not withstanding budget constraints – makes building around Gutenberg the best solution in most instances.
Gutenberg is just not ready yet for the average content editor. I standardized on Beaver Builder some years back and am still using it with no plans to switch to anything else soon.
My site editors are mostly people working in schools. They are not developers. They need point-and-click, but beyond what a locked-down ACF-powered site can provide.
My business is building and hosting school district websites. I shudder to think about how much time and effort it would be to train and retrain and support my clients on how to use Gutenberg, or Bricks or Breakdance.
The Beaver Builder team is making a lot of effort in making it future-compatible with Blocks. There’s a lot of development happening now, and their new Flex Box module is the bomb.
Gutenberg.
The reason: if anything happens to pagebuilder (security leach, update incompatible with some of the plugins, etc) you are in THE BIG trouble.
I would go a very, very conservative way. Underscore, GeneratePress or Blockbase theme; even 2024 is overkill. Only GenerateBlocks and Spectra, as added blocks. For the rest – custom created blocks and/or ACF or Pods. Very, very conservative.
I think gutenberg with ad-hoc custom made block is far easier than any other pagebuilder because you can start reasoning in terms of components instead of section->row->columns->widget. So a editor does need to add a section with 2 50/50 columns and then an image widget and a text widget with tons of options about margin, padding, valign etc, but just a “text + image” component.
It’s way easier to mess up a page builder page where you can change typography, colors, sizes, elements positioning with a click, instead of a well configured block editor page.