{"id":41438,"date":"2023-08-10T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T14:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhblog.dream.press\/blog\/?p=41438"},"modified":"2026-08-26T20:20:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T03:20:48","slug":"how-to-use-wordpress-blocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/blog\/how-to-use-wordpress-blocks\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Use WordPress Blocks (+ How To Create Your Own!)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Think about a bin of Legos. Every castle, spaceship, and questionable duck starts from the same pile of snap-together pieces. Modern WordPress works exactly the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordPress blocks are the individual pieces of content \u2014 paragraphs, images, buttons, videos \u2014 that you stack, rearrange, and style to build every page and post in the WordPress<\/a> editor. Each element you add is its own block, and every block can be moved, customized, or deleted on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blocks arrived with WordPress 5.0 back in December 2018, but they\u2019re still one of the most misunderstood and underused features in the CMS. If you started out on the classic editor, you may still think of blocks as \u201cnew\u201d WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This guide covers how blocks work, which ones ship with WordPress, and two ways to build your own custom blocks: with a plugin (the easy way) and from scratch (developer mode). Once you understand them, you can customize your site in ways that used to mean hiring a designer or developer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are WordPress blocks?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Wordpress<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

WordPress blocks are, as the name suggests, stackable building blocks<\/i>: self-contained content elements that you add to the pages and posts on your WordPress site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were introduced in WordPress 5.0<\/a>, released on December 6, 2018, alongside the new block editor. Blocks are now the standard way to build content in WordPress. And since full site editing shipped with WordPress 5.9 in early 2022, block themes let you use blocks for your entire site, including headers, footers, and templates, not just posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\tDreamHost Glossary<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n

Gutenberg<\/h3>\n

Gutenberg is the name for the Block Editor project in WordPress. A lot of WordPress developers and enthusiasts use the terms Gutenberg Editor and Block Editor interchangeably.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Think of the editor as a built-in page builder. Click the \u201c+\u201d button (or type \u201c\/\u201d in an empty paragraph) and pick a block. WordPress\u2019s own Core Blocks Reference<\/a> lists more than 100 blocks in the core library, though that count includes child blocks (each Column inside a Columns block gets its own entry) plus a few deprecated and experimental ones. In practice, the block inserter sorts what you\u2019ll actually use into six categories: Text, Media, Design, Widgets, Theme, and Embeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each block works like a small widget. Blocks can embed content from another site or service, add functionality like a calendar to a page, or hold a specific piece of content with predefined formatting. Most blocks also have settings that control how they look or behave on your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The block editor is a massive upgrade from the classic editor, which was essentially one big text box. The classic editor supported more than text and images, but complex layouts often depended on shortcodes, plugins, or custom code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nerd note:<\/b> If for some reason you don\u2019t see blocks in your editor, there are two likely reasons. One is that your WordPress installation<\/a> is horribly outdated (like years and years old). The other is that the Classic Editor plugin is active and has reverted you to the old editing experience. Check your plugins page from wp-admin to figure out if that\u2019s the case for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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