WordPress 5.0 is expected tomorrow, November 27th. And it brings some major changes. For those who may not be following the drama, the BIG change coming in WP 5.0 is the Gutenberg Block Editor. Gutenberg completely replaces the entire “Edit Post” screen for WP Posts, Pages, and any Custom Post Type for which block-editor is enabled. Regardless of your thoughts on Gutenberg, the changes are significant. My best recommendation is to do some research, read up, plan, and prepare for WordPress 5.0 — before making the leap and upgrading everything. As for the plugins provided here at Plugin Planet, they are all 100% ready for WP 5.0, Gutenberg, and all the big changes.

What to Expect

With WordPress 5.0, the “classic” Edit Post screen (aka the Classic Editor) is completely replaced by a JavaScript-powered “block” editing UI. The new UI removes or replaces everything that once was so familar:

  • Visual/TinyMCE/Rich-Text Editor (RTE) — replaced by Gutenberg Block Editor
  • Meta Boxes — replaced with Gutenberg equivalents
  • Custom Fields — removed/replaced with Gutenberg functionality
  • Classic Editor UI — entire Edit Post screen replaced with Gutenberg
  • Other changes not yet discovered, discussed, implemented, etc.

Gutenberg began as a plugin. Now with WordPress 5.0, Gutenberg is merged into the WP core (now called the “Block Editor”). So the plugin is not needed; Gutenberg (in core) will be active and used for all enabled post types (e.g., posts, pages, and any enabled CPTs). Needless to say, Gutenberg development is happening at breakneck speeds, and things in the code are changing constantly. So the previous list is a little vague or general, that’s because a LOT is still changing too quickly to make many definitive statements. My advice is to do your own research, and look especially for articles written as recently as possible, to help ensure you’re getting the latest, most up-to-date information. And of course, expect things to change in future WP updates. Because they are. And will continue to do so.

Dealing with Gutenberg

If, after doing your own research, you decide that your site is not ready for the major v5.0 changes, there are several plugins available that can help you configure and set things up exactly as needed.

Full Disclosure: the Disable Gutenberg plugin is one of my own creations. I develop it with great care and work hard to keep it current with WP/Gut changes. This is very important to me, as I am using Disable Gutenberg on all of my own sites. So it’s gotta be 100% awesome and effective. And it is. Try it for yourself. Of course, Classic Editor and Gutenberg Ramp plugins also provide some useful disabling functionality. But the Disable Gutenberg plugin is much more robust and capable than any of the alternatives.

Also, for developers, here is a current tutorial on how to disable Gutenberg (Block Editor) in any version of WordPress.

Plugins Ready!

With all of that in mind, I am proud to announce that all of my plugins (free and pro) are 100% ready for WordPress 5.0 and the big Gutenberg changes. Here is an overview of the latest versions of our plugins, along with any important/relevant notes.

BBQ Pro

BBQ Pro is updated to version 2.2. This was mostly a compatibility bump, after extensive testing with WP 5.0 and Gutenberg, etc. Also, BBQ Pro documentation and tutorials are updated with any relevant information pertaining to this update. See the plugin’s readme.txt file for complete Changelog.

Banhammer Pro

Banhammer Pro is updated to version 1.3. Changes include:

  • Replaces geoip.tools with ipapi.co for Geo Lookups
  • Fixes bug with banhammer-process_ query args
  • Fixes bug with cron not working
  • Tests on WordPress 5.0

Also, Banhammer Pro documentation and tutorials are updated with new information pertaining to this update. See the plugin’s readme.txt file for complete Changelog.

Blackhole Pro

Blackhole Pro is updated to version 1.6. Changes include:

  • Replaces geoip.tools with ipapi.co for Geo Lookups
  • Adds link to site’s robots.txt on plugin settings page
  • Refines plugin Help tab and inline documentation
  • Updates default translation template
  • Tests on WordPress 5.0

Also, Blackhole Pro documentation and tutorials are updated with new information pertaining to this update. See the plugin’s readme.txt file for complete Changelog.

SES Pro

SES Pro is updated to version 2.2. This update was mainly a version bump after testing for compatibility with WordPress 5.0 and Gutenberg. Note that SES custom posts types are not Gutenberg-enabled, so the SES Email and other screens will continue to use the classic editor. Also, SES Pro documentation and tutorials are updated with new information pertaining to this update. See the plugin’s readme.txt file for complete Changelog.

USP Pro

USP Pro is updated to version 3.1. Changes include:

  • Adds shortcode [usp_user_avatar]
  • Adds email alert shortcode %%post_slug%%
  • Updates plugin settings page details
  • Updates default translation template
  • Tests on WordPress 5.0

Important Notes: USP Pro makes use of meta boxes, custom fields, and shortcodes. As explained, WP 5.0 removes most of this functionality as we know it. So when you look at your submitted posts using the Gutenberg Block Editor, you won’t see any of the custom fields that are attached to the post. To help with this, you have a few options:

Also, USP Pro documentation and tutorials are updated with new information pertaining to this update. See the plugin’s readme.txt file for complete Changelog.

Friendly Reminder..

In addition to the plugin improvements mentioned above, some further changes were made as part of my usual plugin update routine. Other changes include updated documentation, regenerated translation template, and further testing on WordPress 4.9, 5.0, and 5.1 (alpha). As always, huge thank you to those who contribute with feature suggestions and bug reports!

Aaand.. just a friendly neighborhood reminder: always maintain good, working backups of your database and files. That way should something unexpected happen during, say, an upgrade to WordPress 5.0, you will be able to restore previous working functionality asap! :)