I upgraded to WordPress 5, a very brave move considering the changes made but I came away with a positive feeling that all will be OK
I upgraded to WordPress 5
Considering that I upgraded to WordPress 5 a very brave move with the changes made but I came away feeling that maybe this is better than I initially thought.
If you are scared of WordPress 5 and Gutenberg take the journey slowly because it takes a considerable brain shift to get it going.
Gutenberg was a template to ease you into WordPress5 and no longer necessary.
The First thing to do on upgrading
Back up your website using a plug-in or save feature. This is just in case things go bad.
As I host at Wealthy Affiliate they back up for me so this is not a big concern
You can use WP clone or Update plus plugins as a great free service
Now to download classic editor
The classic editor is a plugin for WordPress5. You can change to the old or new editor simply by activating or deactivating. This is particularly useful when updating old posts. Let’s stick with the new editor for the moment as we whizz through some of the changes.
The little + at the top left
This allows you to add all sorts of boxes to your site and is used every time you want to change a box.
- Paragraph; The most used writing block
- Headings; start big and work down
- Images; import or use library
- Gallery: this is a group of images
- Quotes, Adio, covers, files
- Embed, this is new and for Youtube etc
When the little + appears you just select what you want to do. In the classic editor, this was fraught with problems as your paragraphs would blend with your headers requiring separation problems and fixes. This is one of my favourite fixes saving heaps of time.
Try to use every block
My first attempt was to try and use every block in my post so I could see how it worked. I could always delete later and you discover just how easy it can be.
We must remember to fill in the alt image and any links you want. You can go back and right-click the box and edit at any time.
Now for a Gallery
In the past, I had always found this to be hard work but now it is very simple, click on the gallery and add pictures relating to the post
word Press 5 
my checklist 
by Peter Hanley
You can see I added words to the pictures to explain why they were there. This took but seconds
Peter Hanley said;
WordPress 5 is really easy and saves you a lot of time.
Testimonials in pages work really well and this one was easy because I am the author of my own destiny.
I also use and recommend a product called Wealthy affiliate and have completed the university degree there.
I used the custom HTML box and inserted my affiliate code supplied by WA. Again a simple process.
The word count
Over 300 words in a post are necessary over 1000 is good and over 1500 is great if you believe the experts. Furthermore, I always use Grammarly that checks on my spelling and writing as an essential free tool.
Where to find the word count
This one had me bamboozled for a while as it has moved from the bottom left of the page in a little box to the top left with a little (i) it said 754 words, 9 headings 16 paragraphs and 22 blocks. A heading and 5H# headings.
This is certainly an advantage over the old counter as it checks all the important points.
Using Yoast
Yes, Yoast is still there in a big Y up the top right criticizing my writing and giving me suggestions to improve my SEO. Once you have two green lights you are good to go.
We all having writing styles and Yoast has made mine more positive over time to contribute to a better writing style. You just need to accept criticism and use it to your benefit.
Document panel in WordPress5
Before we finish here flip over to the document panel top right. Here you will complete your categories, tags, visual header and a quick excerpt all to help with SEO.
In conclusion
There are a few more things you can add in like music and embedded you Tube, but start with the easy stuff and get all that working before moving on. I hope I have given you some support in this new career as a WordPress blogger that has moved on.
