The announcement of Gutenberg in June 2017 altered perspective for many of us in WordPress. Some chose to leave, many decided to “wait and see,” while others jumped in to contribute. How did you react? As an agency owner, I viewed it as an opportunity. It provided me a reason to enroll in a front end developer curriculum, so I could “learn Javascript deeply” per the encouragement of Matt Mullenweg. I particularly wanted to discover what React components were all about and how to use them to improve the user experience. I applied for a Udacity Developer Program and was delighted to be awarded a Google scholarship which paid for my coursework. Strengthening my skills as a front end developer enhances my passion for WordPress and my fascination with Gutenberg. As an agency owner and a writer, learning the code behind Gutenberg allows me to see possibilities I would not have imagined otherwise. It tempts me to explore interactive media in my client work. It expands my technical expertise and increases my respect for forward-thinking developers. Most importantly, it teaches me to value, embrace and contribute to open source opportunities.

1. Choosing to
React
to Gutenberg
Jen Miller
WordCamp San Diego, 2018
Twitter/LinkedIn: JenBlogs4u
#WCSD #Gutenberg

2. Do you remember when you
first heard about the
Gutenberg project?

3. "We're trying skate to where the puck
is going even though I've only been
to 1 hockey game in my life."

4. How did you feel
when you heard
about Gutenberg?

5. What were your concerns?

6. “Learn
JavaScript
Deeply.”
- Matt Mullenweg
December, 2015

7. ● Learn more about JavaScript
● Continue to Download Gutenberg
Updates
● Test and Play with Gutenberg
● Consider Block Possibilities
● Move Forward Confidently

8. For me, it all boiled down to
a simple if else statement.

9. What other things could be
done to prepare ourselves
for Gutenberg?

10. Everything is in blocks.
■ Images
■ Video
■ Audio
■ Text
■ Embeds
■ Plugins
■ More

11. Choose how
you will react
to Gutenberg.
https://wordpress.org/plugins
/gutenberg/

12. Resources When Jumping In
https://medium.freecodecamp.org/a-developers-introduct
ion-to-github-1034fa55c0db - Github Intro
https://validator.w3.org/ - Validates HTML
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Ele
ment - Reference for naming HTML Elements
http://htmlcheatsheet.com/js/ - Code quickly as you learn
with an all in one (HTML & CSS on other tabs)

13. Resources For Continuing On
https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/javas
cript/ - Javascript debugger in Chrome
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference -
CSS Reference Guide
https://css-tricks.com/almanac/ - CSS Terms
https://css-tricks.com/how-css-selectors-work/ - CSS Styling

14. Thank you
and Guten Luck!
Jen Miller
WordCamp San Diego, 2018
Twitter/LinkedIn: JenBlogs4u
#WCSD #Gutenberg