Extending the WordPress block editor: block plugins | Block editor training

Key Takeaways

by now you know how to browse add and edit blocks to make posts in the block editor but did you know that there are ways to add even more blocks to the blocks menu well there are how you ask easy with plugins there are two ways you can get more blocks with plugins the first one is to use a plug-in that specializes in making custom blocks and there are plenty of those as you will see later in this video another way to get more blocks is with plugins that add blocks as an extra feature for example the Yoast SEO plugin focuses on SEO but we also add an FAQ block and a how-to block to your blocks menu I'll show you how that works in the next video in this video I'll show you how to find install and use a custom blocks plugin right now I would like to add a testimonial and a social sharing button to this post let's see how I can do that to add a plug-in in WordPress you first need to open the plug-in screen by clicking on the plugins menu item in the admin menu then click the add new button at the top of the screen the easiest way to find the plug-in I need is to search for it with the search box now your question may be what do I search for if I don't know exactly what I'm looking for well you don't have to know the specific name of the plug-in to find what you need here's what I mean I will type in blocks in the search box and look at that I get a list of plugins that offer custom blocks since I need a specific block the testimonial I could even type that into the search field like this I type testimonial block and I get a list of the plugins that featured that kind of block but now I'm faced with new choices how do I pick the right plug-in in this plug-in repository there is some information that can help you in the decision making process the first eye catching thing is the rating naturally the higher the rating the better but it's not that simple it's also good to check how many reviews and how many active installations there are if a plug-in has a lot of active installations and a lot of positive reviews chances are it will work well still it's not enough to rely just on the opinion of other people updates are very important so make sure to check when the plug-in was last updated if a plugin hasn't been updated for months it might run into problems and clash with other plugins themes and the WordPress installation another crucial thing to check for is whether the plug-in is compatible with your WordPress version all of these factors are important for security and for the proper functioning of your entire sites so make sure to consider them let's put this into practice now there are many plugins in this list but I will need to make a choice so I will use the criteria I listed before so many choices from what's available here it seems like the ultimate add-ons plug-in ticks all the boxes it has many active installations good reviews it works with my WordPress version and it has been recently updated if I click on more details I can see what else this plug-in offers I see it also features a theme and in the blocks there is a social share block perfect just what I need it so let's go with it I click the Install Now button and then activate now that I've activated the plug-in I see a list here that lets me choose which blocks I want to see in my blocks menu they are all set to active by default but if I want I can deactivate some of them and then I will not see those deactivated ones in the blocks menu I'll just go ahead and leave them all activated to see my new custom blocks I need to go to the blocks menu in the post editor I go back to my posts and I click the plus button to find the blocks here they are the plugin created it's special new header within the blocks menu so I don't need to rummage around the other headers in search for them the plugin offers a lot of blocks and if I hover over one I do not get a preview like I did with the default WordPress blocks but there is a description so that can be useful as well here is my testimonials block let's add it use yes custom block is the same as using any other default WordPress block notice how has the toolbar and the sidebar options as well just like the other blocks we've already worked with the first thing I want to do is change the number of testimonials that will be displayed I need just one and I will set that in the sidebar now I can continue and add my text if I look at the options in the sidebar I see that there are so many things I can edit maybe I can change the fonts a little bit let's see I can change the font family but also its size weights and height I want to make it a bit smaller so I'll change the size let me check what the weight will do oh that's too much but this is okay what else can I do maybe I can give the background a different color and make this testimony you'll stand out yeah that made it pop okay I guess it's fine for now the point is there is a lot you can do here I also said I wanted to have some social sharing buttons let's find an ad at those here is the book and in the sidebar I can change the number of buttons I need three in total and I insert three here okay I obviously need to change the icons now I see that in the sidebar each button has its own option here's what I can do I can the taifa button in this case I need Twitter and I will need to change the icon there's many of them so I'll type Twitter to see what I get yep that's it I'll leave the colors as they are and now to repeat the same for the last icon and add LinkedIn done now people can share my post great let's wrap up in this video we saw that there are many more blocks you can use beside the ones available in the default WordPress installation there are plenty of plugins out there specialized in creating additional blocks that can improve your posts when choosing one be sure to make an informed decision and look at the ratings active installations recent updates and whether the plugin works with your version of WordPress have fun you