About 10 months ago I wrote a blog post, “A Simple Page Layout with the WordPress Block Editor”, as an exercise to compare using just the block editor versus using the block editor plus one of a couple of plugins; Stackable and Kadence Blocks. I concluded that:
The Stackable and Kadence Blocks plugins both made building my page a bit quicker and allowed me to make the site look more interesting without using code, but it was pretty straightforward to build the page using just standard WordPress blocks.
Since then, the blocks plugin I have used most often has been Kadence Blocks.
Now that GenerateBlocks has been released by Tom Usborne, the developer of my favourite theme, GeneratePress, I wanted to have another go at building the same layout with this new plugin for the WordPress block editor. Note that GenerateBlocks can be used with any theme, not just with GeneratePress, although there are some features that are designed to work hand in hand with the GeneratePress theme.
[UPDATE: GenerateBlocks Pro was released in January 2021 but this article is concerned only with the free version of the plugin.]
GenerateBlocks is described as “A small collection of lightweight WordPress blocks that can accomplish nearly anything.” It is not supposed to include a block for every possible purpose, but can be combined with core WordPress blocks and ones from other plugins.
The plugin has just four basic blocks: Container, Grid, Headline and Buttons (although strictly speaking, there is also a Buttons container block surrounding one or more Button blocks). These blocks have more or less the same controls as each other for Typography, Spacing, Colors, Gradients, Backgrounds and SVG Icons.
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