Glossary

Blocks: An abstract unit for structuring and interacting with content. When composed together they create the content for a webpage. Everything from a paragraph, to a video, to the site title is represented as a block.

Block Library: Primary interface for selecting from the available blocks, triggered by plus icon buttons on Blocks or in the top-left of the editor interface.

Block Editor: a modular system of blocks to compose and format content, designed to create rich and flexible layouts for websites and digital products.

Block Supports: The Block Supports API allows a block to opt in or out of certain core features. Opting into any of these features will register additional attributes on the block and provide the UI to manipulate that attribute.

Block Toolbar: A set of button controls. In the context of a block, usually referring to the toolbar of block controls shown above the selected block.

Block transforms: Blocks have the ability to be transformed into other block types. This allows basic operations like converting a paragraph into a heading, but also more intricate ones like multiple images becoming a gallery. Block transforms work for single blocks and for multi-block selections. Internal block variations are also possible transformation targets.

Block type: In contrast with the blocks composing a particular post, a block type describes the blueprint by which any block of that type should behave. So while there may be many images within a post, each behaves consistent with a unified image block type definition.

Block variations: Given a block type, a block variation is a predefined set of its initial attributes. This API allows creating a single block from which multiple configurations are possible. Variations provide different possible interfaces, including showing up as entirely new blocks in the library, or as presets when inserting a new block. Read the API documentation for more details.

Classic block: A block which embeds the TinyMCE editor as a block, TinyMCE was the base of the previous core editor. Older content created prior to the block editor will be loaded in to a single Classic block.

Content canvas: The content editor, which holds content created with blocks

Data and attributes: Blocks understand content as attributes and are serializable to HTML. To this point, there is a new Block Grammar. Distilled, the block grammar is an HTML comment, either a self-closing tag or with a beginning tag and ending tag. In the main tag, depending on the block type and user customizations, there can be a JSON object. This raw form of the block is referred to as serialized.

Dynamic block: A type of block where the content of which may change and cannot be determined at the time of saving a post, instead calculated any time the post is shown on the front of a site. These blocks may save fallback content or no content at all in their JavaScript implementation, instead deferring to a PHP block implementation for runtime rendering.

Inserter: A panel for inserting blocks into the content canvas

Patterns: A block pattern is a group of blocks that have been combined together creating a design pattern. These design patterns provide a starting point for building more advanced pages and layouts quickly, instead of inserting individual blocks. A block pattern can be as small as a single block or as large as a full page of content. Unlike reusable blocks, once a pattern is inserted it doesn’t remain in sync with the original content as the blocks contained are meant to be edited and customized by the user. Underneath the surface, patterns are just regular blocks composed together. Themes can register patterns to offer users quick starting points with a design language familiar to that theme’s aesthetics.

Reusable blocks: A reusable blocks is an instance of a block (or multiple blocks) that can be inserted and edited in multiples places, remaining in sync everywhere. If a reusable block is edited in one place, those changes are reflected across all posts and pages that block is used. Examples of reusable blocks include a block consisting of a heading whose content and a custom color that would be appear on multiple pages of the site and sidebar widgets that would appear on every page.

RichText: A common component enabling rich content editing including bold, italics, hyperlinks, etc.

Static block: A type of block where the content of which is known at the time of saving a post. A static block will be saved with HTML markup directly in post content.

Serialization: The process of converting a block’s attributes object into HTML markup, which occurs each time a block is edited.

Settings Panel A panel for configuring a block’s settings when selected or the settings of the post

Styles: formerly known as Global Styles and as such referenced in the code, is both an interface that users access through the editor and a configuration system done through a theme.json file. This file absorbs most of the configuration aspects usually scattered through various add_theme_support calls to simplify communicating with the editor. It thus aims to improve declaring what settings should be enabled, what specific tools a theme offers (like a custom color palette), the available design tools present, and an infrastructure that allows to coordinate the styles coming from WordPress, the active theme, and the user.

theme.json: A theme’s theme.json file is one of the best ways to curate the Editor experience and will likely be the first tool you use before reaching for more sophisticated solutions.

Top Toolbar: Houses page wide editor options such as publishing, scheduling, as well as inserting blocks thru the block selection panel. Additionally houses the Block Toolbar controls if the Top Toolbar view is selected

Wide & Full Alignment: A Block Support setting that allows for two additional alignment options that stretch beyond the default page layout margins to varying degrees depending on a given theme.