At the time of this writing WordPress 5.0 is scheduled to release on November 27, 2018.
Two major changes are included in this release, 1) replacement of the current WordPress editor, TinyMCE, with Gutenberg and 2) replacement of the underlying framework with React, a popular JavaScript framework used by Facebook and Instagram.
Gutenberg has recently been available as a plugin, I’m sure you’ve seen the notifications in your dashboard about it. In WordPress 5.0 the Classic Editor is replaced with Gutenberg, the only editor included in the new WordPress release. The Classic Editor will be available as a plugin moving forward, and includes 2 options for it’s use, 1) replace the Gutenberg editor, or 2) use Gutenberg by default but include optional links back to the Classic Editor.
About Gutenberg
It’s all based on blocks rather than one long continuous stream of paragraphs. Each time you hit a return you’re essentially closing the previous block and opening a new one. Each block can be selected and styled separately from the others and can be moved around in a drag and drop fashion.
If you have used page builder plugins this will be familiar. The native WordPress block options are lean, but there are plugins like Atomic Blocks and Stackable that add fancier block options to Gutenberg. Examples of additional block types added by these plugins are Post Grid, Call To Action, Accordions, Testimonials and Sharing Icons.
There is another more robust plugin called Disable Gutenberg that brings back the Classic Editor and also provides granular options to configure your interaction with Gutenberg. These options range from disabling and hiding Gutenberg completely to only disabling Gutenberg for specific templates, posts, post types, pages and/or user roles.
The big question, how do our existing page builder plugins work, or more concerning, not work, with Gutenberg? On the websites I manage that employ a page builder plugin most use WPBakery Page Builder.
After a little research I learned WPBakery settings include a Disable Gutenberg feature. I assume this means it also includes it’s own version of the Classic Editor, but it’s possible that needs to be installed separately.