Gutenberg 14.3 was released this week with drag-and-drop improvements for both the block editor and the site editor. Automattic-sponsored contributor Aaron Robertshaw published a video, illustrating how the block editor now supports dropping an image onto an empty paragraph block to replace it with a new Image block.
The site editor has also added drag-and-drop capabilities for blocks and patterns in the new zoomed-out view, which was added in Gutenberg version 14.1. It zooms out to focus on building and composing patterns, allowing users to move sections around without affecting the inner blocks. It can be enabled under “Experiments.” In 14.3, users can drag blocks and patterns right onto the canvas with an overhead view that makes it easy to place in between existing blocks.
This version also introduces new support for alt + arrow keyboard combinations for navigating blocks. Robertshaw explained how they work:
For example, if your cursor is towards the end of a long paragraph, you can quickly press
alt + up arrowto move to the beginning of that paragraph. If you are already at the beginning of a text block, you’ll move to the start of the previous paragraph. Similarly,alt + down arrowwill move you to the end of a block of text.
The Styles typography controls have been updated to include the Tools Panels that users have available in the Block Settings interface. This makes the experience more consistent and expands the capabilities to allow for resetting the values.
This release includes dozens of fixes and improvements to design tools, components, the Block API, and more. Check out the changelog in the announcement post for the full list of updates.
Gutenberg 14.3 will not be included in the upcoming WordPress 6.1 release but will be rolled into core the next time around. If you want these features now, you can install the Gutenberg plugin.