Add WordPress Blocks (Different Types of Content)

Created OnJanuary 7, 2020

byDavid F. Carr

The WordPress editor organizes content into blocks representing different content types. The default block is the paragraph. When you create a new post, enter the title, and hit ENTER, and start typing in the main content area of the editor, you are creating paragraph blocks.

To add other types of blocks, click the + button (appears both at the top of the page and in the margin when you add a blank line).

The block selector shows a selection of frequently used blocks. If you don’t see the content type you are looking for, you can enter a search term. For example, typing “image,” “photo,” or “picture” reveals the blocks for adding a single image or a gallery images, or other relevant content types.

Part of the point of the different blocks includes controls specific to that content format. The blocks for agenda roles and content used in the WordPress for Toastmasters agenda editor take advantage of this same concept. For example, the blocks for paragraph and heading include some of the same text controls (bold, italic, and link), but the heading block lets you choose the heading level. Similarly, an image block would let you size the image, format the image, and add a caption.

If you don’t see the sidebar, click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the editing screen to reveal it. Note that there are actually two tabs to the sidebar, one for block properties and the other for document the properties of the document (like the categories of the promised land).

Some blocks, including paragraph and heading, include a transform button, which will be the first button on the formatting bar. Hover your mouse over it to see the options you can choose from. For example, if you typed in a paragraph but now want to display it as a heading or the first item in a list click the appropriate Transform To: choice.

Shortcut for adding blocks: If you know the name of the block type you want to add, enter the “/” character at the beginning of a line and start typing the name. After you’ve entered the first few letters, you should see an option to choose a block type. Click the one you want.

“Slash command” technique for adding blocks.

Inserting Between Existing Blocks

When working with text content, you can typically add a new block just by hitting enter at the end of a paragraph. However, when trying to squeeze content in between other types of blocks — for example, to add text between two images stacked one on top of another — you can use the additional + buttons that pop up when you hoover your mouse between any two blocks.

Another method that comes in handy is using the drop-down menu revealed by clicking the 3 buttons over a block. It includes “Insert Before,” “Insert After,” and “Remove Block” options.