If you’re using the new WordPress block editor (Gutenberg), one of the great things is that you aren’t limited to the default editor experience – you can also add new blocks to give you more control over your designs. In our Getwid review, I’ll be taking a look at a free plugin from MotoPress that helps you do just that. Specifically, Getwid adds 40+ new blocks and 35+ pre-made templates to the native WordPress block editor. You can combine all of these new offerings with the default WordPress blocks to create some unique designs. In this post, I’ll share more about the new blocks that you get access to and show you how it works with some of the most popular blocks. Getwid Review: The New Blocks and Templates As I mentioned above, Getwid includes two things: 40+ blocks that you can use in your designs 35+ insertable templates built with blocks that you can customize to meet your needs You can view a full list and description of all the new blocks here. The WordPress.org listing also has a description of each block. Some of the most notable blocks that I’ll feature are: Section – build custom page layout sections that include other blocks. Think of these as the sections in a WordPress page builder plugin. Image hotspot – add hotspots to images that show a tooltip when visitors click or hover on them. This is one of the most unique blocks that you get access to. Very cool! Banner – create clickable banners that contain a background image and text. Sliders – use multiple slider blocks to create sliders from different types of content, including your most recent posts. Content timeline – display custom content on an eye-catching timeline. You’ll also get plenty of other blocks for things like: Team members Pricing tables Icon boxes Button groups Tabs and toggles Testimonials Progress bars and counters Post lists Then, you can also easily insert one of the 35+ section templates, which you can customize just as if you’d designed them yourself. Many of these templates include the new blocks, especially the Section block. Getwid Pricing Getwid is currently 100% free and available at WordPress.org. I’d imagine there will be a premium version at some point in the future – but everything that you read in this post is 100% free. Hands-On With Getwid Once you install and activate the free Getwid plugin, there’s nothing to configure – you can jump right into the block editor and start creating content. There are two spots where Getwid shows up in the block editor. First, you can access all of the new Getwid blocks from a dedicated Getwid section in the block inserter. Second, you can access the template library from a new Template Library button that appears on the toolbar: Let’s check out some of the most popular blocks and then I’ll show you how the templates work… Section Block The Section block helps you group your content together and create more interesting layouts. If you’ve ever used a WordPress page builder plugin, this functions like a section in one of those plugins. When you first insert the Section block, you can choose from a few different widths: Then, you’ll get detailed options in the block sidebar to control: Height Spacing Vertical and horizontal alignments Style, like adding a background or overlay Animations Shape dividers You can also add as many regular blocks as you’d like inside the section. You can also use drag-and-drop to adjust margins and padding, which is quite convenient. For example, if you want to add some space to the bottom of the section, you can just click and drag – no need to use the sidebar. Below you can see a blue background with a gray wave shape divider: Image Hotspot Block The Image Hotspot block is a unique block that lets you add clickable/hoverable hotspots to regular images. Here’s an example of this on the front-end: At first, visitors only see the marker. Then, when they click or hover over it, they see a tooltip with the full text. To add a marker, you can click anywhere on your image. Then, you’ll be able to customize the marker and its content: If you want to adjust the marker, you can drag it around on the image – it’s super simple. You can repeat the same process to add as many markers as needed. Overall, I was impressed with how easy it was to set up markers – it’s really seamless and intuitive. There’s no need to mess around with coordinates or anything – you just click on the image where you want your marker to appear. I’m not aware of any other WordPress block plugin that offers an image hotspot block for free, so this is definitely a high point of this plugin. Slider Blocks Sliders are a popular feature on most websites, so Getwid doesn’t stop at a single slider block. Instead, you get three different slider blocks: Media and text slider Image slider Post slider The Post Slider block is the most interesting to me because it lets you display content from any post type in a carousel (including custom post types). You also get the option to filter out specific posts by: Post ID Taxonomy (categories, tags, or custom taxonomies) Terms Banner Block The Banner block helps you create an attention-grabbing hero or promo section. You can add an eye-catching image background and text overlays and then link everything to a custom URL. The unique thing here, in comparison to some of the other blocks that achieve similar effects, is that the entire block is linked to another page: You also still get plenty of options to control alignment, style, animations, etc. Content Timeline Blocks The Content Timeline block is a really neat block that lets you display any content on an eye-catching timeline. For each timeline item, you can add text and/or images. You can also use the sidebar to add: Animations Colors Spacing All in all, I find this to be a nice interactive way to show the evolution of something. And, like the image hotspot block, I was impressed by how easy and visual it was to add content to the timeline. Tons of Other Blocks Obviously, the blocks that I highlighted above are only a fraction of the 40+ blocks that Getwid offers. If you want to see the other blocks in action, you can either install the free Getwid plugin on your own site or check out the Getwid documentation, which includes detailed examples/tutorials for each block. Getwid Templates In addition to the new blocks, Getwid also includes the 35+ new templates that I mentioned before. To access them, you click the Template Library button (or there’s also a template library block). Then, you can browse the full template library: The template library is divided into 14 different sections: About Us Call to Action Contact Us FAQ Features Hero Image Gallery Logo Grid Newsletter Subscription Price List Services Sub Hero Team Testimonials Once you import a template, you can edit all of the content just as if you’d created the design yourself. That is, the templates are built with blocks, just like the rest of your design: Final Thoughts on Getwid It’s always tough to argue with a plugin that’s 100% free. But beyond the fact that it’s so generous with 40+ blocks and 35+ templates for free, I was also impressed by the user experience in general. MotoPress has done a great job of making it easy to use and customize all of the blocks. The settings are divided intuitively. Additionally, I like that, wherever possible, MotoPress lets you control settings visually and by interacting with the preview. For example, clicking directly on an image to add a hotspot or using drag-and-drop to change margins and padding. If you’re using the WordPress block editor and want to get started, install the free Getwid plugin from WordPress.org and play around with all of your new blocks. About Colin Newcomer Colin Newcomer is a freelance blogger for hire with a background in SEO and affiliate marketing. He helps clients grow their web visibility by writing primarily about digital marketing, WordPress, and B2B topics. Related Articles A Code Editor Solution for WordPress We all know that WordPress does not yet have a good editor with syntax highlighting, line numbers etc. within the Dashboard. Thus it is a bit unwieldy to edit themes… 10 of the Best Plugins for Extending the Block Editor The Block Editor caused quite a stir when it was included in the release of WordPress 5.0. Despite the controversy, it's opened doors for new kinds of development and helped… The Best Front-End Editing Plugin for WordPress Front-end editing is really useful when you need to touch up some blog posts, especially at editing stage. The only plugin for WordPress which really nails this functionality 100% right… WordPress Plugin Development Resources Some resources I've collected that will surely help in developing WordPress plugins. Let's block ads! (Why?) SHARE SHARE SHARE Unknown RELATED POSTS