herb miller

I wrote this poem, entitled “My Favourite Block”, for a lightning talk that I prepared for the February 2019 WordPress Portsmouth Meetup.

Hello, my name's Herb Miller
 I am a WordPress fan
 I'd like to tell you how I write
 in the only way I can

 Things, they are much simpler now
 I've just to cast a spell
 and the Gutenberg block editor
 creates H T M L

 I used to write HTML
 but now my content rocks
 ever since WordPress "Bebo" - 5
 I've been constructing blocks.

 If I'm writing blogs
 I reckon more than half
 the blocks that I will use
 will be the paragraph

 I can style them left or right
 with bold and i-tal-ics
 and introduce hypertext links
 right into the mix.

 A dropcap at the start,
 colour from behind
 and varying sized fonts
 that my readers may not mind.

 But if I'm writing lots
 to break up what you're reading
 I won't forget to use
 an in-form-a-tive heading.

 A simple way to create content
 that I don't want to be missed
 Is to write my sentences
 in an unordered list

 pictures are 1,000 words
 jpegs are all the rage
 So in between the wordy bits
 I use a nice image.

 So you like words and images
 I wonder what comes next
 You won't be all that surprised then
 by Media and Text.

 Not everybody reads that quick
 and even the boy racer 
 will welcome a vertical gap
 so why not use a spacer.

 some things you need to see right now
 and some you might read later
 time to make use of the block
 that's called the separator.

 I may want to point my readers
 to something I have read
 a good way to achieve this
 is to use an embed.

 So I've got a table.
 It appears to me
 the way that I'd present it
 straight from the CSV.

 And now I've got this content
 but it looks a mess
 I'd love to be able to style it
 with some inline CSS

 A little bit of source code's 
 much easier to see
 when it's syntax highlighted 
 with that tool that's called GeSHi

 So I need to give directions
 I don't get in a flap
 I give them my Address
 and a fancy Google Map

 If you want to contact me
 Pretty much the norm
 There are over 20 plugins
 that help me build the form

 I don't punish my visitors
 By brandishing the birch
 I let them find things easily
 by offering a Search

 A countdown timer's all I need
 to let you know just when
 something is going to happen
 or how long it's been since then

When I want to make you act
 a better there is nuttin' 
 than a super duper, you can't bend it
 call to action button.

 If I want you to download stuff
 it should only take a while
 to realise the block to use
 is simply labelled File.

Many blocks are similar
to choose we all take sides
But some are really unique
For example UK Tides
 
You all may have noticed
I could have done no worse
than to write this little poem
in the block entitled Verse 

Creativity is paramount
That's obvious to me
I couldn't wait to write therefore
Magnetic Poetry

 ... I could say that my favourite block 
Is taken from this set 
The truth is that it's out there 
I just haven't found it yet.

(C) Herb Miller 2019

Here's another entry
It came in rather late
My favourite's not a block at all
It's a new post template

The one that's truly horrid
In columns it's a crock
I use shortcodes all the time
But avoid the shortcode block.