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.