VisiBlocks

The block editor hides most of its controls behind hover states and precise mouse positioning. Where a block begins and ends, that a block can be selected at all, and where a new block would go are invisible until the cursor happens to land in the right place. Experienced users have learned to live with this. Clients, editors, and anyone who updates a page once a month have not. VisiBlocks makes those controls visible. Every enhancement is a separate setting, and they all start switched on, so you can see what the plugin does right away and then switch off anything your editors do not need. It is not a page builder. The block editor stays exactly as it is, and VisiBlocks only removes friction around it. Blocks do not need to be rewritten or to opt in, so it works with core blocks, ACF blocks, and third-party blocks alike. Disable the plugin and the editor behaves as it always did. Block outlines Draw a boundary around blocks so their edges are visible. Choose "Always" to outline every block, or "On hover" to show the boundary only for the block under the cursor. Selected blocks and their parent containers are distinguished, so it is clear which block you are in and what it sits inside. Colors follow your WordPress admin color scheme. Add-block hints Place a faint "+" at each block boundary, and between columns, so it is obvious where a new block would go. As you approach one, WordPress's own inserter takes over, so clicking behaves exactly as it normally does. Add-block buttons at the edges Add a working "+" above the first block and beneath the final one, the two spots where WordPress offers no inserter of its own. There is always an obvious place to start writing and to continue, rather than a thin strip of page to hunt for. Delete button in the block toolbar Deleting a block is a common, deliberate action, but WordPress keeps it inside the toolbar's overflow ("three dots") menu. This adds a Delete button to the toolbar itself, in its own group just before that menu. It is withheld for blocks WordPress will not let you remove, and deletion undoes normally with Ctrl+Z. Remove-block button Put a matching "minus" button beside the "+" that appears on a new empty block, so a block added by accident can be removed on the spot instead of through the toolbar's overflow menu. Removal undoes normally with Ctrl+Z. View in same tab Add a "View" button that opens the post in the current tab, next to the stock button that opens a new one, so a long editing session stops piling up browser tabs. Reposition the save notice Move the "saved" confirmation from the far bottom-left corner up to the top-right, near the Save button you just clicked. Adjustable editor sidebar Give the editor settings sidebar a roomier starting width and add a draggable edge so each editor can choose how much room it needs. The resize control also works with the keyboard, and WordPress remembers each editor's chosen width. It can grow to 75% of the viewport, making it useful for quick responsive checks inside the editor.

Choose either installation method:

• With Composer: run composer require bixgomez/visiblocks:^0.2 from a Composer-managed WordPress project.
• Manually: upload the visiblocks folder to /wp-content/plugins/.

Then:

1. Activate the plugin through the "Plugins" screen in WordPress.
2. Go to Settings > VisiBlocks (or the "Settings" link in the plugin's row on the Plugins screen) to review the enhancements.

Every enhancement starts switched on, so the plugin does its thing as soon as it is activated. Turn off anything you do not want, or use the master switch to suppress all of them at once without losing your individual choices.

0.2.2

• Block outlines now show on themes whose blocks render positioned sections with backgrounds.
• The add-block button above the first block is no longer hidden behind that block.
• The native between-block "+" now appears where blocks have no gap between them, with a larger hover area.
• The "+" and "-" buttons on an empty block sit 4px in from its corner, at 22px square.

0.2.1

• Point the Plugin URI at the GitHub repository.

0.2.0

• Rename the plugin from GutenView to VisiBlocks. The slug, text domain, settings option, and function prefix are now visiblocks. Settings saved by 0.1.x are not carried over.

0.1.1

• Prepare plugin metadata for WordPress.org distribution.

0.1.0

• Settings page (Settings > VisiBlocks) with a master switch and per-feature toggles.
• "Settings" link in the plugin's row on the Plugins screen.
• Every enhancement switched on by default, seeded on first activation.
• Block outlines, with off, on-hover, and always modes, including selected-block and parent-container states.
• Add-block hints between top-level blocks and between columns.
• Add-block buttons above the first and below the final top-level block.
• Delete button in the block toolbar, in its own group before the overflow menu.
• Remove-block button beside the new-block inserter.
• "View in same tab" button in the editor header.
• Option to reposition the "saved" notice near the Save button.
• Wider, editor-adjustable settings sidebar with a saved per-editor width.