A couple of days ago I noticed that there were more blocks in my Gutenberg editor (they have been there a while). I decided to give them a test run. CoBlocks was originally an independent company, but now seems to be owned by GoDaddy.

Sampler

As I could find no documentation for using these blocks, I put together this CoBlocks Test Page. It demonstrates the blocks available in WordPress.com for sites that are below the “business” grade. I did it for myself, but decided to share it because others might find it useful.

Review

My not-so-humble opinions:

• Most of the blocks are underwhelming.
• There are some lovely button styles. I really dig the gradients.
• The galleries aren’t as nice as the regular WordPress and Jetpack ones…except that the lightbox is more elegant. I don’t like that one cannot give the entire gallery a caption.
• The “Hero” block could be useful. I used that on my Gallery of Images for Sale and I think it looks nice there.
• If you are doing e-commerce you might find the “Pricing Table” block useful.

My only other comment is that, since CoBlocks is a free plug-in on WordPress.org sites, it doesn’t make a ton of sense that WordPress.com doesn’t let one use the full set of features.

Aside: I’m not crazy about GoDaddy, because I find their advertising sexist and unprofessional. As a woman who was a stress engineer I had to deal with too much of that kind of crap, and am opposed to supporting it. I have no reason to doubt that they have fine products.