Deep Dark Blue

Here I am just inserting a “block pattern” in WordPress 5.5 that has two buttons side by side:

The point of a “block pattern” is it lets you insert a pre-defined and pre-configured set of blocks. You then can edit those blocks and set them up with their unique properties.

This is VERY different from “re-usable blocks”, which can also be inserted easily in different parts of your site… but they all share the same value. So you could have, say, your contact info or number of members in a re-usable block. Insert that block all across your site. Update it in one location, and it is updated everywhere.

Instead a “block pattern” is more of a “template”… “here are some blocks to get you going on this page and now you can do with them what you will.“

I can see a HUGE use case for this in the pages we create at my employer. We often create new landing pages or event pages where we use some standard patterns. Obviously we can just “duplicate” an existing page if it is a close match, but often we are building new pages where we also want to bring in elements used on another page. Now, we have built our own blocks for some of our common elements. But a “block pattern” allows us to have a group of blocks that we can easily add to the page.

The challenge is that adding block patterns in WordPress 5.5 primarily involves adding code to your theme or creating a custom plugin.

However, I see there is now a “Block Pattern Builder” plugin that needs some investigation…