Developer Hours: Alternatives to Custom Meta Boxes in the WordPress Block Editor

Custom meta boxes have been a common tool used by plugin and theme developers to add additional functionality to posts and pages in WordPress. While meta boxes are supported in the Block Editor, they are considered a “legacy” tool and do not provide an ideal user experience. There are also a number of technical downsides to meta boxes, and developers are encouraged to migrate to alternatives.
In this session, we explored the current options available for adding custom plugin and theme settings in the Block Editor and how you can manage metadata using React and native WordPress components. You will learn how to:
- Use slots to add custom panels in the Settings Sidebar
- Implement a modal for additional settings
- Fetch and save post metadata using JavaScript
- Connect post metadata to blocks
Resources shared in this video: docs.google.co...
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[@SinanWP]

people create custom fields or metaboxes for editing content EASIER.
forcing users click more is bad bad BAD UX. Never EVER force user to click more.
I like the idea but execution terrible. My recommendation would be keeping the location bottom of the editor but creating native way to add/edit metaboxes from sidebar easily with block editor UI.

[@kristijanpirkovic9594]

I think that the sidebar plugin works really well, it would be great if the sidebar could expand a little.

[@hefin.]

Metaboxes = Custom Fields 🤣 Always refered to them as Custom Fields as the UI interface labels them.

[@duykien4060]

Metaboxes are the boxes which contain a group of related custom fields. They are not the same.