Which Drupal Page Builder Should You Use: The Gutenberg Editor or Cohesion DX8?

You want to enable your content editors to build new pages on their own. So, which drag and drop Drupal page builder do you choose?

Let me try and guess what's on your "wishlist":
 

• to be super easy to use, with an intuitive front-end editing interface
• to be light
• to be compatible with your Drupal theme
• to load fast
• to provide a decent collection of ready-to-use designs
• to be conveniently flexible
   

Have I guessed it right?

Now, which of these 2 popular editors for Drupal 8 — Gutenberg Editor and Cohesion DX8 —  checks the most must-have features off your list?

Let's compare them:

1. Introducing: Acquia Cohesion DX8

“The only low-code platform for the design, build and management of Drupal 8 websites.” (Drupal.org)

A Drupal website builder that empowers you (your designers and content editors) to create all the visual aspects that make a website:
 

• layout
• theme
• element styles
• templates
• components
   

And all that in the browser, via a highly visual drag-and-drop user interface...

With no need to write CSS, PHP or HTML.

Here's how it works:
 

• Acquia Cohesion DX8 provides your editors with a library of branded (reusable) content components — sliders, tabbed elements, hero sections, banners, video players, feature panels
• they select, mix and match, and assemble together the blocks of their choice
• … and fill them in with content.
   

Tip: your non-technical editors can also edit, inline, those display components (block “templates”).

And voila:

A simplified way of building Drupal websites.

A component-based approach to building a Drupal site.

And during all this time, your development team can focus on building all those unique functionalities that you have in mind.

2. 5 Reasons Why You'd Want to Use Cohesion DX8

Now, let's talk... benefits.

What are the main advantages of choosing Acquia Cohesion as your Drupal page builder?
 

2.1. Your content editors can assemble new page layouts quick and easy.

And “quick” is the keyword here. 

The non-developers in your marketing and other teams can assemble new web pages in no time:

They just drag and drop and arange different components available in the library, making them fit into the design pattern that you've already defined for them.
 

2.2. Your marketers are free to edit content & layouts right on the page.

Another strong benefit that you can reap from using this particular Drupal layout system is that your editors can easily modify content/layout right on the live website.

In other words, Acquia Cohesion DX8 provides them with an easy to use in-context editor.

This means that your content editors can open the page that they need to update and make any change in... seconds.

Tip: you get to set different levels of permissions and keep track of who's updated what on the website.
 

2.3. Your content editors can build and manage your website with no coding skills needed.

In other words, you'll turn your editors into... web designers.

Source: Dri.es

They need no coding skills, except for a low-level understanding of some general website concepts, to put together a new enterprise-grade Drupal website if needed.
 

2.4. You can replicate the newly created design on all your Drupal websites

Why would you opt for this low-code site builder? 

Because it enables you to export and reuse the same style configuration and web design across your entire ecosystem of websites. To sync your brand styles across your whole network.

An easy way to control your brand across a multi-site structure. 

And a guarantee that your non-developers, who are granted such “power”, will keep brand-compliant in their work.
 

2.5. Your non-technical teams can build uniquely designed and fully responsive websites

The non-developers in your team (content editors, designers with little coding knowledge) can easily put together custom layouts using this drag and drop page builder for Drupal.

Source: Acquia.com

Moreover, Acquia Cohesion DX8 makes it easy for them to preview their newly created layouts in multiple device aspect ratios.
 

3. What You Can Expect from Using this Drupal Page Builder

Let's say you've already found the answer to your “Gutenberg Editor vs Cohesion” dilemma: you've opted for Cohesion DX8.

Here's what you'll notice:
 

• your team sets up and launches brand new Drupal websites faster now
• the costs for developing new websites have lowered
• all the Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 website migrations have been streamlined
• keeping brand consistency across your multiple Drupal websites is no longer a challenge
• your digital marketing and content authors are more confident to experiment with new content (since updating and reverting changes is so straightforward)
• your senior developers gain more time to innovate; to focus on their own development tasks
   

4. What You Can Build with Cohesion DX 

Let's see precisely what you can create using this page editor for Drupal:
 

• full page content templates 
• master templates that your content editors can use to put together headers, navigation systems, footers...
• menu templates, from basic list menus to interactive, multi-level ones
• content components, which can then be assembled together into unique layouts
• CSS styles
• view templates for your blocks or page
• page content layouts
   

5. Introducing: Drupal Gutenberg      

The Gutenberg Drupal 8 module comes as an alternative to the body field editor in Drupal:

Editors can build a new page by assembling content blocks instead of writing text in a text body.

Source: Drupalgutenberg.com

A Drupal page builder that enables them to:
 

• move blocks around the page, as needed
• reuse uniquely designed contrib blocks across multiple pages on your Drupal site and even across multiple projects
• select from the pre-built blocks — lists, paragraphs, tables — that Drupal Gutenberg provides them with
• insert raw HTML in the form field
   

When it comes to the “user-friendliness” factor, Drupal Gutenberg “bids on” a highly visual editing experience, just like Cohesion DX8 does:

Any member of your team, regardless of his/her technical skills, can easily build a new page by putting together media, text, and content blocks.
 

6. 4 Reasons Why You'd Want to Use Drupal Gutenberg 

“Why would I choose precisely Gutenberg as my page editor?”

Here are some compelling answers:
 

6.1. You empower your editors to build new landing pages on their own.

It's all about “democratizing publishing":

Drupal Gutenberg enables them to add, move around, and edit blocks quick and easy.
 

6.2. Your editors get a whole collection of custom blocks to choose from

That's right: Gutenberg Cloud library comes as a rich content repository for contributed blocks.

From:
 

• call to action sections
• to uniquely designed forms
• to web components
   

... your content editors get a whole collection of blocks created by other developers to dig into when building new pages.
 

6.3. You grant your editors a flexible, visual editing experience. 

One of Drupal Gutenberg's biggest selling points is its React-powered UI API.

The JavaScript type of “fuel” that makes the editing experience both flexible and powerful:
 

• a scalable, high performant editor
• that content creators can use with great ease; no technical background needed
   

Where do you add that they get “spoiled” with lots of pre-designed elements to choose from, as well.
 

6.4. You enable your editors to use and... reuse Drupal media assets.

Gutenberg's conveniently integrated with Drupal's media library.

This means that your marketing team can easily scan through and choose the media assets that they need to incorporate into their landing pages.

And even re-use them as many times as needed.
 

7. What You Can Expect from Using this Particular Drupal Page Builder

A more independent, empowered marketing department.

Which automatically translates into a more productive development team, as well.
 

8. What You Can Build with Drupal Gutenberg

“What are the most typical use cases for the Gutenberg editor?” you might ask yourself.
 

• landing pages
• text-heavy content types (e.g. blog posts)
• designs that don't call for a lot of dynamic configurations 
• simple layouts
• content structures and designs that blend in perfectly with your theme's looks
   

9. Final Word 

“So, which Drupal page builder should I choose: Drupal Gutenberg or Cohesion DX8?”

It depends greatly on your feature needs and on your content team's skill level, as well.

For instance: do you value the convenience of replicating the same designs on all your websites (Cohesion) more than... having an entire library of contrib content blocks to select from (Gutenberg)?

Keep “confronting” the features of these 2 website builders and put them against your team's needs and experience, as well.
 

The END!

How flexible is the authoring experience for your own team?

Have you tried implemeting any of these page editors into your page building workflow?

Feel free to share your experience, good or bad, in the comments below.

Image by 200 Degrees from Pixabay