CSS & WordPress & Gutenberg by César Labadía

Last April 24, 2025, I had the pleasure of organizing another WordPress Valencia MeetUp. In this edition, there was an atmosphere of beach, taking a walk, and laughter because it was very hot. The light has already changed, it was even difficult to adjust the camera to take pictures and record because of the intense clarity typical of the Mediterranean at this time. Normally, we have a speaker’s talk and a networking session. However, the order was altered, we started with the “beerworking” to get in tune with the summer vibe that is already entering Valencia. Later, we followed our usual script.

The WordPress Valencia MeetUp is one of the most active in Spain. It is part of the global WordPress community in which many people from multiple profiles collaborate to make this open-source project possible. MeetUps and WordCamps are important parts of the educational project promoted by the WordPress Foundation to reach more people. 

WordPress.org is a free, open-source software used by 42% of Internet users. One of the reasons for its widespread use on the web is its versatility and the short learning curve to reach an average user level. You install it, select a template, add your content, some plugins, and you have a website. So far, so good, but what if you want to go beyond the template and create a unique design?

This is precisely what Cesar Labadía, a very special guest, came to talk to us about, for the first time sharing his experience in a MeetUp. The title of his talk: “CSS & WordPress & Gutenberg.” He has been an Internet geek since 1999 and has made websites since 2003. He specializes in web design, e-commerce, SEO, CSS, WordPress, and is an experienced webmaster. To top it off, he is an entrepreneur and rock and roll lover, with an active music band, and is passionate about science fiction. You can find him at CesarLabadia.com.

Before getting into the subject, he left us these tips:

1. Uninstall Windows and install Linux
2. Buy Bitcoin
3. Long live the web and Rock & Roll!

He then began his tour of tools and solutions for integrating CSS into WordPress. He started defining CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), one of the three basic programming languages that, together with HTML and JavaScript, make the creation of a website possible. CSS was born in 1996, before Joomla and WordPress. With it, you can modify colors, fonts, sizes, spacing, animations, and virtually any visual aspect quite quickly.

He then talked about browser tools to inspect code, and extensions to make and save changes, such as Stylebot, Visual CSS Editor, and CSS Brio. He pointed out the importance of having at hand reference websites to make the code; in this sense, he recommended CSS-Tricks, W3Schools, and MDN Web Docs. He did not miss Artificial Intelligence, with which you can also generate code quickly. Finally, he explained where to place CSS in WordPress, essential plugins, block customization, CSS frameworks in WordPress, CSS animations with plugins, and CSS in classic themes; and to close FSE (full Site Editing).

An extensive tour of almost every aspect to touch with CSS in WordPress. Lastly, the public interacted with questions and discussions on topics such as the disuse of the child theme. You can find the complete talk on WordPress TV, and you can access it here.

To conclude, we had the “cookie gift moment,” always very special. What is this moment? This is when I deliver Raiola’s cookie gift to the speaker. Let us see if someday we get a speaker to share his cookie, just joking. Then it was time for networking, this time as planned on our regular schedule. Among the photos of this meeting, there is one that I particularly like very much because we look like a musical group. César, who has his musical group, infected us with the spirit of a music band. To finish, we had dinner.

Many thanks to Wayco and Raiola for collaborating with the MeetUp WordPress Valencia, and to everyone who shared that Thursday afternoon with us. See you at the next one, on May 29th, with Amadeu Arderiu, who will talk about creating chatbots with AI.

Register for free through the MeetUp WordPress Valencia.