Unless otherwise indicated, the code snippet you see below should be placed into your child theme’s functions.php file.

With the release of WordPress 5.8, a new block-based widget editor has been introduced to the Widgets screen (Appearance > Widgets) and Customizer (Appearance > Customize > Widgets). This updated editor enables users to insert blocks (rather than widgets) into widget areas by using the block editor interface first introduced in WordPress 5.0.

To ensure the optimal site editing experience, the Genesis Framework (version 3.3.4) has disabled the new widget screen.

If you’re utilizing WordPress 5.8 or later and want to enable the block-based widget editor for your site powered by the Genesis Framework, you can include the following code in your child theme’s functions.php file:

<?php
//* Do NOT include the opening php tag shown above. Copy the code shown below.
 
//* Enable the block-based widget editor
add_filter( 'use_widgets_block_editor', '__return_true' );

Note: If you’re using an older XHTML child theme with Genesis 2.10.1 and want to disable the block-based widget editor, add the above code snippet to your child theme’s functions.php file and change the return value from true to false.