The public Block Directory was added to the WordPress Block Editor last year. Similar to the theme and plugin directories, this tool enables members of the WordPress community to share blocks they have developed. You can learn more about the Block Directory here.
The WordPress core team announced an improvement to the Block Editor that was included in the Gutenberg plugin 10.2 release. This will be available in WordPress 5.8 when it ships later this year. This improvement enables you to search for additional blocks in the Block Directory even if you have a block already available that might do the trick. Currently, you will only see installed blocks that meet your search criteria. The core team provided an example of a book block-related search.
You can read the announcement about the Block Directory improvement here.
One of our key recommendations of our Outcome Labs team is to be selective about which blocks and how many blocks you use on your sites. We have found this makes for a more effective workflow with the Block Editor.
Our approach is to use core blocks whenever they can support the functionality and content design required. We also use specialty blocks from our vetted plugin list (form, gallery, e-commerce, learning management, SEO) when appropriate. If we need an enhanced block to replace a core block, we use it consistently to replace the core block. If we use a block library like Stackable or Ultimate Gutenberg, we only use one library and only activate the blocks in the library as we need them. We have used individual blocks from the Block Directory and individual custom blocks to meet specific requirements.
What is your block workflow? Have you used the Block Directory to find new blocks? Do you have any you have found you would recommend?