Block Editor-It’s Really That Bad
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I’m hoping right now that the WP management is having serious discussions over the drastic decision to completely change the way posts are written by switching to block editor. I’m sure the mountain of negative customer feedback has by now reached the corner offices and perhaps the folks that reside there are wondering if things are as as bad as everyone is saying, or is it just shallow complaints by a few whiny folks who dislike change.
I’m here to tell you it’s really bad, I meant really, really bad. Block editor is so user unfriendly, terrible with playing with outside fonts, doesn’t space images well and makes cutting and pasting quotes from outside sources a difficult and frustrating process. It’s just an overall mess of a program that makes posting exhausting, emotionally draining and just all around no fun. I’ve certainly stopped posting less because of it and I can’t be the only one.
Any chance at all you’ll switch back to classic as the default? Medium is looking better and better every day.
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Save your breath. Having worked in development since 1984 I can tell you that there is nothing so stubborn as a developer convinced that he knows more about how to do your job than you do.
And it is reinforced by the arrogance brought on by success. WP powers 35 percent of more of the internet. So 10 years ago they did something right. And to them that means that forever onward everything they do must be right as well.
Someone should point them at the example of Kodak film, but they wouldn’t learn from that either.
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Hi folks.
Let’s keep the conversation within the community standards, keeping it productive and respectful. We’re real humans reading these posts, doing the best we can, so let’s keep it kind.
https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/best-practices-community-standards/
@triciabee90 can you clarify a bit? If there are bugs we do want to fix them.What do you mean by playing with outside fonts?
And what is happening when you copy and paste quotes from outside sources?
If we can spot the issues we can certainly work on ways to address them, so thanks in advance.
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If I come across like I am COMPLETELY FRUSTRATED, well I am. I’m sorry, but no one seems to be listening.
Over on WP.org, the Classic Editor has a rating of 4.5 stars or so. Out of 5 stars. The Gutenberg editor, which was still listed separately last week when I was over there has a rating of 2 stars out of 5.
The number of people on WP.com complaining about the new editor is LEGION, and the response is “get used to it, because the system that took over 35 percent of the internet is going away because we said so. And you are just too set in your ways to APPRECIATE how great the new system is.
I am looking at non-WP alternatives, even going back to the dreaded Blogger/Blogspot at Google. Joomla has a set of Terms and Conditions that I am still going through, but I think in the end I won’t move there.
I know people who have moved. I know at least one person who is paying for a separately hosted blog – not on WP.com – to avoid the pain of the Block Editor.
How much more do we have to say, what else can we do, before anyone starts listening, and NOT just saying “Use the Classic Block?”
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You can still switch to the classic editor when writing/editing posts/pages in your site’s Dashboard: https://wordpress.com/support/dashboard/
With that said, we do recommend the new editor though, and we have tips for transitioning from the classic editor to blocks https://wordpress.com/support/switching-from-the-classic-to-the-block-editor/ and FAQs: https://wordpress.com/support/replacing-the-older-wordpress-com-editor-with-the-wordpress-block-editor/#frequently-asked-questions
And, if you really want to use something like the classic editor, we recommend sticking with the classic block: https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/classic-block/
We also have some extensive documentation available at https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/
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FWIW – The Gutenberg plugin is a separate thing to the default Block Editor that was introduced in WPv5.0 in December 2018. So it’s not comparing apples to apples.
I will say that it’s unfortunate that the naming conventions are such a mess.
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staartmees,
“You can still switch to the classic editor when writing/editing posts/pages in your site’s Dashboard: https://wordpress.com/support/dashboard/”
Where EXACTLY (screen shot.)
I have been through settings and the only thing I can find is that if I pay for a business account I can install the Classic Editor Plugin.
I can set the default post type so that the “Classic Block” is default. That is not what I want.
And
“With that said, we do recommend the new editor though”
In other words. “Shut up and do what we tell you to do.”
Yeah, not my style.
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justjennifer,
“The Gutenberg plugin is a separate thing to the default Block Editor”
For years WP has been going about the benefits of the New and Improved or Upcoming Gutenberg Block editor.
Is there a document that spells out what the differences are?
It doesn’t really matter because the basic message remains the same.
I don’t want your blocks. It does not reflect how I type, how I work, how I want to work.
And since WP is not the only choice in the universe…
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@zendodeb – Gutenberg started as the project that developed the Block Editor, which was later integrated to standalone WP. That project is still being worked on on ORG. I don’t think there’s a specific document where you can see the differences.
Just to clear up some things:
WP Classic Editor Plugin: You don’t need to upgrade to use it. WPcom already installed that for us in WP Admin and if they hadn’t, we’d be using the Block Editor in WP Admin as well (see above). When you access either the Post or Page dashboard, look for the “Add New” button at the top and click on the arrow to the right. You can then choose either Block or Classic.
If you need a more in-depth refresher: https://wp.me/p1MwNN-1D9
Forum staff have already advised in other threads that the change to the Editor in MySite won’t be rolled back. They also advised in other threads that eventually (no timeline given) the Classic Editor will be retired. So it’s still a good idea to at least try out the block editor. I think too many folks get hung up on the word
block. The very first line in the block editor interface when you open it is “start writing” which is what we’ve always done. If you get stuck on a particular thing you want to do, that’s what we’re here for. Ask. -
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Thank you, thank you thank you for showing me a way to still use classic editor.
I’ve used WordPress for many years and have given the block editor a good go but as far as I’m concerned its complete rubbish.
If Classic editor is retired completely, I’m out. I will take my four WordPress sites and rebuild somewhere else.
Fingers crossed it does not come to that.
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I coudn’t agree more. I am not sure if I am experience the same issues as the original poster, because we all probably use WordPress for different things. But I likewise find it baffling and fiddly – I have tried reverting to the Classic option but that doesn’t seem to work very well either anymore – for example, there doesn’t seem to be any option to justify text except paragraph by paragraph. Which, if you’ve got a 10 paragraph post (or more in my case) is a bit of a pain.
Yes, I am sure that with a bit of application and trial and error, I could probably work my way through it. But to be honest, I don’t really want to – I write my blog on top of a very busy job, and the last thing I want to do at the end of a working day is get my head around a whole new fancy operating system when the old one worked perfectly well.
Anyway, if anyone can help with the justifying thing, I am all ears, -
Try the paragraph block
https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/paragraph-block/ -
Sorry, I can’t make head nor tail of that. Sorry, I don’t have time to read through reams of complicated instructions and options for text presentation, I just want to write a basic blog. Is there any way to do that?
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Hi there, If you have mostly text with the odd photo or two, the easiest thing to do is just start writing without selecting any block. The default block is the paragraph block. If you hit Enter, it will create a new paragraph block and you can continue writing.
I don’t normally link to my own content, but you might find this post helpful.
If you run into other issues, I recommend opening a new forum thread rather than tacking on to a now fairly old one. If you are working with a free site you can post via the form here https://wordpress.com/forums/?new=1 or post to https://wordpress.com/help/contact if you are eligible for direct support. That way we can give you better support by looking at your site.
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Thanks Jennifer, most kind. Useful to know that the default block is the paragraph block: the instructions, which I’ve tried going through, don’t appear to make that basic point clear, hence I was trying like mad to find out where the paragraph block setting was.
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Thanks, that’s a lot clearer than the official instructions. One thing I can’t find though – how do you justify the text on the entire blog without doing it for each individual paragraph? Is there any way to do that?
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I’m with Colin. I’d not updated my blog much and had been struggling to find the time and motivation to do it so when I finally investigated block editor I was unpleasantly surprised. Presumably this is designed for people who have lots of time to spend blogging about whatever it is they blog about, and lots of time to spend working out how to use it. I eventually managed to work some things out using a rosetta stone to understand the cryptic symbols. A few things seem better but the pain of getting to them has made me continue with Classic Editor for quick posts which, on my last post didn’t sync with the block editor meaning the dashboard took me to two different versions of what should have been the same post. Weird. Also, even when using ‘classic’ pasting in a Tweet URL previewed it in the dashboard then just turned it to a dead link when it went live. This used to work with just the URL, now there’s extra steps in classic to get even that to work. Presumably being phased out. Hey ho, maybe I’m just getting old. I’ll try some of the suggestions above to move with the ‘block’ times but I really just want the “words, picture, more words, another picture etc” version of it. (and please never introduce “stories” or “fleets”). Cheers.
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The new Block Editor is said to work faster and easier. But unfortunately, that’s not true. You spend hours with the settings of the different blocks. Simple things like a frame around an image are not possible. For that you have to go to the Windows program Paint, there you can place a frame around your image and then place it in an image block. In the Classic editor that was no problem, you click on the image and you can update all settings at once, dimensions, image border, image margin, caption, alt. text, be ready in 5 seconds.
If you work with columns in the Block editor and then place multiple images in those columns, alignment is not possible, everything jumps and becomes very messy.
It is not possible to look at the ‘Example’, you will then see an error message.
Creating a table in the Block editor is terrible if you want something more than just setting columns and rows. In the Classic editor you could create a nice table with a little understanding of HTML and CSS. This is a hell of a job in the Block editor. It is also not possible to properly align a table.
If you selected a word in the Classic editors (blue) and you clicked on ‘Text’, then in the HTML code you will find that selected word in blue again. In the Block editor you have to search through the whole of codes, because selection is not possible.
I once again posted some of my objections to the new Block editor, but I think it won’t do much, it just doesn’t get any attention. People stick their heads in the sand and just carry on. The new Block editor is by no means an improvement, as you can see from the many problems that users have with it. -
I agree, Block Editor is a massive step backwards. I’m seriously considering leaving WordPress just because of Block Editor.
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