Block Editor sucks

• 

  bryanens · Member · Jul 4, 2021 at 9:29 pm

  • Copy link
  • Add topic to favorites

  I detest the new block editor. I’m a poet, and I want to put line breaks where I want to put them. I do not want to double space every time that I hit the enter key, but can’t seem to find a way to single space in the block editor…and using the classic editor is getting more challenging to do, especially in the app. Could you make an easy-to-use option for those of us who want to customize our usage? I want the option to either single OR double space when hitting enter. Double space is great for writing prose, but really sucks for poetry.

  The site I need help with is quest4peas.wordpress.com.

• 

  bribiescadan · Member · Jul 4, 2021 at 10:26 pm

  • Copy link

  Hi there,

  If you’re on a computer, you can press “shift” + “enter” on your keyboard for a single line break.

  If you’re using the WordPress app, it is a little bit more complicated but still doable. When you’re drafting a post, switch to HTML Mode. You’ll find the option under the “…” menu on the top right side of your screen. Once you’re in HTML Mode, every time you need a single line break, add the HTML tag <br /> at the end of your line.

• 

  kokkieh · Staff · Jul 5, 2021 at 5:40 am

  • Copy link

  Hi there,

  Have you tried using the Verse block? That block is specifically designed for writing poetry, and will preserve any spacing exactly as you type it.

  https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/verse-block/

  A double space being added when you press Enter in the block editor is not new. The block editor is just making visible what the classic editor didn’t – for everything you do in the editor, certain HTML is created behind the scenes. Pressing Enter creates a new paragraph element in HTML, and HTML paragraphs automatically add a space at the bottom.

  The classic editor didn’t show this, though, meaning people would often discover those paragraphs only once they publish and view the completed post. HMTL also hates empty space, so extra spaces or empty lines would get stripped out automatically once you publish.

  To avoid this happening in the classic editor one needed to use the Preformatted option, and that’s essentially what the verse block now does in the block editor.