Classic Block Phase Out
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This is what I started getting this week: “The Classic Block is being phased out. Convert this content to blocks for the best editing experience or move it to the custom HTML block to preserve the mark-up as is.” Both my websites have it but for a while now getting bwspotlight.com/bwmedia.wordpress.com to use the Classic Editor has been a hassle because I still can’t find the menu that toggles it off. Do I have to go through and turn all my old articles on that site and clutterreport.wordpress.com into HTML blocks? For most of my articles the block conversion messes up things like image captions on the side of the page. Will they be converted to HTML once the classic block goes away? Classic still uses the layout I’m used to and I kind of don’t want to lose it.
And for the future, if I work in the classic editor and switch to the HTML side instead of the visual editor, will it save in an HTML block or will I still have to convert it. This is not a good week for me fight with this, so the sooner I hear back the better, please. This is going to cut into project time.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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I just saw this today when I made an update to my HTML (not blocks) site <font color=”#0000ee”>https://</font>dbtmusic.wordpress.com/. I’m deeply concerned because I no longer have a paid site (so no support) and if I convert it to Blocks and do a preview, it looks terrible in that the text, which had fit just fine in each column, is now scrunched and words are run into the next lines. This isn’t going to work for me. I see no way to make the columns wider, and if I go into the code and change the width of the table, I now get (with Blocks enabled) a page that forces the user to scroll horizontally to see the other columns. This is pretty bad. I’ve had this site for many many years and really don’t want to migrate it elsewhere, but I will if I have to.
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My site link got messed up thanks to this silly editor. It’s https://dbtmusic.wordpress.com
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For me, if I turn articles with images on the side of the page into blocks, the preview screws up the caption box because of how the image block works. If I save it as an HTML box the caption text comes out normal. It’s not an issue for articles that have the image in the center of the page for specific highlighting instead of breaking the text wall, or with videos, but since most of my articles are formatted that way on both my sites it’s a big issue. Plus I want to be able to continue the format, which the Classic Editor allows and the HTML editor doesn’t.
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I’m really not happy that WordPress is phasing out the Classic Block, and reading people’s comments on here, I’m scared to convert my existing posts to blocks or HTML. I have a lot of images on some of my articles, and no doubt the formatting isn’t going to carry over.
Why would WordPress do this? The block editor is clunky and doesn’t work for longform writing, let alone anything resembling traditional blogging. Why didn’t they reserve the changes for new blogs instead of forcing everyone to convert to something that may ruin existing sites? It makes absolutely no sense.
I’m so fed up with the changes that I’m considering ending my blog.
My blog is https://takinguproom.com/
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Hi there, apparently the recent update to Gutenberg/AKA the Block Editor removed the Classic Block from appearing in the Block Inserter. You can read about this development here https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/05/07/whats-new-in-gutenberg-23-1-07-may/#other-notable-highlights
Do I have to go through and turn all my old articles on that site and clutterreport.wordpress.com into HTML blocks?
AFAIK existing Classic Blocks should still render as expected, meaning you shouldn’t need to do anything. If you are editing an existing Classic Block, highlight it and click the “Edit” link in the Classic Block’s toolbar in the Post or Page Editor. That will open the Classic Block pop-up module so you can edit the block’s content.
Post back here if anything is unclear.
I’ve also tagged this thread for staff to note your concerns and feedback.
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Thank you! I have the Enable Classic Block plugin, but I keep being told that the Classic Block is depreciated, so I’m concerned that my site is at risk if I don’t convert, but if I DO convert it may break my site. This is incredibly frustrating.
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My site purposely does not use Blocks as it messes up the column widths and, as a result, the text. I’ve followed all sorts of instructions about the new Blocks given that the current editor (including for HTML, which is what I use) will be deprecated. Here’s my issue:
This is how my non-Block home page for my music (I compose) currently looks (it’s all a table):
And here it is with the new Blocks:
You can see that the text is no longer wrapped correctly since the column widths are smaller. There is no Adjust Width button that I can find, and the only solution if I were to use Blocks would seem to be to delete the second column, and it seems I can only do that through HTML, which is fine, but odd. Also, the entire Blocks paradigm is not trivial. I am finding it painful to use in terms of trying to find where various editing functions reside.
The only reason I even know of the planned deprecation of the current methodology is because I happened to go into my site yesterday to make a minor edit and saw the notice. There is no deadline specified, BTW. What is the rationale for doing this? My best bet I think is to just use straight HTML but they are removing some of the conveniences from their editor so that it is not as simple as it had been to still use HTML to edit a site.
My site is https://dbtmusic.wordpress.com/. As you can tell, I’m not a fan of what WP is doing and definitely not a fan of Blocks, classic or otherwise. For my purposes it’s very clunky and arcane. For other types of sites, it may be useful, but I can only speak for my own needs. Thanks.
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Clearly Blocks hates me (since that’s the paradigm used here). Here are the two images that oddly did not take in the post above. These are examples of what happens if I convert to Blocks:
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I have been finding that switching to HTML after some recently written articles in the Classic Editor pretty much kept things intact, but those are images on the side with caption boxes. For videos or articles with images only in the center of the page I didn’t notice anything major in tests where I’ve used the regular block conversion. Haven’t tested a lot of older articles.
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yes if I “switch”convert” to HTML it displays as expected. It’s just that editing is a bit more clunky than with the current classic editor for HTML, that also enables some visual edits similar to how Dreamweaver used to be. I may use Seamonkey’s composer moving forward or just work with the HTML and paste in the links to my scores when I add new works. But why are they doing this? What’s it to them if they have some users who don’t use blocks?
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Probably something software related we don’t think about because we don’t do the IT stuff. Maybe it’s easier to not have that code and just use the blocks. Problem is making my website shouldn’t be the same level project as my comic and video work. I want to post and go, and the block editor doesn’t make that easy.
I use the block layout for certain archival pages and for that I like it. I want to learn the blocks for the sake of those pages, but for my usual daily postings I don’t want to spend time placing everything the right way like a slightly less functional “What You See Is What You Get” engine, which I didn’t use much either when the “word processor” type interface was doing exactly what I needed.
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Exactly. Their system is becoming more and more challenging to use. In my case, I had migrated my site ages go from a .mac web site back when that still existed. So I’m sure it isn’t totally ideal for their backend, which is why there was a lot of odd code inserted into my pretty straightforward HTML back when I switched to WP ages ago. I can certainly do what I need to do in HTML, it’s just that they’re making it more and more of a time suck without making it clear how to use their new system, or even announcing it (I never got any emails about it).
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I have seen the announcements. You have to subscribe to their news and tutorial blog in the reader or email to get the updates. There are sites that totally benefit from the new system, as well as my archives, but it doesn’t work for every site or even every user. Something they need to remember while dealing with their own backstage challenges. Maybe add some classic functions into the paragraph block for easier image posting and formatting? Using a video block isn’t a total change but it’s how it works images that’s contrary to how I format most of my articles.
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well you see what it does to many of my table cells without a good way to fix it. As you said, not every site is ideal for that and that certainly includes mine. If I have to continue to add content via HTML but without their classic editor, so be it. It’s hard enough dealing with this page given the block structure.
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