Continued drive toward inefficiency
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I don’t know if this is the right place to post this, but I’d like to comment on a recent change to the interface:
Specifically, how links get associated with the text.
It used to be you could immediately choose to have the link open in a new window at the same time as you created it. The option was right there, when you inserted the link.
This was obviously too useful, so it had to change.
Now, because of a recent change, you have to first insert the link, then click the link, then click the edit icon to edit it, then click on “Advanced”, and finally click on the “open in a new window” option — multiple clicks where it used to be one. As someone who inserts a good number of links, this is a huge annoyance.
I’ve been told this is to “enhance functionality”, but I suspect developers don’t know the meaning of “enhance” and “functionality” since, functionally, nothing is changed other than an option has been moved from where it was “functional” to where it’s now hidden in a submenu behind arguably much less functional multiple mouse-clicks.
Please forward my immense displeasure with the continued efforts of developers and programmers to make the interface less efficient, less useful, and more annoying.
But, in the spirit of being helpful, here’s a suggestion:
How about having all links open in a new window by default and giving users the option to switch that off?
By the way, the same would be useful for images as well. That used to be the case, but now I have to set that option for each image. As someone who posts a lot of images, that’s — wait for it — annoying.
. . . one would think programmers are heavily invested in the stock of hardware manufacturers and seek to ensure frequent replacement of pointing devices due to excessive clicking, or screens from excessive poking.
A less charitable assumption is that developers labor under the assumption users want a “clean but useless interface”.
Perhaps they’re right . . . perhaps users really want to hunt for hidden switches and concealed options and spend time clicking mouse buttons or poking at screens. Personally, I’d rather streamline the process so that I could be more productive.
An even less charitable assumption is that developers really don’t care about users much . . . based on the last few years, it’s one assumption I’m inclined to believe.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Howdy –
Thanks for taking the time to get in touch. Are you able to point me to a post or page on the site where the link behavior has changed?
I’m looking at the national parks page, because that caught my eye as an avid fan of Mother Nature. Are the “this link” text what has changed?
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It’s not any particular post; it’s the process of associating a link (any link) with a word or group of words.
I hesitate to even say this because for sure developers will “fix” this here as well, but the behavior differs for blocks in this comment section versus blocks used to author a post.
For instance, here, to insert a link associated with THIS word, I highlight the word, click on the link icon, paste the link, and then, right below and to the left of the dialog menu, there is a settings icon where I can choose to have the link open in a new tab or window.
That’s different from what happens when authoring a post (a recent change). There, I highlight the word, click on the link icon, and this pops up (notice the lack of a settings icon):
I then have to click the link I just created and click on the “edit” icon:
Then select advanced on the menu:
… and then choose the option to open in a new tab.
At least twice the clicks plus additional mouse movement that takes time away from sipping one’s coffee.
Now, if you are doing this once or twice, meh, not a big deal . . . no, I take that back . . . it is a big deal because I’m old. What little time I have left, I prefer not wasting it on extra and unnecessary clicks just because some developer thinks that’s better.
Here’s a simple rule for UI and software writing in general:
More clicks BAD. Fewer clicks GOOD.
Strive for fewer clicks.I hope this helps to clarify what annoys me.
Side note: it would be nice if inserting images would link to the media by default, and if — also by default — clicking on the image would open it in a new tab or window . . . like it used to do before the process was “improved” by making it tedious.
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Hey there,
That does clarify what annoys you and thank you for taking the time to relay that out.
This is always a topic of discussion about what should be defaulted, and priorities and desires change over time.
Something like this isn’t necessarily specific to WordPress.com, but is native to the WordPress core software, which open source. That’s to say, it’s not out of the realms of possibility this could shift with the general consensus.
Personally, the things that annoy me spark motivation and change and I’m with you on the less clicks argument. This may be a good opportunity to contribute to the software: https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/become-a-wordpress-contributor/
The feedback is valuable, so I hope this helps in the meantime.
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I thought I just contributed, or will this not be read by people who can affect change? I mean, that would be strange, given this is a Forum.
If I owned a company and set up a Forum for users, I would then make the effort to read it and take note of what’s said in said Forum.
As for doing this regularly, the last 13 years have made it clear that my opinions about all manners of things related to blogging tend to be out of step with “content creators” and go against the “vision” of the powers that be.
I say this without rancor; I’m old, and my values and preferences when it comes to user interfaces — no matter how steeped in experience they might be — are seldom shared by members of younger generations enamored with glitz and flash and pretty things that are a substitute for substance.
It comes down to the fact that, as a dinosaur, I’d have better luck talking to a wall.
For instance, while you agree about the ‘fewer clicks’ thing, it’s not the direction WordPress has taken as a path forward; it’s not the path it followed for at least ten years.
It’s not been all bad, of course, but the small annoyances grate; the lack of attention to detail, the shoddiness of making changes that are touted as improvements but don’t functionally improve the experience (and often degrade it).
I’m told things would be better if I switched to a higher tier . . . and I would if I believed it.
Anyway, enough of my dinosaur bellows . . . like before, I’ll live with new annoyances as I slowly lose the will to create longer and more interesting posts. At some point, I’ll just post some banal and mindless AI-generated animations and watch my stats soar. Why, I might not even have to do anything . . . I can just ask WP to post something as I read a book.
. . . say! That doesn’t sound half bad.
Anyway, thanks for the suggestion, but — as mentioned — I’m old.
In what time I have left, other interests take precedence over engaging in futile efforts.
Coda: as you might surmise, I enjoy writing. Some say I’m overly verbose, but what do they know about me, eh? Suffice it to say these interactions — futile as the enclosed arguments might be in affecting change — bring me joy. Meaning, they are fun to write. Plus, I’m almost assured someone will read them, even if to only skim them. Hopefully, they are fun to read.
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Where are you adding these links? I still get the settings icon when adding a link to a word or phrase when using the Classic editor or even using a Classic Block. I’m such a dinosaur that I don’t know what you mean by “authoring a post” but am curious as to what new features I may be (irony) “missing”.
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Again, as stated, it’s when I associate a link to a particular word or group of words (see the graphics above).
I use blocks. It shows up in the Paragraph Block.
This is not exactly by choice (I was and still am a big fan of the Classic Editor and marginally less of the Classic Block). I switched to the Block Editor because of several anomalies when using the Classic Editor / Classic Block, and because I surmised the Classic Editor will eventually be discontinued.
Some of the issues I encountered with the Classic Editor and Classic Block have to do with my preferred browsers (FireFox and Edge – I stopped using Chrome), and some issues are related to how I insert images in my posts.
I got tired of Support telling me that those issues and glitches would be resolved by using the Block Editor. Meaning, they weren’t going to address the issues I encountered, so I’ve switched to using the Block Editor for everything I do.
Authoring a post is a fancy way of saying ‘creating a post’ or ‘generating a post’ . . . basically, when I create a new post and write something to publish on my blog.
I’m not sure what you mean by “new features”. I don’t recall using the term, so I don’t understand the question.
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I just ran into the same issue. I set almost every link, especially to a document or an external site, to open in a new window. That setting just became more clicks with this new interface change. And more clicks is BAD; fewer clicks is GOOD (as the original poster says).
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By the way, on the wordpress.org forums, they state that you can’t ask for support for wordpress.com issues, only wordpress.org issues, so as a non-contributor to wordpress.org, where is my forum for comment?
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HI @jamestward as mentioned by my colleague previously, this feature is derived from the WordPress core software, which open source. We derive most of our functionality from the open-source project (and then add our own managed hosting functionality on top of that) which is why we offer a forum specific to WordPress.com sites.
In looking at your account I see you have a mix of WordPress.com sites and self-hosted sites (at Dynadot) so it can be confusing to know where to go for help. In this case, nothing to worry about, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback from site owners here which we have shared with the open-source team. It is my understanding that it may change in a future version, and when it does sites on WordPress.com will adopt it immediately.
By the way, on the wordpress.org forums, they state that you can’t ask for support for wordpress.com issues, only wordpress.org issues, so as a non-contributor to wordpress.org, where is my forum for comment?
I did not see where it said that, but to clarify the forums at wordpress.org is intended for site owners and developers both, but is not limited to contributors only. If you were to have an issue with your self-hosted site (instead of one of your WordPress.com sites) this would be the appropriate forum to reach out to for help with your site issue: https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/
However, in this case as I mention we’ve already reported ample feedback.
Thanks!
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@disperser Just mentioning that it seems like this issue is currently being addressed in WordPress core.
https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/52216 and others
(not an experienced github user)
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Thank you for letting me know.
Per my recollection, this has been a problem I first reported at least 8 years ago. At that time, whatever change (improvement) was made, all previous posts with links lost said links (they still don’t work, and I have too many posts to go back and fix them all). That’s because originally, I could set the default to open in a new window. When they eliminated that option, all my links were wiped out. This happened twice, and the first time I tried to fix as many as I could. The second time, it was just too much work, and I now just have a general notice on my sidebar regarding links to my photos.
Subsequently, I reported a few more times that changes (“updates and improvements”) made it more difficult and time-consuming to insert links.
I’m glad it’s “being addressed”, but my confidence in a fix that’s actually useful to me and the way I work . . . well, let’s just say I’ve lost all hope that any “improvement” will be anything but a further degradation of my experience.
Of course, I’ll be glad if it happens . . . but also sad that for 8+ years, my voice carried no weight, not just for this issue, but other annoyances.
Sure, I’ll keep using WP because I have too much invested in it, and whenever I look to port my content elsewhere (for instance, to a site I control), I’m not assured I can retail all the formatting, let alone the content and media (and, of course, links).
Basically, I’m locked into WP (3,725 posts) . . . luckily, I’m old, so, you know, there’s an end in sight.
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@disperser do you want all posts to always have links open in a new tab throughout the site?
Noting too we’re discussing the updates to make that setting sticky; that should land soon, and will hopefully be a quality-of-life improvement for you.
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Actually – there’s still some discussion on how useful the update will be, but it looks like there are folks fired up about getting this right, so hopefully we’ll see some improvements soon. Thanks for your patience on this.
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I want to choose per link, not change the whole site. If the link is a page in my site, I usually want the same tab. If the link is to a document or outside link, I want a new tab so the user maintains the original site navigation.
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Hi @jamestward, you will still be able to choose per link and hopefully that will be a smoother process soon. @disperser had mentioned a slightly different case, so I’m hoping to see if there’s any good way to help with that.
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@supernovia since that is how all my links are inserted, yes, I would like for links to open in a new window or tab to be the default.
But realizing some people might not like that, I don’t mind if it’s a switch I set once when I create a post or a general switch for the site.
One worry on my part . . . years ago they affected a change from having that setting be “sticky” (meaning once set for images, all images would remember it), to not having that option. The problem was, *all* my links in all posts prior to that date were wiped out (all my images used to link to a corresponding higher res image in SmugMug). This actually happened twice, and the second time I gave up on rebuilding them
I’m a bit concerned that a similar thing might happen as an unintended consequence. Hopefully, it won’t because it would affect 3,700+ posts and an untold number of links.
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@supernovia, here’s what I’m actually suggesting and would desire, and I believe would suit most users:
When I set some parameter on a block, I would like for that parameter to be remembered for all subsequent blocks I create of the same type.
So, as an example, for every image block, I currently set the alignment to center, linked to the media, and for the link to open in a new tab or window. Given that I sometimes have anywhere from 50 to a maximum of 100 images in a post, that becomes fairly tedious, especially since I then have to check each one in the preview to make sure the settings are correct.
For my paragraph blocks, I manually set the color to black for each new block. Again, it would be nice if the editor would remember the last setting I used for a paragraph block and apply it to new blocks.
Failing that, a global switch would work. I assume that switch would not affect links that point to subsections in the same post (meaning, table of content links would still open with open within the current tab and document).
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I’d like to use CSS to do global styling rather than having to address each block. CSS is great for maintaining consistency throughout the site but blocks with individual style selections fight against this. I’d like blocks to be more CSS a friendly, if possible.
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Thanks folks.
@jamestward if your plan supports CSS, blocks are actually quite CSS-friendly now. You can add a class under Advanced, for example. And you may not need CSS because Styles takes care of a lot of what CSS would normally do for you.
@disperser thanks. You might also be happier with global Styles, for what it’s worth. If you’re doing the same style on ever block of a type, you’d just set that in the styles option. It can be overridden of course, but then it’s set once for the site.
More info on Styles here:
Using Styles, you can customize the design of your site with different colors, typography settings, and layout options. This guide will show you how to use Styles to ensure a cohesive design across your site. Access to Styles If your site uses a theme that supports the site editor, you can access the Styles settings. A quick way to find out if your site uses the site editor is to check undStyles won’t cover links-in-new-tabs, but I’ll share that idea. There’s a fair bit of discussion on the WordPress core Github, too, if you want to follow along. In fact there are several issues related to new-tab opening, which may help provide some context.
And I’m really sorry about your links getting lost altogether. If you find a case where you’ve lost content like that, please let us know right away (modlook the request too) so we can see if there’s anything we can do.
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