Feedback Thread for the Block Editor
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No disrespect here but I suspect most of the people venting in this thread are OLD and have had WordPress.com sites for a decade. I guess we need to make way for our grandkids who will happily use blocks as they see the C20th as ancient history. Perhaps WordPress.com should consider starting an additional platform. Call it WordPress.com Lite and only support the WP Admin classic editor there just for us oldies. Then everyone else could block away to their hearts content in WordPress.com Blockworld.
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@radtrad Wow, that link is incredibly informative. (And I’m one of those whose desktop is so dearly beloved! I suspected mobile had something to do with this.)
It’ll be interesting to see how this all pans out, hopefully in a way that works for the best. I remember one year at university, after complaints about whether or not the campus computer should be Mac or PC. One day I showed up and all the screens were split down the middle. Students could officially choose between operating systems at every start up. Problem solved!
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Hi folks, just as a reminder, we made this thread to find answers to these questions, so we can make the block editor better:
– What’s your typical process?
– What is getting in the way?
– If you could adjust one feature, what would it be?If you haven’t answered those questions, please do.
Some of you know we’ve used threads like this in the past to bring about fixes you liked. I’ll be honest: going through these comments to try to find that feedback isn’t fun, but I’ve advocated for opening this thread because I believe in this community and I want to hear what will make blocks better for you.
Like we’ve mentioned: we do have the classic editor for the foreseeable future. But we also can’t promise it’ll be around forever, so I’d like a chance to hear the pain points so we can get that feedback to developers.
Thanks in advance for pulling this back on topic.
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@supernovia, quote:
– What’s your typical process?
– What is getting in the way?
– If you could adjust one feature, what would it be?I already responded, in a reply to a fellow member, again:
my “typical” process is simply writing, just that: writing, from left to right, without ANY interference of ANY kind, constructing my own paragraphs, where I want them and inserting photographs anywhere I want them, thus an editor which offers NO tools but those basic ones in the “kitchen sink” (I believe it is called) top left above the Classic Editor.
But that is impossible in the Block Editor, thus: the entire Block Editor is what is “getting in the way”.
I cannot get any clearer.
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I’m not young but not old either right in between. Been blogging since 2017 (3 years and a few months) and I literally hate the block editor. Please don’t assume that us people who might be older have been blogging for 10 years or more. Ever hear the saying if assume something
“you make an ass out of you and me” ( sorry about language but that how the quote goes).
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Thanks @mabelamber, if you already responded to those questions you’re good; if you can help keep the thread on topic that’d be great.
@daisymae2017, let’s get back on topic. -
Also @mableamber just so you know, based on your feedback I’d already done a bunch of testing, screenshots of stuff I thought you might be referring to, and submitted that back when you made the comment. I can’t make promises on what will happen from there, but it does all start with feedback, so thank you for that.
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@supernovia I don’t think you can eliminate “pain points” because the problems are conceptual, not technical, as I said upstream somewhere. The criticisms of the block editor have been consistent since it was first introduced as a plugin a couple of years ago. None of them have been addressed because you can’t fix the concept. Usually the attempted solution is to create a new kind of block. Apparently there are now over 2,000 different blocks. That simply exacerbates the problem, it doesn’t fix it.
I have recently started working in Google Slides. I don’t trust Google, but my students were using it and I needed a cross-platform tool. Creating a powerpoint slide is not too different from creating a blog post. Slides is remarkably easy to use, but also flexible and powerful. The user interface combines the best aspects of a wordprocessor and a desktop publisher. You can write in the window, format with bullets, insert an image, move it around, drag corners to resize it, pop in a text box, fill it in and move it around. If the text doesn’t fit, there is a plus/minus tool that increases or decreases the font size until it fits. But if you don’t want any of that, you can just write in the window.
If WordPress offered something like that, there would be joy in the community. I learned to use it in minutes after watching one 10 minute tutorial produced by a high school teacher. The block editor simply doesn’t even compete.
I’m sorry. I know you want to hear positive stuff. I just don’t have any.
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“What’s your typical process?”
Just write normally, inserting, from time to time, some media.
It would be interesting to insert blocks in the traditional editor as we insert images.
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I watched the video instructions showing how to use the Block Editor with due attention. And it has become perfectly clear to me that this editor is an excellent tool for those who wish to use their WordPress account for creating a blog which has the appearance of a web site; typically the examples provided were, as I noted, a store and a recipe.
But I, and from their responses, many of those attempting to persuade WP to keep the Classic Editor around, are not interested in creating attractive layout for stores and recipes – what we ARE interested in has already been phrased here many times over: simply writing. Now when you primarily create text, you are totally focused on welding together words, to make sentences which adequately express your thoughts on this or that issue. That requires concentration! You do not want to be sidetracked by having to see to the demands of the tool you are using (which compares to dancing a tango with someone who can’t dance).
Here are screenshots of one of my blog posts, as visible for the reader (1) and how it looks in the Classic Editor (2):
1. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mabelia/49996533232/in/album-72157714026226497/
2. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mabelia/49995817108/in/album-72157714026226497/
….and it’s all I need…
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I’m sorry but you don’t get even close to a similar experience using the Classic BLOCK in comparison to the Classic EDITOR edition. I can resize my image but then it won’t upload into my post! Whereas in the classic editor I can resize and rotate if needed and it loads in straight away.
So how can you say that this is a similar experience?
I need to be able to resize my card images for my blog so that they are close up but to upload to a challenge I need a photo which is further away to allow for cropping on the challenge sites. To be able to use the Block editor I am now going to have to have 2 of each of my card images so that I can upload to WP and then the other for the challenge sites. How is this more time-efficient?I really don’t know what is going to happen if the classic editor goes away. I may need to find a new home for my blog. I don’t want to lose all the effort I have put into making my blog but I may have no choice.
“A previous question asked: As a Premium customer will I continue to have access to the Classic Editor for the foreseeable future, without having to upgrade
That is correct. (answer from maxmanx) ”
OH, But if I pay for an upgrade I can keep the Classic Editor! How is this fair on those who can’t afford to pay for upgrades and only want something similar?
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Although I’ve recently begun to use the Block Editor on some of my test sites while responding to forums support requests, in order to better understand difficulties encountered by the users submitting those requests, my experience with many of the options available on the editor is quite limited.
Today, I decided to try some of the editor’s optional built-in page templates for the first time. Here are couple of the issues that I ran into almost immediately:
A. When I chose one of the Blog Pages layouts, a page was automatically created that includes not only the posts previously published on the test site, but also (inserted above them) a nonexistent “featured post” excerpt that includes the following:
1. a sort of featured image that isn’t in my media library,
2. a post title to the nonexistent post that links to the blog pages layout page
3. the label “featured post,”
4. some text that serves as an excerpt, though it’s not excerpted from anything because again the post doesn’t exist, and
5. a button labeled “Continue Reading” that isn’t linked to anything.B. Another issue that arose is that when I chose one of the optional page templates or page layouts, I was unable to switch to the classic editor. Each attempt to switch via the “Switch to Classic Editor” link under settings resulted in the page merely being reloaded, while remaining in the Block Editor. I encountered this issue in pages with either a blog page layout or a homepage layout selected.
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“I encountered this issue in pages with either a blog page layout or a homepage layout selected.”
The “Switch to Classic Editor” link also failed to switch to page from the block editor to the classic editor in a page with a Services Layout added. Those are the only three page layouts I’ve tried so far.
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Another issue that I’ve frequently run into lately:
On newer themes, links in the WP-Admin dashboard admin toolbar such as “Add New” (Under “Posts” or “Pages”) are automatically redirected to the Block Editor. So you’re in WP-Admin, demonstrating that you want to work with the classic editor, and WordPress.com redirects you repeatedly, consistently, and persistently to the Block Editor. I’ve found this to be true, for example, on the following newer themes: Alves, Barnsbury, Hever, Maywood, and Shawburn.
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Manmanx
there’s no need to call out or insult specific people
I did not call out or insult anyone specific and you owe me an apology. I was referring to a remark within WP that was quoted by someone, I think Mabel, and was supporting her.
I have had no staff reply to:
(a) my question, if they change the HTML will existing content disappear?
(b) my suggestion to keep the classic editor as the default (simple for people who cannot cope with things too complicated) and the block editor as an optional alternative for those who like it who, from the comments in this thread, appear to be a minority. -
I go a bit further than Mabel. Some of us want essentially to write, as she repeatedly says, but also perhaps to occasionally add an image and also to lay out simply (nothing fancy) what we have written, all of which can be done at present (sometimes needing help from HTML), and I would not like that removed. That does not require the block editor.
I think Mabel will accept this. -
@halilac, quote:
I go a bit further than Mabel. Some of us want essentially to write, as she repeatedly says, but also perhaps to occasionally add an image and also to lay out simply (nothing fancy) what we have written, all of which can be done at present (sometimes needing help from HTML), and I would not like that removed. That does not require the block editor.
I think Mabel will accept this.Ah yes, the adding media bit – which in fact I do in certain posts, depending upon the subject – you can view an example of a blog post containing an image under the links in my earlier post, #3508699 .
In my post I again stressed the writing bit, because I am getting the impression that WP is completely crowding out that aspect of blogging, and, as I found when taking heed of the tutorial for using the Block Editor, is encouraging WP as a platform to create fancy layout for promoting your wares.
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@supernovia said:
So let us know:
– What’s your typical process?
– What is getting in the way?
– If you could adjust one feature, what would it be?Process: Using the Block Editor I write directly in the online interface, mostly prose and add images after the fact.
Obstacles:
1. I find that the Block Editor doesn’t remember that I want the Tools anchored at the top of the workspace and I have to repin it each time I either edit a post or write a new post.
2. While I rarely do this, if I have to change text color, I cannot use the suggested colors. Clicking on them doesn’t change the text color. It’s only when I use the color picker that the color selection “sticks.”
Feature: The ability to pin the Tools and have them stay there until I decide to unpin them.Thanks for asking.
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